Relay record from 1969 falls at Griz home opener

Friday, March 22

Missoula, Mont.

Montana

Al Manuel Invitational

Photo by: Tommy Martino/UM Athletics

3/22/2024 7:23:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Results Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: Montana Sports Information

The sun was out in Missoula on Friday afternoon and one of the oldest records in the book fell as Montana hosted the 2024 Al Manuel Invitational at Dornblaser Field. The group of Teagun Holycross, Jason Upton, Xavier Melice, and Cooper Hewett ran a 40.35 4x100-meter relay to break a record that had stood since 1969.

The sprint group has been fantastic all year and figures to be a strength for the Grizzlies this year. Upton matched the indoor school record in the 60m before Hewett broke it while winning the Big Sky Championship in the event.

Holycross is an All-Conference performer from last year, while Melice has garnered all sorts of honors throughout his career, including running a leg of the school record 4x400-meter relay.

In the first run of the season in Sacramento, the exchanges were less than perfect and it led to a frustrating time for the group. On Friday afternoon in Missoula, they cleaned up the handoffs and burned around the track.

"We were really frustrated after we ran that event in Sacramento last week because we have a really good quartet, but we just did not do a good job with the baton passing," head coach Doug Fraley said. "We came into this week very determined to fix those problems, and fix them we did. It resulted in us breaking the school record that's been there for over 50 years.

"There's a lot of pride in that group to be able to take down a record that old, and it was definitely the highlight of the meet," Fraley said.

They highlighted the meet with the record, but plenty of other Grizzlies had reason to celebrate as well. The Grizzly women won 12 of 15 events they participated in and the men won nine overall events, including seven races on the track.

"It was a good team effort in all areas today," Fraley said. "I felt like we had some good performances for March across the board, whether it was sprints, hurdles, jump, throws, distance, it was a very solid effort from our team. It was just great to be at Dornblaser Field on a warm, sunny day."

Holycross won the men's 100m and Melice won the 200m to add to their impressive days. Ty Ferguson ran a new personal-best time in the 400 to easily win the event and record a top 80 time in the country with a 48.36 finish.

The Grizzlies ran 1-5 in the men's 1,500m, led by freshman Henry Ballinger at 3:52.20. Jaydon Green won the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.38.

On the track for the women, Mikenna Ells claimed the crown in the 100m with a new PR of 12.19 and Audrey Smith won the 200m. Cosley Bruno won the 400m and MacKenzie Dean claimed the 800m. In the longer distances, Mackenzie Morgan won the 1,500m while Kayla Ingraham took the title in a 1-2-3 Grizzly finish in the 5,000m

Montana had some wins in the field for the women as well. Ariel Clark had a new PR of 177-1 in the hammer throw to win, and she was followed closely by a 177-0 PR from Savana Ramirez. Perry Paffhausen won the long jump at 18-2.5, while Molly Chambers won the pole vault at 12-1.5. Both marks were PRs.

On the men's side, Jethro Thorne won the long jump with a PR of 23-10.25 and Zane Johnson took the title in the pole vault with a mark of 16-7.25.

"Very encouraging day, we were led by a lot of our veterans but we also had a lot of positive signs from our underclassmen that we didn't see a lot during the indoor season," Fraley said. "I would say everything from today from the newcomers to fifth and sixth-year people was very positive."

The Grizzlies had plenty of participation down the board, and while there were only a few other schools and participants in Missoula, Fraley loved the competitive nature that his team showed on Friday.

"You find out a lot about people when they are competing head-to-head in a meet like this," Fraley said. "I thought we had athletes that competed with a lot of pride. In a lot of cases, the biggest competition was from a teammate instead of someone from a different school, and I thought that brought the best out of a lot of them."

The meet schedule was changed on Tuesday as winter weather threatened to ruin any action over the weekend. Fraley was thankful for the quick turnaround from everyone involved to be able to pull off the meet.

"It was a very smooth meet for deciding on Tuesday night to turn this into an all-day Friday meet. It was great weather, quite a few people in the stands, so a big thanks to our event staff and facilities who do a really good job of helping us run home meets," Fraley said.

Montana will now have a week off before competing in the Griz-Cat Dual in Bozeman on April 6.

