Big Sky releases preseason track & field polls

The Big Sky Conference released the preseason coaches' poll on Monday morning. Montana slotted into the eighth spot in both the men's and the women's polls, matching where they finished during the indoor season.

"That's about where I figured we would be based on our performance indoors," first-year head coach Doug Fraley said. "I feel very good about the fact that we have some events that we weren't able to contest indoors that we are very strong in outdoors."

Last year, the Montana men finished in sixth place while the women came in ninth. For Fraley, he's hoping his squad can rise above the expectations with some added strengths that are available to his team only during the spring season, starting in the field.

"One is we've got a trio of men's javelin throwers that if we stay healthy could really impact our team in a big way at the conference level," Fraley said. "Same thing on the women's side, we've got some very good javelin throwers."

But it's not just in the javelin that Montana sees the potential to add some points to the team score. There are several events on the track that are only contested during the outdoor season that Fraley sees as a positive for his team.

"On both sides, we're going to gain steam in the 400m hurdles," Fraley said. "Steeplechase is another one. Ellis McKean was a conference scorer last year and is coming back. Those are all opportunities for us to improve our team score over what we did indoors."

Added events should be a positive, but the health of the Grizzlies will be just as important as they transition outdoors. A team with a great group of sprinters dealt with plenty of injuries throughout the winter, limiting some potential conference meet point scorers.

Fraley is hoping the strides they made during indoor season will allow them to be back near 100 percent for the upcoming outdoor season.

"We had some key guys in our sprint group that were just starting to get healthy at the conference indoor meet. They weren't a factor in the individual events but they came together and got second place in the 4x400-meter relay. You take the same group of guys and continue their health and we should be better in the 4x4.

"I'm also really excited about the potential with that group and the 4x100-meter relay, which they don't run indoors," Fraley continued. "That's another opportunity for us with the nucleus of the sprint group that we have pooling the long sprinters and the short sprinters together in that 4x100."

Montana's season begins this Saturday at home. They will be hosting the Al Manuel Invitational on March 25. A full meet preview will be available on Wednesday.

The Grizzlies will be at home for three weekends in the spring. The annual Griz-Cat Dual will be held on April 1 and the Montana Open will be on Saturday, April 22. Montana will be on the road for three more events before heading to Greeley, Colo. for the Big Sky Championships May 11-13.

2023 Women's Outdoor T&F Coaches' Poll
1. Northern Arizona (10) – 100
2. Montana State – 90
3. Idaho – 71
4. Sacramento State – 69
5. Weber State – 60
6. Idaho State – 52
7. Eastern Washington – 42
8. Montana – 29
9. Northern Colorado – 27
10. Portland State – 10

2023 Men's Outdoor T&F Coaches' Poll
1. Northern Arizona (10) – 100
2. Montana State – 84
3. Idaho – 82
4.Eastern Washington – 67
5. Weber State – 58
6. Northern Colorado – 52
7. Idaho State – 43
8. Montana – 30
9. Sacramento State – 23
10. Portland State – 11

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