Montana
Montana State
Grizzlies open indoor season with both highs and lows
1/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Indoor Track, Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field
Results 
The Montana track and field teams opened their 2015 indoor season to mixed reviews Friday evening at the Montana State Open at MSU's renovated Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. And those came from the Grizzlies' coach.
"It was a typical first meet," said Brian Schweyen. "There were some good things and some that were maybe a little disappointing.
"Every year you come into this meet hoping we're going to come out of the gate screaming, but I don't know that we had more than a little squeal today."
Montana State's home facility took on the air of fresh life with its new 200-meter, unbanked running surface, and the Bobcats embodied that energy Friday night. They were flying around the track and down the runways while the Grizzlies were mostly trying to hold on.
Of the meet's 28 events, Montana athletes or relay teams defeated Montana State's top performer just five times. The frustrating lesson: a team can only do so much without a similar indoor training facility.
But there were positives for the Grizzlies, particularly on the men's side, where redshirt freshman Pierce Frazier and sophomore Nolan Nagle posted huge PRs.
Frazier went 14-11 during the 2014 outdoor season. Friday night he added 10 inches to that with a second-place finish of 15-9. His was the only new Big Sky Conference qualifier at the meet for Montana.
"Two people really stand out in my mind tonight," said Schweyen. "The first is Pierce Frazier. That was the most consistent I've ever seen him. That was fantastic jumping for him.
"The other was Nolan Nagle, who had a four-foot PR in the weight using only a two-turn. That was fantastic."
Nagle went 46-2 last winter as a true freshman and improved on that PR with a mark of 49-7.5 at Eastern Washington's meet in early December. Friday night he went 53-10.25 to place fourth in the event.
Montana had just three event victories at a meet that featured the two Montana schools, plus Mary, MSU Billings, Carroll, Great Falls and Rocky Mountain.
Junior Sammy Evans, who also finished second in the triple jump at 38-11.5, won the long jump with a distance of 17-10.25. Redshirt junior Anna Pershouse won the weight throw at 52-6, and sophomore Dominique Bobo won a scintillating 200 meters.
Running in the sixth and final heat with Montana State's Mitchell Horning and Michael Tobin, Bobo edged the two Bobcats in a time of 22.39 for Montana's only victory on the track.
Redshirt senior Keli Dennehy (altitude-adjusted 5:01.67) and sophomore Reagan Colyer (altitude-adjusted 5:02.11) gave Montana second- and third-place finishes in the mile, redshirt senior Caitlin Caraway (50-0.75) finished second to Pershouse in the weight, and junior Stephanie Wells had a career-best effort in the shot put of 41-1.5 to place third.
Junior Tyler Van Oort, with a career-best 48-10.25, and sophomore Nick Jackson, at 48-5.5, gave the Grizzlies a second- and third-place finish in the shot put.
Montana will return to Bozeman next Friday for the Montana State Double Duals. The meet will include Montana, Montana State and Idaho State.
Players Mentioned