Men's Results
100m- Teagun Holycross (11.09, 1^st/6), Jason Upton (11.09*, 2^nd)
200m- Xavier Melice (21.74, 1^st/10), Karsen Beitz (21.77, 2^nd), Paul Johnstone (21.93, 3^rd), Taylor Johnson (22.12, 4^th), Cody Lease (22.60, 5^th), Gordon McMillion (22.95, 7^th)
400m- Ty Ferguson (48.36*, 1^st/6), Adam Maxwell (52.95, 6^th)
800m- Casey Crouch (1:55.21, 1^st/7), Michael Jump (1:57.78, 3^rd), Garrett Dahlke (1:59.66, 4^th)
1,500m- Henry Ballinger (3:52.20, 1^st/11), Truman Thompson (3:55.18, 2^nd), Lane Cole (3:56.27*, 3^rd), Truman Cowan (4:06.07, 4^th), Carson Steckelberg (4:10.72, 5^th), Brady Woods (4:16.50, 7^th)
5,000m- Maxwell Scott (15:34.94, 3^rd/9)
110mH- Jaydon Green (14.38, 1^st/7)
4x100m- Holycross, Upton, Melice, Hewett (40.35^, 1^st), Beagle, Beitz, Johnson, Green (41.28, 2^nd)
High Jump- Patrick Kremer (6-3.5, 3^rd/8), Zachary Travis (6-1.5, 4^th), Porter Coffield (5-9.75, 6^th)
Pole Vault- Zane Johnson (16-7.25, 1^st/10), Kevin Swindler (15-3.5, 3^rd), Jackson Merrill (14-9.5, 6^th)
Long Jump- Jethro Thorne (23-10.25*, 1^st/8), Gordon McMillion (23-7.25*, 2^nd)
Triple Jump- Dylan Zink (40-9.75, 3^rd/3)
Hammer Throw- Wade Rykal (151-4, 7^th), Alex Shields (141-8, 9^th), Memphis Black (123-5, 11^th), Walker McDonald (Foul)
Discus- Walker McDonald (141-4, 6^th/11)
Javelin- Evan Todd (215-11, 3^rd/11), Everett Fred (182-3, 6^th), Porter Coffield (143-3, 8^th)

Women's Results
100m- Mikenna Ells (12.19*, 1^st/7), Tara Ohlwiler (12.30, 2^nd), Claire Hutchison (12.36, 3^rd), Lily Meskers (12.36, 4^th), Audrey Smith (12.39, 5^th), Destiny Santiago (12.97*, 6^th)
200m- Audrey Smith (25.91, 1^st/6), Whitney Morrison (26.60*, 2^nd), Ainsley Shipman (26.79, 3^rd), Destiny Santiago (26.91, 5^th)
400m- Cosley Bruno (58.59, 1^st/7), Katie Whitehurst (59.02*, 2^nd)
800m- MacKenzie Dean (2:19.70, 1^st/4)
1,500m- Mackenzie Morgan (4:53.41, 1^st/4), Layne Lathrop (5:08.48, 2^nd), Ella Rubel (5:39.02, 4^th)
5,000m- Kayla Ingraham (18:00.95, 1^st/9), Iris McKean (18:15.32, 2^nd), Jade Hallgrimson (18:23.61, 3^rd), Aby Sherwood (20:49.76, 8^th)
100mH- Ailsa Gilbert (14.82, 1^st/7), Ainsley Shipman (15.33, 2^nd)
400mH- Brooke Stayner (1:03.23, 1^st/4)
4x100m- Meskers, Ells, Hutchison, Ohlwiler (46.42, 1^st), McGree, Smith, Bruno, Santiago (47.65, 2^nd)
High Jump- Claire Hutchison (5-3, 3^rd/6), Whitney Morrison (5-3*, 5^th)
Pole Vault- Molly Chambers (12-1.5, 1^st/8), Emma Zimmerman (12-1.5, 2^nd), Hannah Moses (10-8, 6^th), Chesnee Lawrence (10-8, 6^th)
Long Jump- Perry Paffhausen (18-2.5*, 1^st/9), Ainsley Shipman (17-9.5*, 2^nd), Ailsa Gilbert (17-7.5, 4^th), Brooke Stayner (17-6, 6^th)
Discus- Morgan Thomas (138-6, 3^rd/9), Mary Mickelson (136-2, 4^th), Cathlene Van Zyl (127-3, 6^th)
Hammer Throw- Ariel Clark (177-1*, 1^st/13), Savana Ramirez (177-0*, 2^nd), Scout Nadeau (143-8, 5^th), Morgan Thomas (138-11, 8^th), Mary Mickelson (136-7, 9^th), Molly O'Dell (130-9, 11^th), Cathlene Van Zyl (114-5, 13^th)
Javelin- Lea Moose (140-10, 2^nd/12), Ashley Carroll (127-7, 6^th), Tatum McNamara (122-3, 8^th), Brooke Stayner (76-0, 12^th)

*PR
^School Record