Montana
Al Manuel Invite: Montana State’s Tilde Bjerager shatters mark; Montana breaks 5 records
MISSOULA — Tilde Bjerager ran a school-record time of 57.79 in the 400-meter hurdles on Saturday to lead a group of 15 Bobcat winners on the final day of the Cat-Griz Dual/Al Manuel Invitational.
The Bobcats combined for a total of 17 event wins and 13 improvements to the program’s all-time top-10 list over the course of the two-day meet as the women tallied 81 points to finish first and the men posted 67 points for second place at the Montana-hosted meet.
Bjerager crossed the finish line with a converted time of 57.79 to shatter the school 400m hurdles record by 0.14 seconds, securing the victory in Missoula. Her time ranks fourth in the NCAA in the young outdoor season. She also matched the third-fastest time in program history in the 100m hurdles, crossing the finish line in a converted time of 13.63 to win the event. Millie Hubbell finished close behind with a time of 13.94 for a runner-up finish.
Sydney Brewster opened her outdoor season with a mark of 17.12 meters/56 feet, 2 inches to win the shot put. The mark came on her fourth throw and came within six inches of her own school record. Emma Brensdal finished with a mark of 15.01m/49-3, and Maggie Hillis took fourth with a throw of 13.83m/45-4.50.
Jaeden Wolff came within 0.01 second of tying the school record in the 100-meter dash, crossing the finish line with a converted time of 11.60 to place second in the event. She improved her own No. 2 time in school history in a strong start to her outdoor season. Peyton Garrison finished seventh with a time of 11.97, and Ave Roberts crossed the finish line in 12th with a time of 12.51.
Caroline Hawkes took over sole possession of the third spot on the program top-10 list in the 200m, clocking a converted time of 23.77 to earn the victory in Missoula. Giulia Gandolfi finished fifth in the event with a time of 24.43.
Xavier Simpson equaled his own No. 3 time in school history with a runner-up finish of 10.51 in the 100m. Malikye Simpson finished close behind in third with a time of 10.61 while Billy Cunningham (10.90) and Preston Wysocki (10.94) crossed the finish line in eighth and ninth, respectively.
Easton Hatleberg finished runner-up in the shot put with a mark of 18.09m/59-4.25 on his fifth throw. The mark was his personal best outdoors and helped him improve from ninth to fifth in program history in the event. Talon Holmquist (6th) and Matt Furdyk (7th) also competed in the event, recording top throws of 16.44m/53-11.25 and 16.27m/53-4.50.
Gandolfi clocked the No. 5 time in program history in her outdoor debut in the 400m, crossing the finish line in 54.26 to win the event to start her outdoor season. On the men’s side, Jett Grundy clocked a time of 47.09 to complete the sweep for the Bobcats.
Jordan Lasher cleared 5.22m/17-1.50 to win the pole vault, moving to sixth in program history with the mark. The clearance came on his third and final attempt to help him set a new personal best.
The Bobcats claimed the top eight positions in the women’s 1500m, led by Eva Koos’ winning time of 4:23.84. Claire Rutherford moved to sixth in program history with her converted time of 4:27.27 to place second in her outdoor debut. Kalei Moravitz (4:32.60), Annie Kaul (4:33.48), and Kaitlyn Skinner (4:35.08) rounded out the top five, while Sophia Miller (4:36.50), Madi Siana (4:39.06), and Stella Diaz (4:42.09) finished sixth through eighth.
The Bobcats posted the No. 7 4x100m relay times in program history on both the women’s and men’s side. Peyton Garrison, Hawkes, Jadyn VanDyke, and Jaeden Wolff posted a converted time of 45.32 while the men’s squad of Noah Barbery, Xavier Simpson, Drake Wilkes, and Malikye Simpson clocked a 40.67 as both teams finished second in their respective events.
Jackson Fagerlin crossed the finish line in 1:50.60 in the 800m, moving into the No. 10 slot in program history in the event, to secure a runner-up finish. Mario Oblad joined him in the top five, clocking a time of 1:51.69 to finish fourth in Missoula.
