Griz make strides at midway point of indoor season

Friday, January 19

Moscow, Idaho

Montana

Lauren McCluskey Memorial

1/20/2024 11:39:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Results Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: Montana Sports Information

Head coach Doug Fraley is always emphasizing progression throughout the season with his Montana track and field team. They made some big strides towards that in Moscow, Idaho this weekend at the Lauren McCluskey Memorial meet.

Montana recorded an impressive 29 PRs and had five event wins in a competitive field, a couple of sure signs that Montana are moving in the right direction at the midpoint of the indoor season.

"Very solid weekend team wide," Fraley said. "We feel like we made some progress in all event aeras which is very encouraging.

Katie Whitehurst delivered a win for Montana on Saturday in the 800m. She ran close to her career-best time, finishing in 2:14.60 for her best time this season and also her first win. Her teammate Mackenzie Morgan recorded a PR for a third-place finish in the event.

Katie Whitehurst is your 800 winner on the women's side with a time of 2:14.60! Mackenzie Morgan finishes third.#GrizTF | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/2MEdiRf11n
— Montana Griz TF & XC (@MontanaGrizTFXC) January 20, 2024

It wasn't the only victory for Montana on the day, as they would end the meet on a high note as well. The men's 4x400m team led for much of the race and brought home the title with a time of 3:14.69 to knock off a pair of Big Sky foes in Idaho and Eastern Washington.

The Grizzlies also had a trio of sprinters advance to the finals on Saturday. Teagun Holycross in the men's 60m reached the final and finished sixth, and Carter Petersen made the 60m hurdles final and finished seventh.

For the women, freshman Jayel Dovichak had the best run of her young career to qualify for the 60-meter hurdle final. Dovichak matched her qualifying run in the finals, crossing the line in 8.76 seconds to finish in fifth.

Taylor Johnson in the 400 and Henry Ballinger in the 800 each ran personal best times for top three finishes, and Jason Upton (triple jump) and Alexander Shields (shot put) cracked the top five with PRs of their own.

Mikenna Ells had a second-place finish in the women's 400m with a PR of 56.35 and Erin Wilde matched her career best in the high jump with a mark of 5-7.25, but lost the tiebreaker to finish second in the event.

Emma Zimmerman and Molly Chambers shared second place in the women's pole vault, and Shealyne McGee matched the height but missed at lower bars to fall to sixth in another competitive field.

"It was great to get as many event wins and top five finishes as we did against very good competition," Fraley said.

It's a Griz win in the men's 4x400m relay!#GrizTF | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/dDlnxk6TfY
— Montana Griz TF & XC (@MontanaGrizTFXC) January 20, 2024

Fast start on Friday

The multi-day event began in the late afternoon and evening on Friday, and Montana had plenty of success through the initial events.

Ariel Clark continued a stellar season in the weight throw. She won the event for the third straight time in as many meets, and also set a new personal best for the second consecutive meet. Clark's throw of 58-1 was the winning toss by more than three feet.

Jason Upton matched her with a PR/event win combo in the men's long jump. Upton cleared the 24-foot mark for the first time in his indoor career, jumping 24-3.75 for a big victory in the event. Washington State's Justin Sands was the closest competitor, but Upton cleared him by more than a foot.

Upton wasn't the only Griz veteran to get a win. Zane Johnson has had a steady start to his season in the pole vault, getting comfortable with new poles as he tries to extend his personal best. He won the pole vault by clearing 16-2, and his teammate Carson Weeden finished in second position.

"Our veteran athletes led the way with a lot of our top performances, but there were also a number of outstanding marks by our newcomers," Fraley said. "We definitely feel like we made progress this weekend."

The pole vault was a loaded event with three athletes from Eastern Washington and two from Washington State also competing. Johnson and Weeden were two of five total Grizzlies who finished in the top 11 of the event.

The top finisher in all four women's events on Friday set a new PR, while the men got a runner-up finish from Patrick Kremer in the high jump. Overall, Montana had 15 personal-best marks across just 10 total events on Friday.

Success in the mulits

The women kicked things off with the 60m hurdles, and Montana delivered out of the gates. Brooke Stayner ran the second-fastest time in the field at 9.03 while Whitney Morrison matched her PR with a 9.15 time that put her in fourth place heading into the second event.

