Montana track and field competed well for the third straight week, this time heading to Bozeman to face off with Montana State and Wyoming in a three-team meet. The Grizzlies again put together a large number of PRs and some event wins against the two talented opponents.
 
It’s the third different location in the last three weeks for a Montana team that now has just one more meet over the final three weeks of the season. Despite the miles, the Grizzlies showed up and performed well on Friday.
 
“As a staff, we were pretty pleased with a lot of the performances today, especially coming to the end of a three-week travel stretch,” head coach Doug Fraley said. “We had a lot of our kids that you could tell they were fatigued compared to the last two weeks, but I thought our team competed real well given that.”
 
Patrick Kremer’s stellar indoor season continued with a win in the men’s high jump competition. Kremer matched his career best with a jump of 6-8.75 to win the eight-person field. It’s the second win of the season for Kremer, who also has a pair of runner-up finishes through four events.
 
“Patrick Kremer won the high jump and equaled his PR and was quite frankly feeling a little flat today,” Fraley said. “But he mustered up the competitive juices to equal his PR and get the event win. He’s off to a great start, that’s three really good meets in a row that he’s had.”
 
The Grizzly women got a stellar performance from a true freshman to lead the way. Jayel Dovichak ran her fastest-ever time in the 60m on the day, but the big story came in the women’s 60-meter hurdles. Dovichak qualified for the finals by running her fastest time this season at 8.73 seconds.
 
In the finals, the freshman improved upon that number. She ran an 8.67 for a PR and the event win. It’s the second win of the year for the freshman from Tilley, Alberta.
 
“She has continued to PR each week and got another two PRs in the 60-meter hurdles and was the event winner,” Fraley said. “It’s been very impressive how she has handled the start of her collegiate career being from Canada and coming to the United States and starting a whole new chapter in her life. She’s handled that well.”
 
The men had a couple of additional event wins. Casey Crouch brought home the title in the men’s 800m with a time of 1:56.56. The surprise of the day came in the men’s 60m. The Grizzlies rested their top two runners Teagun Holycross and Cooper Hewett. It left Karsen Beitz, a freshman from Missoula, as the top runner.
 
He entered well behind the times of the top runners, but ran a PR in the prelims and then cut down another six hundredths of a second off that in the finals for his first collegiate win.
 
“The biggest surprise of the day was freshman walk-on Karsen Beitz winning the men’s 60,” Fraley said. “He came in seeded sixth or seventh and ran a really good prelim and then going against some really good guys from Montana State and Wyoming hit it just right out of the blocks and won with a really big PR.”
  
The men’s sprint group has been one of the strengths of Montana’s team since Fraley arrived, and Beitz is breaking out as another point scoring contender for the Big Sky meet.
 
“To have another guy in our fold that can break 6.90 as a walk-on freshman, I’ve just been really pleased with his progress in the early part of the season,” Fraley said. “It was pretty neat to have our two best guys at home resting up and have a freshman come in and hold down the fort and win the 60.”
 
Montana may not have picked up the win in the women’s pole vault, but the group still had a big day. Shealyne McGree, who had missed the first two events of the year after recovering from an injury, returned to action last week. On Friday, she got big air and finished third with a clearance of 12-6.25.
 
She was backed up by Emma Zimmerman and Molly Chambers, who both had season-best heights.
 
“Considering (McGee) had a rod put in her shin in August, to get her back and have her jumping that high so early is really encouraging,” Fraley said. “And then to have Emma and Molly jump season bests and kind of get back on track at their highest level is a really good thing for our team.”
 
The men’s pole vaulters had a couple of PRs from Zane Johnson (16-8) and Carson Weeden (16-2) for second and third place finishes. There were 13 PRs on the women’s side and nine on the men’s side for another big week.
 
“We had quite a few PRs across the board. Again, hitting it three weeks in a row and coming away with as many PRs and season bests as we did, we’re really pleased with that,” Fraley said. “We’re looking forward to taking the momentum of the past three weeks into our first off week and have two full weeks to get ready for the next Spokane meet. We will get people trained and rested and ready for the final primer before the Big Sky Championships.”
 