Hannah Perrin opened the Bobcats’ day on the track with a win in the 3,000m steeplechase, crossing the finish line with a converted time of 10:47.86. She defeated her closest competition in the event by 51 seconds. Rob McManus followed with a victory on the men’s side with a converted time of 8:50.52. Quinn Newman (3rd) and Ben Saelens (4th) also finished in the top five with respective times of 9:11.03 and 9:13.77.
Trystin Chapel and Billy Cunningham completed the one-two sweep in the long jump, posting respective marks of 7.22m/23-8.25 and 7.14m/23-5.25.
Nash Coley helped the Bobcats sweep the 400m hurdles, crossing the finish line in a converted time of 52.49.
Libby Hansen opened her season with a win in the pole vault, recording a top clearance of 3.85m/12-7.50. Tatum Richards finished fourth with a clearance of 3.70m/12-1.50.
Sophia Miller earned a win in the 800m as the Bobcats swept the top four in the event. Miller crossed the finish line in 2:14.84 while Jada Zorn (2:15.71), Kaitlyn Skinner (2:15.92), and Iris Rogel (2:17.02) finished second through fourth.
Koos won the women’s 5000m with a converted time of 17:36.99, leading a trio of Bobcats who finished in the top three as Hailey Watkins finished second (17:42.44) and Diaz took third (17:46.58).
Griz break five program records, three stadium marks
The Montana track and field team picked up right where it left off at the end of the indoor season on Saturday as the team set five new program records, including three that were Dornblaser Field records, in an impressive start to the outdoor season.
The Grizzly men also won the Griz-Cat Dual for the second time in the last four years by a final score of 99.67-93.33. The MSU women won 100-75. The Cats were picked second in the Big Sky in both preseason polls with Montana third.
Montana picked up 13 event wins on an action-packed Saturday afternoon.
The biggest roars of the day came from the men’s shot put. Missoulian Alex Shields, a graduate of Hellgate HS, missed the indoor season with a health issue. He had not been lifting or throwing regularly throughout the fall and winter.
He was cleared to resume competition for the outdoor season, but the coaching staff still debated letting him rest and redshirt this year. They decided to let him go out on Saturday, and the move paid off.
Shields broke the Montana school record with his first throw of the day in the men’s shot put. It would be the worst of his five measured throws as he saved his best attempt for last to win the event.
Shields trailed Montana State’s Easton Hatleberg going into his final throw. He uncorked his best attempt of the event, throwing it 59-8.5 to win by over four inches and shatter the previous program record from 2019.
It’s a huge step for someone that entered the outdoor season not knowing if he would be able to throw. It’s been a long journey for Shields to get back to full health
Freshman Astin Brown finished 3rd in the event with a throw of 57-10.25 and got the energy going early in the event and Titus Jeffrey finished 5th with a throw of 54-4.5. Shields shouted out every single one of throws group teammates by name when talking about his success on Saturday.
The men’s and women’s 4×100-meter relay teams got the record breaking going early with times of 40.23 and 44.78 to win both races. The women broke a Dornblaser Field record that had stood since 2019 in the process.
The women have Tara Ohlwiler, the defending 100m and 200m Big Sky Champion, running the opening leg with freshman Callie Wilson, this season’s 60m and 200m indoor Big Sky Champion, running the anchor.
The men’s team ran with two true freshmen, Romin Saleki and Ben Bliven, with Brody Thornsberry in the lineup and Big Sky Indoor champion Karsen Beitz running the closing leg. Fraley wasn’t sure how fast the team would go being so new to collegiate competition and to running as a unit.
Wilson anchored the women’s record breaking relay team and then showed off the individual speed in the women’s 100m. Wilson broke the Dornblaser Field record set by Weber State’s Emily Morgan in the 2019 Big Sky Championships with a time of 11.49.
Her time is also a Montana program record as she beat her teammate Tara Ohlwiler’s best mark of 11.53 from last season.
In her first ever outdoor meet at Montana, Wilson put on a show for the Grizzly fans in attendance.
Wilson wasn’t the only Grizzly to break a women’s stadium record. Erin Wilde has long been the standard for high jump in the Big Sky Conference but she reached a new and impressive height on Saturday.
