Schiel breaks MSU record, earns third title at Big Sky Indoor Championships

Sports – The MSU Exponent

Christie Shiel, mid-distance runner for the MSU track team, pictured on Friday, March 3, 2017.
Photo by Zach NellAt the Big Sky Indoor Track and Field Championships on Feb. 25, senior standout Christie Schiel ran a time of 2:08.29 in the 800-meter run, earning her third Big Sky Conference title and breaking the school record. Her converted altitude time of 2:07.69 is the eighth fastest in this event in conference history.
A fifth-year senior, Schiel redshirted indoor season her freshman year and outdoor season her sophomore year. The Cheyenne, Wyoming native never competed in track and field in high school, but instead ran cross country and played basketball and soccer. “I wanted to do athletics in college, and I decided I wanted to run track because it was something I never got to do, and I thought I’d be pretty good at it,” Schiel said. She was recruited by MSU for her cross country times, and her first ever year of track was her freshman outdoor season. With two meets left in that first season, Schiel ran her first competitive 800-meter run. “It went really well, and from then on I’ve been an 800 runner,” she said.
Schiel had been working hard to break the school record all season, and the hard work finally paid off. “There’s a big clock at the finish line, so crossing the line I knew right away that I’d broken it,” she explained. “I don’t know quite how to articulate that feeling. It’s something I’ve been working toward all season, so it was really rewarding knowing all the hard work paid off.”
Schiel also said that, “records are meant to be broken.” To her, being an MSU record holder is something she’s proud of, but something she hopes one of her younger teammates will also be able to achieve. “It’s really nice ...


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