Montana State sophomore Patrick Casey (Laurel) was named men's track athlete of the week by the Big Sky Conference. 

Casey ran an altitude-adjusted time in the mile of 3:59.17 at last Friday's MSU Open. The mark won the event, broke the MSU school record and was good for eighth on the Big Sky Conference All-Time list in the event. 

He missed an NCAA automatic qualifying time by .04 seconds but did get a provisional mark. He became the first Montana collegiate to run a sub four-minute mile on Montana soil.

He also qualified for the conference meet in the 800 with a time of 1:52.66.

The Cats will be in action this weekend at the Mountain State Games in Pocatello, Idaho.