Grizzlies open outdoor season with home meet

Friday, March 25

Missoula, Mont.

Montana

Al Manuel Invitational

Photo by: Derek Johnson

3/26/2022 7:29:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Meet Results (PDF)Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: Montana Sports Information

MISSOULA, Mont. – The more things change the more they stay the same. At least that's how it seems to be with Montana's men's javelin group.

As coaches and athletes have come and gone, success has sustained, as Montana has won the event at the Big Sky Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships five times in the past 11 years, including three years in a row from 2016-18. And that doesn't even include last spring, when Dylan Kipp was the favorite entering the conference meet and one of three Grizzlies to qualify for NCAA Regionals in the javelin.

From Jason Flemmer to Jensen Lillquist to Daniel Jones to Kipp, the next in Montana's lineage of successful javelin throwers appears to be sophomore Evan Todd, a Kalispell native.

Todd jumped onto many radars last May when he placed fourth at the Big Sky Championships as a true freshman. He qualified for NCAA Regionals with a top throw of 218-11.

Now, less than a year later, Todd is gunning for even bigger heights.

In his first meet in nearly 10 months – the javelin is an outdoor-only event – Todd showed he was just scratching the surface in 2021. He added another 10 feet to his personal best on Saturday (229-2), not only winning the event at Montana's Al Manuel Invitational – the Grizzlies' first outdoor meet of the season – but coming just more than 3 feet off of Lillquist's school record.

"That was a really great performance by Evan, probably a top-five throw in the region," head coach Clint May said. "He's in line for some big things this season, and I thought that was one of many highlights from today's meet."

Todd won the event by nearly 16 feet, but his top throw was not an aberration, with his final five throws all surpassing 200 feet. While Todd won the event, Montana had three of the top-five finishers, with Matthew Hockett (205-5) and Everett Fred (191-3) finishing third and fifth, respectively.

The throwing events were a highlight across the board over the weekend. On Friday, the meet opened with Montana sweeping the hammer throw for the second consecutive year. As they did last year, Tanessa Morris – the defending Big Sky champion (199-8) – and Matt Ward (190-11) won the event.

Morris' mark was the second-best of her career and would have won the Big Sky title a season ago. Ward PR'd in the first meet of his sophomore season, a mark that also would likely score at the conference meet.

Senior Brent Yeakey, who graduated last May before electing to return for one final campaign, made the most to the start of his super-senior season. On Saturday, Yeakey won the men's discus with a mark (165-9) that was better than his starting point a season ago, a spring in which he set a school record in the event. Yeakey also holds Montana's school record in the shot put and was within 3 feet of that mark on Friday (53-3.75), finishing second.

Montana also earned event wins in the women's 400 meters (Holly Sudol, 57.48); men's 3,000-meter steeplechase (Joel Mendez, 9:10.64); men's long jump (Jason Upton, 22-5.75); and the women's triple jump (Ailsa Gilbert, 39-3.75).

Gallery: (3-26-2022) TF: Al Manuel Invitational (3.26.22)

In addition to her win in the triple jump, Gilbert finished second in the long jump. Similarly, Upton placed second in the triple jump, in addition to his victory in the men's long jump.

Gilbert's triple-jump performance – 2 inches shy of a personal best – was strong, but how she did it was the most impressive part to May.

After finishing second in the long jump, she had a rough performance in the 100-meter hurdles, finishing sixth after clipping five hurdles.

"A lot of hurdlers, after hitting five different hurdles that hard, will go, 'Coach, I think that's enough for the day.' She wasn't even thinking that," May said.

Instead, she shook it off and came back even stronger.

"I just love that there's no excuses with her," May said. "The two years that I've watched her, she just goes out and competes and is never seeking an excuse for anything."