Incredible run from Whitney Morrison in the 800 to close out the pentathlon! She runs a PR time of 2:22.34 to jump from 5th to 2nd in the final standings! Her 3,552 points are also a new career-best!#GrizTF | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/pGMBcStwrj
— Montana Griz TF & XC (@MontanaGrizTFXC) January 20, 2024

In the high jump, the duo had identical results to finish in a tie for seventh. They each cleared 5-1.25 with two prior misses. It dropped Stayner to fifth and Morrison to seventh in the overall leaderboard.

Morrison made a move in the shot put, placing fifth to jump up a spot in the overall standings with a throw of 34-3. Stayner dropped to sixth overall with a mark of 30-3.5 in the shot put.

The move to the top started for Morrison in the shot put and continued in the long jump. She cleared 17 feet for the first time in her indoor career, setting a new PR with a jump of 17-3.5 to finish third in the event. It would bring her up to fifth in the overall standings.

The event unfortunately didn't bring the same fortune to Stayner, who had three fouls for zero points in the event, falling out of the top 10 in the process. It also dropped her to the first heat in the final race of the meet, but she rebounded exceptionally in the 800m.

Stayner cruised to a win in her heat and would have the top overall time at 2:21.96. It was a new PR by more than a second for Stayner, who will undoubtedly be a factor in the pentathlon at the Big Sky Championships.

In the final heat of the 800 between the top competitors, Morrison got out to a good start and ran in second for much of the first lap. She made a move to take the lead entering the final lap and extended it the rest of the way, winning her heat with a PR time of 2:22.34. She finished second in the 800 to her teammate, but jumped all the way to second place in the final pentathlon standings.

The men's heptatlon got to a start on Friday as well with four of the seven events contested. Montana entered sophomore Porter Coffield, who becomes the first male multi in Fraley's two years at the helm of the Grizzly program.

Coffield opened with the 60m, running a 7.28 time to head into the long jump in fifth place overall. He got better as he went along in the long jump, competing in the event for the first time all season. On his final attempt, Coffield leapt 20-11.75 to move up into fifth place.

The good jump kept him in fifth in the overall standings with 1,458 points through two events. In the shot put, Coffield had a season-best throw of 35-4 but slid one spot in the overall standings to sixth. He maintained that place with a 5-8.75 high jump.

Coffield started Saturday morning off with a good time of 8.67 and a fifth place finish in the 60-meter hurdles. He went to the pole vault, competing for the first time in the event and clearing 11-6.5 for another middle of the pack finish that moved him into fourth overall entering the final event.

In the 1,000-meter run, Coffield finished in 3:02.33 in what was another first time event for the sophomore. He was seventh in the final event, and finished the heptathlon in fourth place overall with 4,525 points.

Coffield was the top Big Sky finisher, nudging out Eastern Washington's Cody Teevens by 108 points.

Friday - Women's Results
200m- Mikenna Ells (25.27*, 7^th/42), Lily Meskers (25.39*, 9^th), Claire Hutchison (25.53*, 11^th), Tara Ohlwiler (25.55, 13^th), Cosley Bruno (25.71, 15^th), Audrey Smith (26.39, 23^rd)
3,000m- Iris McKean (10:24.45*, 7^th/34), Kayla Ingraham (10:40.63, 14^th)
Long Jump- Ainsley Shipman (17-11.5*, 5^th/27), Ailsa Gilbert (17-9.5, 7^th), Rileigh McGree (17-6.75*, 8^th), Kara Mattson (17-0.5, 10^th)
Weight Throw- Ariel Clark (58-1*, 1^st/30), Savana Ramirez (53-6, 3^rd), Scout Nadeau (43-11, 14^th), Morgan Thomas (41-8, 19^th), Cathlene Van Zyl (39-3, 23^rd)