Women’s Results
60m- Mikenna Ells (7.73*, 2^nd/17), Tara Ohlwiler (7.80, 4^th), Claire Hutchison (7.82, 5^th), Lily Meskers (7.83*, 7^th), Rileigh McGree (7.84*, 8^th), Audrey Smith (7.87, 9^th), Jayel Dovichak (7.89*, 10^th), Cosley Bruno (7.95, 11^th), Destiny Santiago (8.04*, 12^th), Ainsley Shipman (8.12, 14^th)
200m- Audrey Smith (25.95, 5^th/14), Destiny Santiago (26.87*, 9^th)
800m- Katie Whitehurst (2:14.71, 2^nd/10), MacKenzie Dean (2:24.09, 9^th)
Mile- Mackenzie Morgan (5:16.76*, 8^th/12), Layne Lathrop (5:46.26, 11^th), Ashtyn Wagner (6:20.45, 12^th)
3,000m- Iris McKean (10:46.88, 12^th/13), Kayla Ingraham (11:03.18, 13^th)
60mH- Jayel Dovichak (8.67*, 1^st), Brooke Stayner (8.96, 3^rd), Ailsa Gilbert (9.13, 5^th)
60mH Prelim- Jayel Dovichak (8.73, 1^st/10), Brooke Stayner (9.06, 3^rd), Ailsa Gilbert (9.17, 4^th), Ainsley Shipman (9.31, 7^th), Kara Mattson (9.67, 10^th)
4x400m- Bruno, Meskers, Hutchison, Ells (3:57.19, 3^rd/4)
High Jump- Erin Wilde (5-7, 2^nd/4)
Pole Vault- Shealyne McGee (12-6.25, 3^rd/12), Emma Zimmerman (12-0.5, 4^th), Molly Chambers (12-0.5, 5^th), Hannah Moses (11-0.75, 8^th), Chesnee Lawrence (10-6.75, 9^th)
Long Jump- Whitney Morrison (17-4.75*, 5^th/14), Brooke Stayner (17-2.75*, 6^th), Rileigh McGree (17-2.75, 7^th), Ailsa Gilbert (17-1.25, 8^th), Ainsley Shipman (16-6.5, 10^th), Perry Paffhausen (16-6, 11^th), Kara Mattson (15-11.75, 12^th)
Shot Put- Ariel Clark (42-5.5*, 3^rd/11), Cathlene Van Zyl (41-7.25, 4^th), Morgan Thomas (40-4.25, 6^th), Scout Nadeau (37-6.5*, 9^th), Whitney Morrison (37-6, 10^th)
Weight Throw- Ariel Clark (57-10.5, 2^nd/13), Savana Ramirez (54-8.75, 3^rd), Scout Nadeau (47-1.5*, 7^th), Morgan Thomas (43-4.5, 9^th), Mary Mickelson (42-11, 10^th), Molly O’Dell (42-7.5, 11^th), Cathlene Van Zyl (37-8.75, 13^th)
 
Men’s Results
60m- Karsen Beitz (6.88*, 1^st), Jason Upton (6.98, 6^th)
60m prelim- Karsen Beitz (6.94, 2^nd/11), Jason Upton (6.97, 5^th), Taylor Johnson (7.08, 8^th), Xavier Melice (7.08*, 9^th), Cutter Thatcher (7.11*, 10^th)
200m- Adam Maxwell (24.31, 6^th/6)
400m- Ty Ferguson (50.44, 4^th/8), Jay Beagle (50.57, 5^th), Cutter Thatcher (51.72, 7^th), Adam Maxwell (53.36, 8^th)
800m- Casey Crouch (1:56.56, 1^st/9), Garrett Dahlke (1:59.11, 7^th), Michael Jump (1:59.96, 8^th)
Mile- Henry Ballinger (4:19.04, 7^th/14), Lane Cole (4:21.17, 10^th), Cooper Morris (4:28.56, 12^th), Colin Shaules (4:33.27, 13^th), Truman Thompson (4:36.16, 14^th)
3,000m- Maxwell Scott (8:53.37, 13^th/16), Zachary Giesch (9:00.26*, 15^th), Carson Steckelberg (9:05.19, 16^th)
4x400m- Ferguson, Melice, Beitz, Johnson (3:19.46, 2^nd), Thatcher, Beagle, Coffield, Crough (3:22.43, 4^th)
High Jump- Patrick Kremer (6-8.75*, 1^st‘8), Zachary Travis (6-4.75, 4^th), Adam Maxwell (6-0.75, 5^th)
Pole Vault- Zane Johnson (16-8*, 2^nd/10), Carson Weeden (16-2*, 3^rd), Kevin Swindler (15-8.25, 4^th), Jackson Merrill (15-2.25, 7^th), Carson Hegele (15-2.25, 7^th)
Long Jump- Jason Upton (23-9, 2^nd/10), Gordon McMillion (22-8, 4^th), Jethro Thorne (21-8.75, 5^th), Porter Coffield (20-10, 7^th)
Triple Jump- Dylan Zink (43-3.25, 4^th/5)
Shot Put- Alexander Shields (47-6.25, 6^th/10), Wade Rykal (46-10.25*, 7^th), Porter Coffield (35-1, 10^th)
Weight Throw- Walker McDonald (49-5.5, 4^th/8), Wade Rykal (46-2.5*, 5^th), Alexander Shields (33-11.25, 8^th)