Griz to send 16 of top athletes to Oregon State for competitive meet

Montana's track & field team is sending 16 of its top athletes to the OSU High Performance Meet in Corvallis, Oregon, this weekend.

For many of the athletes, it will be their final competition prior to the Big Sky Championships, which will take place May 12-15 in Ogden, Utah. The meet will pit Montana's athletes against an extremely high level of competition, which is exactly why head coach Clint May added the meet to the schedule in recent weeks.

It will likely give the Grizzlies everything they want, not only providing a final tune-up, but also – hopefully – bringing the best out of each athlete. More than 50 schools across the western half of the United States will be sending athletes to participate in the meet. The teams go up and down the Coast and include eight of the 11 Big Sky schools plus several Pac-12 and nationally ranked teams.

"We're looking for an experience where you look to your right and you see incredible competition, and then you look to your left and you see more incredible competition," May said. "Without a doubt, you're going to get that at this meet."

May knows his athletes will be in stacked fields, often times going up against athletes who will compete later this spring at nationals, and in some instances, earn All-America status. There are even a handful of unattached athletes who are Olympic hopefuls.

Despite the level of competition, though, May also believes his Grizzlies can hold their own.

"These are our most competitive athletes and we're bringing them here for a reason, so I don't think they will be intimidated," he said. "There aren't any events in which there aren't athletes ranked higher than ours, but I also think that will be valuable to our competitors."

The goal is that the level of competition will help the Griz athletes dig down and find another gear The 16 athletes were selected based off season marks and times, with the idea being that this is the main group of athletes who are in position to fight for an NCAA Regionals spot.

This spring, due to COVID-19 protocols, the top 32 athletes in each event will qualify for the NCAA West Regional, instead of the typical 48. That will make things harder for some of Montana's athletes to qualify, but even more reason why May wants them competing this weekend, motivated by the competition in their heat or flight.

"The primary function of this weekend is to see if we can get some marks, under that type of environment, that will potentially qualify for the regional championships," May said. "It will be a regional-type atmosphere, and we're excited for that."

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To little surprise, a large contingent of Montana's representation this weekend will be its throwers. After all, Montana ranks in the top four in the league for the women's hammer, men's javelin, women's discus and men's discus.

Junior Tanessa Morris is a perfect 5-for-5 on the season in the women's hammer, and while that might not hold in such a loaded field this weekend, her bigger focus is continued progress to obtain a Big Sky title and more. Morris, who ranks second in school history in the event, set a PR last weekend with a top throw of 193-2, which leads the Big Sky by nearly 4 feet. She currently ranks in the top 40 in the NCAA West Region, looking to move up into the top 32.

Montana also leads the Big Sky in the men's javelin, with senior Dylan Kipp topping the charts (230-4). Not only that, though, the Grizzlies also hold the No. 2 spot, with freshman Evan Todd throwing 218-11 earlier this month. Both competitors currently rank in the top 20 in the NCAA West Region rankings and are in good position to qualify for NCAA Regionals. On the women's side, senior Kimberly Earhart and junior Jaree Mane will throw the javelin. Earhart is one of eight Big Sky athletes to throw 150 feet this season (153-11), and currently sits 38^th in the NCAA West Region.

Senior Holly Houston ranks third in the Big Sky in the women's discus (157-7), and her lifetime best of more than 161 feet would rank second. She has twice won the discus this season, and has finished in the top five at every meet. On the men's side, both freshman Matt Ward and senior Brent Yeakey will compete.

Yeakey has twice scored in the discus at the Big Sky Championships, in addition to four times scoring in the shot put and qualifying for NCAA Regionals in 2019. He will focus on the discus this weekend, an event he currently ranks fourth in the Big Sky for (172-2). Ward ranks sixth (168-10), and will also throw the hammer, an event he ranks eighth in (185-9).

Mane has twice scored at the Big Sky outdoor championships in the heptathlon, but hasn't had the opportunity to compete in a multi-event since February 2020, when she placed sixth in the pentathlon at the indoor championships, prior to the COVID-19 shutdown. She will have her plate full during this weekend's two-day meet, competing in six different events. The idea is that this meet will help prepare her for the heptathlon in a few weeks.