Wilde, a six-time Big Sky champion in the event, cleared 6-0 for the first time outdoors to break her own program record and become the first woman to ever break the 6-0 mark at Dornblaser Field.
For Wilde, the height is something that she’s had her sights set on for a while. She has cleared 6-0 multiple times indoors, including at the 2025 Big Sky Indoor Championships. She checked that box on Saturday.
The men had five wins on the track and Karsen Beitz played a part in three of them. He anchored the record relay team and then picked up a pair of individual wins in the men’s 100m and 200m.
Beitz ran lifetime bests in both events, winning the short sprint in a time of 10.44 in a highly competitive field and following it up later with a time of 20.93 in the 200m to hold off teammate Braden Ankeny.
Morgan Amano won the men’s 800m from behind, flying down the final straightaway for the win in a time of 1:50.82, which was a lifetime best
The men’s final win on the track also sealed the dual victory as the teams were nearly dead even entering the 4x400m relay. Montana’s team of Ben Antley, Braden Ankeny, Cadence Waller, and Taylor Johnson coasted to a four second win to bring the title home for Montana.
The field events made a big contribution as well two event wins and eight top three finishes on the men’s side to contribute to the point total. Freshman Sam Henderson won the triple jump with a mark of 48-8 to go with Shields’ win in the shot put.
The Grizzlies went over a decade without a dual win over MSU. They’ve now taken the title twice in the last four years on the men’s side.
Wilde and Wilson were joined in the winners circle on the women’s side by Ainsley Shipman and Lillian White.
Shipman had the top triple jump of the day on the women’s side with a mark of 38-6.25, and she also finished 3rd in the long jump 18-5.75. White won the women’s discus with a throw of 154-10 in her first meet as a Grizzly.
Montana has had many entire seasons pass without five school records falling. They were able to knock off five records on Saturday alone in just the first meet of the outdoor season. The Grizzlies should only get better from here.
Montana
Montana State doctoral student awarded national research service grant for gut microbiome, arsenic research
MISSOULA — Four out of five members of Montana’s Public Service Commission were in a federal courtroom in Missoula Thursday morning, as the PSC’s former president challenges the disciplinary action taken against him earlier this year. Now, newly released documents are shedding more light on to what led up to this point.
(Watch the video for a closer look at the case.)
New documents shed light Montana PSC dispute
Commissioner Brad Molnar has sued President Jeff Welborn, Vice President Jennifer Fielder and Commissioner Annie Bukacek – the three PSC members who voted in May to require him to work remotely, after an investigation into complaints about his workplace conduct. Molnar has claimed he is being unfairly punished for constitutionally protected speech, and he asked Senior U.S District Judge Donald Molloy to allow him to return to the PSC offices.
Matthew Monforton, Molnar’s attorney, told the judge that barring Molnar from the building was limiting his ability to do his job.
“He has not been officially kicked out of office, but his voice has clearly been diminished,” said Monforton.
But Natasha Jones, an attorney representing the other three commissioners, said the findings were about behavior, not just speech, and that the PSC’s action was a reasonable response.
“These are serious concerns about a pattern of conduct that has made employees quit,” she said.
Jonathon Ambarian
On Tuesday, Molloy ordered the release of redacted versions of two full investigative reports into Molnar’s conduct – more than 100 pages of documents. Monforton had moved for the full reports to be made public, and Molloy ruled attorneys for the other PSC members hadn’t shown a compelling reason to keep the documents under seal as long as the names of people involved in the investigation were obscured.
While the names remained redacted in the investigation reports, the attorneys for Welborn, Fielder and Bukacek also filed additional documents – including a public declaration from Bukacek and from former PSC executive director Alana Lake, providing information about their allegations against Molnar.
The two reports, from an outside investigator, cover Molnar’s alleged actions over two periods: the first from February to August 2025, and the second from August to October 2025. The investigation began after the first formal complaint, filed by Bukacek in May 2025 – though the reports say employees had been bringing up concerns about Molnar’s behavior informally for several months prior.