On the track, Montana had some success in the mid-distance events. On the men's side, the Grizzlies took hold of five of the top-eight spots in the men's 1,500 meters and went 1-2-4 in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Mendez (9:10.64) and Ellis McKean (9:36.91) were the top-two finishers in the steeplechase, both recording personal bests. In the men's 5,000 meters, the Grizzlies had two freshmen – Nathan Carter (14:42.68, second) and Jordan Hansen (14:44.31, third) eclipse 15 minutes.

To put that in perspective, in a decade span from 2011-20, just three Grizzlies ran sub-15-minute 5,000-meter races. Last year, four did so, with now two more doing so on Saturday.

"The steeplechase was great this morning, and so, too, was the 5,000," May said. "To see what some of our young distance runners are doing is just crazy exciting."

Montana's women placed second and third in the women's 800 meters, with Montana natives Bridget Boyle (2:15.65, second) and Katie Whitehurst (2:1.53, third) making their Dornblaser Field debuts.

The Grizzlies will send athletes to Oregon next weekend for the Hayward Premiere, one of six April meets before returning home again on May 7.

Women's 100 meters – Emma Normand (12.07, 3^rd/17); Catie Buck (12.27, 5^th); Camryn Dezember (12.61, 7^th); Audrey Smith (12.97, 12^th); Destiny Santiago (13.13, 13^th); Grace Denman (13.34, 14^th); Molly McCormick (13.72, 17^th)
Women's 200 meters – Emma Normand (25.17, 4^th/23); Catie Buck (25.64, 6^th); Camryn Dezember (25.86, 9^th); Morgan Radtke (26.36, 13^th); Audrey Smith (26.70, 16^th); Destiny Santiago (27.09, 20^th); Grace Denman (27.91, 23^rd)
Women's 400 meters – Holly Sudol (57.48, 1^st/9); Abby Harmon (58.77 (5^th)
Women's 800 meters – Bridget Boyle (2:15.65, 2^nd/17); Katie Whitehurst (2:17.53, 3^rd); Molly Sherman (2:22.90, 9^th); Abby Sherwood (2:29.45, 11^th); MacKenzie Dean (2:31.43, 13^th); Amara Christensen (2:34.61, 16^th)
Women's 1,500 meters – Olivia Lackland Henry (4:52.48, 7^th/13); Carly Dahms (4:57.71, 10^th); Mackenzie Morgan (4:58.83, 11^th)
Women's 5,000 meters – Beatrix Frissell (18:11.66, 2^nd/11); Kayla Ingraham (18:38.61, 5^th); Olivia Lackland Henry (DNF)
Women's 100-meter hurdles – Jansen Ziola (14.24, 2^nd/13); Carlee Fryberger (14.62), Ailsa Gilbert (14.70, 6^th); Morgan Radtke (15.86, 9^th)
Women's 4x100-meter relay – Emma Normand, Abby Harmon, Camryn Dezember, Catie Buck (47.01, 2^nd/3)
Women's 4x400-meter relay – A: Camryn Dezember, Katie Whitehurst, Bridget Boyle, Abby Harmon (3:53.38, 1^st/4); C: Carlee Fryberger, Morgan Radtke, Jansen Ziola, Jaree Mane (4:10.02, 3^rd); B: Carly Dahms, MacKenzie Dean, Mackenzie Morgan, Molly Sherman (4:23.82, 4^th)
Women's high jump – Carlee Fryberger (5-1, 6^th/7)
Women's pole vault – Shealyne McGee (11-.75, 7^th/13); Emma Zimmerman (11-1.75, 9^th); Molly Chambers (10-8, 10^th); Jadyn Campbell (NH)
Women's long jump – Ailsa Gilbert (18-2.5, 2^nd/12); Jansen Ziola (17-11.5, 4^th); Morgan Radtke (17-6.25, 7^th)
Women's triple jump – Ailsa Gilbert (39-3.75, 1^st/10); Whitney Morrison (37-3, 5^th); Kolby Gibbs (34-2.75, 10^th)
Women's shot put – Jaree Mane (36-11.5, 11^th/18); Whitney Morrison (35-8.5, 12^th); Morgan Radtke (30-3.5, 17^th); Carlee Fryberger (24-5, 18^th)
Women's discus – Savana Ramirez (124-11, 11^th/20); Tanessa Morris (106-0, 18^th); Erin Murphy (100-2, 20^th)
Women's hammer throw – Tanessa Morris (199-8, 1^st/21); Ariel Clark (170-6, 3^rd); Kaitlyn Gallo, (164-3, 5^th); Savana Ramirez (148-1, 10^th); Erin Murphy (124-11, 15^th); Emilie Hinrichs (119-5, 18^th)
Women's javelin – Sierrah Hardy (136-5, 5^th/22); Autumn Morse (133-9, 6^th); Whitney Morrison (126-10, 9^th); Jaree Mane (123-4, 10^th); Emilie Hinrichs (113-3, 13^th); Tatum McNamara (112-1, 14^th); Cyisa Weidman (109-4, 15^th)