It will be a similar story for sophomore Jansen Ziola, who also will compete in six events in preparation for the heptathlon at the outdoor championships. Ziola placed sixth in 2019, in addition to winning the pentathlon at the 2018 indoor championships and placing second in 2019. Ziola also has her sights set on other Big Sky hardware, as she currently ranks second in the conference for the long jump (19-3.5), third for the 100-meter hurdles (13.70) and eighth for the 200 meters (24.64). Ziola will compete in all three of those events this weekend, in addition to the 400 meters, 400-meter hurdles and high jump.

Morgan Radtke, who is competing in her first outdoor season despite already completing two indoor campaigns, jumped onto the radar this past weekend when she cleared 5-7 in the high jump and won the event at the Griz-Cat Dual. Her previous best was 5-5, so it was a big moment for the Drummond native. She will compete in the high jump this weekend, in addition to the 200 meters and long jump.

Freshman Holly Sudol will compete in the 400 meters in Oregon, fresh off her first collegiate victory. She ran a time of 58.46, which won the event at the Griz-Cat Dual, and will also help her as she has ran on several of Montana's 4x400-meter relay teams.

Montana is sending two distance runners to the meet, with freshman Quincy Fast and senior Jacob Lamb running the men's 800 meters, with Fast also competing in the 1,500 meters. On the women's side, freshmen Beatrix Frissell and Olivia Lackland Henry will run the 5,000 meters.

Both Fast and Lamb ran lifetime bests in the 800 meters last weekend, with Fast's adjusted time of 1:50.87 ranking third in the Big Sky, and Lamb's time of 1:51.45 ranking sixth. Lamb won the men's 800 meters at the 2020 Big Sky indoor championships, as well. Frissell and Lackland Henry both have PRs around 17:15, which rank in the top 20 in the Big Sky.

Montana is also sending sophomore Peterson Bohannon to compete in the long jump. Bohannon set a PR in the event last weekend with a jump of 23-9 which ranks sixth in the Big Sky this season.

A full schedule of events for this weekend's meet can be found online. Additionally, fans can track live results throughout the meet.

Women's 200 meters – Jaree Mane, Morgan Radtke, Jansen Ziola
Women's 400 meters – Jaree Mane, Holly Sudol, Jansen Ziola
Men's 800 meters – Quincy Fast, Jacob Lamb
Men's 1,500 meters – Quincy Fast
Women's 5,000 meters – Beatrix Frissell, Olivia Lackland Henry
Women's 100-meter hurdles – Jaree Mane, Jansen Ziola
Women's 400-meter hurdles – Holly Sudol, Jansen Ziola
Women's high jump – Jaree Mane, Morgan Radtke, Jansen Ziola
Women's long jump – Jaree Mane, Morgan Radtke, Jansen Ziola
Men's long jump – Peterson Bohannon
Men's shot put – Brent Yeakey
Women's discus – Holly Houston
Men's discus – Matt Ward, Brent Yeakey
Women's hammer – Tanessa Morris
Men's hammer – Matt Ward
Women's javelin – Kimberly Earhart, Jaree Mane
Men's javelin – Dylan Kipp, Evan Todd

Griz to send 16 of top athletes to Oregon State for competitive meet

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Peterson Bohannon

Kimberly Earhart

Quincy Fast

Beatrix Frissell

Holly Houston

Dylan Kipp

Olivia Lackland Henry

Jacob Lamb

Jaree Mane

Tanessa Morris

Morgan Radtke

Holly Sudol

Evan Todd

Matt Ward

Brent Yeakey

Jansen Ziola

University of Montana Athletics

Griz to send 16 of top athletes to Oregon State for competitive meet

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Peterson Bohannon

Kimberly Earhart

Quincy Fast

Beatrix Frissell

Holly Houston

Dylan Kipp

Olivia Lackland Henry

Jacob Lamb

Jaree Mane

Tanessa Morris

Morgan Radtke

Holly Sudol

Evan Todd

Matt Ward

Brent Yeakey

Jansen Ziola

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