Bukacek’s complaint claimed Molnar had repeatedly made what she called “sexualized and demeaning comments.” The examples she cited included saying the PSC should replace “Taco Tuesdays” with “Topless Tuesdays,” reminiscing about watching girls in bikinis as a teenager, and commenting about the beauty of women in areas of China who didn’t get “old and wrinkly.”
In her declaration, Bukacek also claimed Molnar had “maliciously disseminated false information” about her and “engaged in behavior that was dismissive, derisive and otherwise abusive.”
“My primary concern now is not for my safety nor my feelings, but for the rest of the staff who may not have the temperament to speak up or may feel too intimidated to speak up given concerns over job security,” Bukacek said in her declaration.
MTN News
The investigators determined Molnar had violated the PSC’s code of conduct by making comments of a sexual nature, and that it appeared his behavior had continued for some time after he was warned about it. They also found he had behaved unprofessionally and in a belittling manner toward Bukacek, though they said Bukacek herself had at times used “language that could be considered inappropriate” in emails to staff or other commissioners. Bukacek told MTN she “readily self corrected” any behaviors that were brought to her attention.
The investigation also found a violation in connection with a complaint from a PSC staff member, who said he “felt bullied” by Molnar when the commissioner sent an email complaining about his team not being “people with competence.”
However, much of the first report and the entire second report was focused on conduct after the initial complaints, when Molnar was accused of retaliating against people who participated in the investigation. Lake said in her declaration that she saw “an immediate and significant change in his behavior toward staff involved in the process.” She claimed he said he would use an attorney and private investigator to go after people who filed complaints, and she accused him of publicly criticizing her in interviews and removing her job responsibilities because of her handling of the investigation.
Lake said Molnar’s actions led to “declining morale within the agency,” undermined staff members’ ability to do their jobs and damaged her reputation. She said that led her to resign as executive director.
“I believe no employee should be forced to choose between reporting misconduct and protecting their career, reputation, or personal well-being,” she said in her declaration.
Lake has since become Helena city manager.
Jonathon Ambarian
The report said there was evidence to show Molnar had retaliated, including by “making disparaging statements about investigation participants” including Lake, by sending an email warning he could file complaints of his own against people involved, and by taking other actions investigators said could dissuade employees from reporting behavior in the future.
Monforton said during Thursday’s hearing that the initial comments Bukacek complained about were jokes Molnar had admitted were inappropriate, that he regretted saying them, and that he hasn’t made any similar comments in about a year. But he argued the vast majority of the findings against Molnar were about retaliation – and that those were primarily based on speech that the other commissioners don’t have the right to interfere with.
Monforton said it’s unreasonable to punish Molnar for what he said in the July news conference where he announced he was under investigation, in interviews with the media or in commission meetings. He said Molnar’s conduct doesn’t rise to the level of actual retaliation.
“This is an elected official, engaging in speech in his forum,” Monforton said.
He said Molnar may have made harsh comments toward staff, but that he had the right to raise objections about the way the agency does business.
Jonathon Ambarian
Monforton also argued the retaliation claims no longer justify keeping Molnar out of the office, since Welborn, Fielder and Bukacek voted to remove him as president in October and he no longer has the authority he’s accused of misusing. He said there haven’t been further complaints about his behavior since that time.
“We’re not asking for the moon and stars, we’re asking for the status quo as it existed for the last seven months,” he said.
Jones said there is enough evidence to show Molnar would have been punished regardless of whether any protected speech was excluded.
“This is not about a couple of jokes,” she said.
Jones said Molnar made maliciously false statements about people like Lake, and that type of statement isn’t covered by free speech protections.
She also said Molnar’s exclusion from the PSC offices is temporary, and that the PSC will reconsider whether to let him return if he apologizes for his actions, accepts the agency’s code of conduct and undergoes training.
Molloy indicated he saw indications that there was “acrimony” on both sides of the situation, and said he was skeptical it would be resolved easily.
“It would be nice if instead of juvenile behavior, there was professional behavior,” he said.
However, the judge said there was an avenue for Molnar to pursue if he wanted to reach a resolution.
Molloy took no immediate action Thursday. He told the parties he would rule as quickly as he could.
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