Friday - Men's Results
Men's 200m- Teagun Holycross (21.87, 5^th/32), Taylor Johnson (21.94*, 7^th), Karsen Beitz (22.26, 10^th), Jay Beagle (22.48*, 15^th), Ty Ferguson (22.51*, 17^th), Cutter Thatcher (23.32, 23^rd)
Men's 3,000m- Lane Cole (8:42.73*, 10^th/41), Cooper Morris (8:47.81*, 11^th)
Men's High Jump- Patrick Kremer (6-8, 2^nd/8), Zachary Travis (6-6, 4^th)
Men's Pole Vault- Zane Johnson (16-2, 1^st/20), Carson Weeden (15-8.25, 2^nd), Carter Petersen (14-8.25, 8^th), Carson Hegele (14-8.25, 10^th), Jackson Merrill (14-8.25, 11^th)
Long Jump- Jason Upton (24-3.75*, 1^st/28), Gordon McMillion (22-8.5*, 4^th), Jethro Thorne (22-3.75, 5^th)
Men's Weight Throw- Walker McDonald (56-8*, 2^nd/22), Alexander Shields (44-4, 11^th)

Saturday – Women's Results
60m prelim- Tara Ohlwiler (7.85, 10^th/21), Jayel Dovichak (7.94, 11^th), Rileigh McGree (7.96*, 15^th), Cosley Bruno (8.02, 17^th), Claire Hutchison (8.09, 19^th), Audrey Smith (8.37, 21^st)
400m- Mikenna Ells (56.35*, 2^nd/23), Lily Meskers (57.24, 5^th)
800m- Katie Whitehurst (2:14.60, 1^st/18), Mackenzie Morgan (2:15.77*, 3^rd)
60mH- Jayel Dovichak (8.76*, 5^th)
60mH Prelim- Jayel Dovichak (8.76, 4^th), Ainsley Shipman (9.33, 10^th)
4x400m- Montana (3:50.45, 2^nd)
High Jump- Erin Wilde (5-7.25, 2^nd/7)
Pole vault- Emma Zimmerman (11-10, 2^nd/15), Molly Chambers (11-10, 2^nd), Shealyne McGee (11-10, 6^th)
Triple Jump- Ainsley Shipman (36-6.25, 7^th/15), Ailsa Gilbert (35-11.5, 9^th)
Shot Put- Cathlene Van Zyl (41-7.75, 4^th/27), Morgan Thomas (40-4.75, 5^th), Ariel Clark (40-0.5, 6^th), Whitney Morrison (35-5.25, 15^th), Scout Nadeau (34-11, 17^th), Brooke Stayner (30-6.5*, 24^th)

Saturday – Men's Results
60m- Teagun Holycross (6.89, 6^th)
60m prelim- Teagun Holycross (6.88, 4^th/33), Jason Upton (7.00, 10^th), Karsen Beitz (7.03, 11^th), Gordon McMillion (7.32, 22^nd)
400m- Taylor Johnson (48.07*, 3^rd/18), Ty Ferguson (49.68, 5^th), Jay Beagle (49.77, 6^th), Cutter Thatcher (51.89, 14^th)
800m- Henry Ballinger (1:52.86, 3^rd/20), Truman Thompson (1:54.87, 6^th), Casey Crouch (1:55.18, 9^th)
60mH- Carter Petersen (8.62, 7^th)
60mH Prelim- Carter Petersen (8.78, 7^th/12)
4x400m- Montana A (3:14.49, 1^st), Montana B (3:21.75, 4^th)
Triple Jump- Jason Upton (44-11*, 4^th/14), Zane Johnson (44-0.75, 6^th), Dylan Zink (43-5.75, 8^th)
Shot put- Alexander Shields (48-3.5*, 5^th/30)

Women's Pentathlon- Whitney Morrison (3,552*, 2^nd/16), Brooke Stayner (2,869, 12^th)
60mH- Stayner (9.03, 904 pts), Morrison (9.15, 879 pts)
High jump- Stayner (5-1.25, 689), Morrison (5-1.25, 689)
Shot Put- Morrison (34-3, 558), Stayner (30-3.5*, 479)
Long Jump- Morrison (17-3.5*, 634), Stayner (Foul, 0)
800m- Stayner (2:21.96*, 797), Morrison (2:22.34*, 792)

Men's Heptathlon-Porter Coffield (4,525, 4^th)
60m- Coffield (7.28, 785 pts)
Long jump- Coffield (20-11.75, 673)
Shot put- Coffield (35-4*, 532)
High jump- Coffield (5-8.75, 585)
60mH- Coffield (8.67, 820)
Pole vault- Coffield (11-6.5, 488)
1,000m- Coffield (3:02.33, 642)