Bobcats win Big Sky All Sports Trophy When Blake Jackson lined up for his first throw in the final round of the Big Sky Conference men's shot put championship in Bozeman this spring, he had a pretty good idea of how big a throw he was about to make. "I had talked to Peter (Fields, MSU's athletic director) earlier in the year" about Montana State's place in the standings in the Big Sky Conference All Sports Trophy race, "and I knew how important that was for the department," Jackson said. "(The team) had talked about it a little, and I think it was in the backs of all of our minds." Jackson's throw earned him his second straight Big Sky outdoor shot put title, which clinched MSU's third-place finish on the men's side of that meet, which in turn launched Montana State athletics to its first all-sports race since 1967. "This is a tremendous accomplishment by all of our coaches and student-athletes," Fields said. "The Big Sky All Sports Trophy signifies athletic excellence across the entire athletic program, and I believe is a very significant way of measuring the success of any athletic department." MSU last won the Big Sky All Sports Trophy in 1967, and has now won four trophies since the league's inception in 1963-64. Of the eight current Big Sky institutions, only MSU, Weber State, and NAU have won the men's trophy in the past 21 years. MSU is also the first school other than Weber or NAU to win a men's all sports competition since 1996. Montana State's second-place finish in the women's competition marks the second time in the past three years and the third time in the past seven years that the Bobcats have finished in the runner-up position. Of the league's current schools, only NAU, Weber State and MSU have finished in the top two since was second in 1991.