Todd wins as Griz start outdoor season in California

Friday, March 15

Sacramento, Calif.

Montana

Hornet Invitational

Scenes from the Griz-Cat Dual at Dornblaser Track on April 1, 2023.

Photo by: UM Photo/Tommy Martino

Todd wins as Griz start outdoor season in California

3/16/2024 8:58:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Results

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana track and field got the outdoor season off to a fast start in Sacramento this weekend at the Hornet Invitational. A small squad of Grizzly athletes participated in a loaded event that featured several large California schools in fields with as many as 100 athletes.

The competition brought out some impressive season-opening performances from Montana. After a Montana winter and an indoor season that exceeded expectations, the Grizzlies adjusted quickly to the outdoor meet.

"I think we got off to a good start team-wide. It was great to get out here, the weather was outstanding, and just get into the swing of things," head coach Doug Fraley said. "It's a big adjustment to go from competing in arenas to big, wide-open spaces. It's an adjustment period, and I'm glad we were able to get some kids out here this weekend and go through that process."

Montana had several athletes open the season with personal best marks, including at least one athlete in every running event on the women's side. When comparing marks between this meet and last year's season opener, which took place at the end of March in snowy Missoula, there were major improvements shown in 2024.

"It's great because we did see a lot of improvement from first week marks last year outdoors to this meet. It's kind of the measuring stick that you use this time of year, and I felt like we made good progress with that," Fraley said. "I felt like some of our newcomers that had their first outdoor meet did a good job, so all-in-all it was a solid team effort for the middle of March."

The men's side had a couple of standout performances by seniors Evan Todd and Jason Upton. Todd, the two-time defending Big Sky champion in javelin, started his title defense well with a throw of 211-9. He won the 20-man event against some high-level California competition.

"I think the big highlight is Evan getting a win. He is, if not the most valuable athlete on our team certainly one of the top," Fraley said. "To see him get into action and pull out a win in a big meet with a lot of California schools was great."

Upton, who had a tremendous indoor season that included All-Conference honors in the long jump, kept that momentum rolling as he began his outdoor campaign. Upton matched a PR with a jump of 24-8.5 to finish fourth.

"Jason Upton had a really good performance, that's a really big long jump for the month of March," Fraley said. "He jumped that same mark at the outdoor conference meet last year with a gale force wind behind him, so that was by far the biggest jump of his life."

The competition was impressive across the board. Todd was the only win, but the men had several more top five performances outside of Upton. Zane Johnson finished second in the pole vault with a mark of 16-5.75, Paul Johnstone was third in the 400m with a time of 48.17, and Jaydon Green was fifth with a time of 14.53 in the 110m hurdles.

Lily Meskers paced the women's sprints with a pair of PR's in the 100m (12.13) and the 200m (24.82). Katie Whitehurst backed up a solid indoor season with a big PR in the women's 800m, running a 2:12.47 to finish fifth.

Stanford, California, UC Davis, Sacramento State, San Jose State, and many other high-level schools participated in the meet.

"It's why we come to California for a meet like this. It's the land of athletes, so every school in California has good athletes because it's such a rich recruiting field," Fraley said. "It's why we wanted to get out here in the middle of March, mix it up, and see where we're at. It gives a lot of kids a good barometer of things as we move forward into the outdoor season."

The Grizzlies will return home next week for the annual Al Manuel Invitational meet, which typically marks the start of outdoor season for Montana. This week gave them a head start on the year, and it will hopefully pay dividends for the Grizzlies as the season progresses.

"I think it makes the next few meets a lot easier with having experienced an outdoor meet away from home," Fraley said. "Now you come back and we're on spring break so we will have a really good week of training and then everybody is excited about competing at home."

There were some things that didn't go exactly to plan for Fraley and the Grizzlies in Sacramento, but just getting a meet under their belts is a great start. Fraley said that the key was to get into live competition and see where they stacked up.

"It was a pretty typical track meet, you had a mixed bag of some really good, some good, and some not-so-good," Fraley said. "I think out team understands that the purpose of this meet is just to get a barometer of where we're at. We've got a lot of work to do as we move forward, but I thought this was a really positive start.

Women's Results
100m- Lily Meskers (12.13*, 29^th/99), Tara Ohlwiler (12.15, 30^th), Mikenna Ells (12.25, 36^th)
200m- Lily Meskers (24.82*, 27^th/136), Mikenna Ells (24.89*, 32^nd), Claire Hutchison (25.27, 47^th)
400m- Whitney Morrison (58.10*, 17^th/67)
800m- Katie Whitehurst (2:12.47*, 5^th/53), Mackenzie Morgan (2:16.11, 15^th)
100mH- Jayel Dovichak (14.19, 8^th/54), Ailsa Gilbert (14.63, 16^th), Whitney Morrison (14.63, 17^th), Brooke Stayner (14.66, 18^th)
4x100m- DNF
Long Jump- Ailsa Gilbert (16-10.75, 23^rd/37), Whitney Morrison (16-7.75, 25^th)
High Jump- Erin Wilde (5-3.75, 6^th/31), Brooke Stayner (4-11.75, 17^th), Claire Hutchison (4-11.75, 23^rd)
Pole Vault- Emma Zimmerman (11-11.75, 10^th/32), Molly Chambers (11-11.75, 11^th)
Shot Put- Cathlene Van Zyl (41-8.5, 12^th/28)
Hammer Throw- Savana Ramirez (167-8, 8^th/27)
Javelin- Lea Moose (134-2, 8^th/25)

Men's Results
100m- Cooper Hewett (10.59, 7^th/98), Karsen Beitz (10.75, 15^th),
200m- Cooper Hewett (21.72, 15^th/129), Xavier Melice (21.85, 19^th), Paul Johnstone (21.89, 23^rd), Taylor Johnson (21.94*, 25^th), Karsen Beitz (22.00, 28^th, Jason Upton (22.42*, 50^th)
400m- Paul Johnstone (48.17, 3^rd/75), Taylor Johnson (48.40*, 9^th), Xavier Melice (48.72, 15^th)
110mH- Jaydon Green (14.53, 5^th/31)
400mH- Adam Maxwell (56.48, 14^th/28)
4x100m- 41.03, 4^th/21
Long Jump- Jason Upton (24-8.5*, 4^th/35), Jethro Thorne (23-1.25, 11^th), Patrick Kremer (22-7.75*, 13^th), Gordon McMillion (21-10, 16^th)
High Jump- Patrick Kremer (6-3.25, 11^th/29), Zachary Travis (6-1.25, 13^th), Adam Maxwell (5-11.25, 20^th)
Pole Vault- Zane Johnson (16-4.75, 2^nd/26),
Hammer Throw- Walker McDonald (147-9, 17^th/23)
Discus- Walker McDonald (148-10, 8^th/21)
Javelin- Evan Todd (211-9, 1^st/20), Everett