Jennifer Allen (2018) - Hall of Fame - Montana State University Athletics

Jennifer Allen

Induction:
2018

   As a Bobcat student-athlete, Jen Allen checked all the boxes.
   Accomplished competitor? She was an eight-time all-conference performer. Tremendous student? You bet. She was MSU’s 2004 MSU Women’s Big Sky Scholar-Athlete. Respected teammate? The Billings Senior product was elected team captain four times.
   “Jen was low maintenance,” said former Bobcat throws coach Mike Carignan. “You didn’t have to worry about her level of motivation, that was established. She was very self-directed. She would listen to what you had to say with interest, and she would apply it. She had her own set of tools that she could use during practice or competition. She was coached well in high school and she’s very intelligent, so she was a student of the event. She loved what she was doing.”
   A productive performer from the beginning of her career, Allen scored points in the shot put and weight throw as a freshman in the 2000 Big Sky Indoor Championships at Flagstaff, Arizona, then topped that by scoring points in the shot put, discus and hammer throw outdoors that spring, earning all-league honors in the hammer. She scored points in all five events as a sophomore (two indoors, three outdoors), and after redshirting during the 2002 outdoor season grabbed all-conference honors in the shot, hammer and discus as a junior and won the outdoor shot put and hammer throw, finishing second in the discus, as a senior in 2004. She claimed Outstanding Field Athlete honors that spring, after winning the shot put and weight throw in the 2004 indoor meet.
   The sum total of Allen’s achievements are remarkable. She was the league’s top field event athlete in 2004, the season she won Big Sky Championships indoors and outdoors. The eight-time All-Big Sky performer continues to hold two MSU records and is in the top 10 in three other events on the MSU list and on one Big Sky list. Her career point total in championship competition is sixth among all Bobcats outdoors and fifth indoors.
   Carignan called the ability to in each of the different throwing events “quite a thing.” He said her passion for track and field and her caring nature fused to make her unique. “She was engaged mentally in what she was doing, and she was real into it. “She loved the sport, she loved working hard, but she loved the team. She’s very much a team person, is interested in everyone on the team, had friends in other event areas.”
   Allen began her coaching career at Manhattan High School, logging six seasons there before returning to her alma mater. Coaching all Bobcat throwers, two of her throwers have won Big Sky titles and four have advanced to NCAA regional competition.es and four have advanced to NCAA regional competition.