Men's 100 meters – Cooper Hewett (10.93, 5^th/14); Kip Krebsbach (11.09, 7^th); Teagun Holycross (11.22, 9^th
Men's 200 meters – Cooper Hewett (21.65, 4^th/19); Paul Johnstone (21.85, 6^th); Teagun Holycross (22.75, 12^th); Ty Ferguson (22.90, 14^th); Jay Beagle (22.99, 15^th); Jace Dewalt (24.07, 19^th)
Men's 400 meters – Ty Ferguson (49.97, 4^th/11); Jay Beagle (50.06, 5^th); Brandon Jones (51.13, 6^th)
Men's 800 meters – Quincy Fast (1:52.66, 3^rd); Will Dauenhauer (1:54.30, 4^th); Brady Woods (1:58.49); Hunter May (1:59.42, 13^th); Rogelio Mares (1:59.51, 14^th); Ben Vanderbosch (2:00.44, 15^th)
Men's 1,500 meters – Maxwell Scott (3:54.09, 3^rd/18); Ben Vanderbosch (3:59.50, 5^th); Rogelio Mares (4:00.19, 6^th); Hunter May (4:02.50, 7^th); Truman Cowan (4:05.71, 8^th); Simon Hill (4:10.12); Brady Woods (4:11.40)
Men's 5,000 meters – Nathan Carter (14:42.68, 2^nd/17); Jordan Hansen (14:44.31, 3^rd); Maxwell Scott (DNF)
Men's 400-meter hurdles – Cutter Thatcher (54.54, 2^nd/3)
Men's 3,000-meter steeplechase – Joel Mendez (9:10.64, 1^st/8); Ellis McKean (9:36.91, 2^nd); AJ Eckmann (9:45.57, 4^th)
Men's 4x400-meter relay – Brandon Jones, Quincy Fast, Cutter Thatcher, Paul Johnstone (DQ)
Men's high jump – Alfred Peterson (6-0.75, 2^nd/2)
Men's pole vault – Zane Johnson (NH); Carson Weeden (NH)
Men's long jump – Jason Upton (22-5.75, 1^st/11); Jaydon Green (21-2, 5^th); Gordon McMillion (20-11.25, 7^th)
Men's triple jump – Jason Upton (44-1.25, 2^nd/4)
Men's shot put – Brent Yeakey (55-5, 2^nd/19); Noah Ramirez (53-0.25, 4^th); Colton Root (39-7.75, 15^th)
Men's discus – Brent Yeakey (165-9, 1^st/15); Matt Ward (152-10, 6^th)
Men's hammer throw – Matt Ward (190-11, 1^st/13); Noah Ramirez (167-6, 6^th); Colton Root (157-0, 7^th)
Men's javelin – Evan Todd (229-2, 1^st/11); Matthew Hockett (205-5, 3^rd); Everett Fred (191-3, 5^th)