Montana to honor seniors at Tom Gage Classic

Saturday, May 4

Missoula, Mont.

Montana

Tom Gage Classic

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

5/2/2024 3:12:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Performance List

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana track and field program will honor 19 seniors before the Tom Gage Classic this Saturday at Dornblaser Field. The Grizzlies are graduating a group that includes 11 school records, 10 Big Sky Championships, and a complete collection of student-athletes that have left a lasting mark on the Montana program.

It's a group that has been there, done that, with several of the athletes joined the team back in the fall of 2018 and were able to participate in the Big Sky Championships at home in 2019. Some joined Montana during the COVID season and saw their first collegiate action taken from them as the world recovered.

There are some in this class that have transferred to the University of Montana, finishing out their careers in the maroon and silver of Montana. There have been moments of triumph and of pain. Championship performances for the ages. Injuries that leave us asking what could have been.

Saturday will be an opportunity for family, friends, and fans to say thank you.

"It's going to be great honoring those young men and women because we have an excellent senior class," head coach Doug Fraley said. "Some are fourth years, some are fifth years, some are even sixth years, and we've got a lot of school record holders in that group that have really meant a lot to our track and field program for the last 4-6 years."

Outside of just the impact on the track or in the field, this group has President's Awards and Grizzly Cup winners, top student-athletes, and role models in the community of Missoula.

"We have other athletes on the roster that have been stellar students and upstanding individuals," Fraley said. "We're looking forward to honoring all of those people on Saturday for their contributions to our program in a variety of ways."

The meet will open at 10:00 a.m. with the women's hammer throw. The first track event will be the women's steeplechase at 11:40. The national anthem and Senior Day recognition will begin at 12:30 p.m.

Montana will compete against Montana State in the meet with some athletes from Idaho State, MSU-Billings, and Rocky Mountain also in the field.

It's the last chance meet for Montana before they head over the Continental Divide next week for the Big Sky Championships in Bozeman beginning May 8. There will be plenty of Grizzlies that won't compete on Saturday as they rest up for the conference championship, but for those in action it will be one last chance to earn a roster spot.

"Probably the most important piece of this meet for some individuals is that there are still open roster spots that we're trying to solidify for the conference meet," Fraley said. "We will have athletes that are going out there and trying to make the conference roster based on their performance this week."

There will still be some of the top athletes on the Montana roster competing on Saturday as well as they look to maintain form heading into the Big Sky meet.

Ariel Clark is currently 3^rd in the Big Sky in the hammer and 47^th in the West, and will compete on Saturday hoping to not only gain some momentum but also potentially improve her mark for a better chance at regionals.

It's been a notable season for many Montana athletes as we enter the month of May. Last week at the Bengal Invitational, Zane Johnson and Jaydon Green both set school records in their respective events.

Johnson, who is also competing Saturday, has now gone higher in the pole vault than any Grizzly before him, clearing 17-3.5 to break Keith Webber's 10-year old school record. He also moved up to 23^rd in the West Region with the mark, all but guaranteeing a spot at the NCAA First Round.

Green broke his own school record, but in a highly competitive event will still have work to do in Bozeman next week as the defending conference champion if he wants a return trip to regionals. He currently has the eight fastest times in program history in the event.

Evan Todd won't throw on Saturday, instead using his final home meet two weeks ago as a send-off. He did it in style, breaking the Griz school record and moving up to 15^th in the region with a mark of 234-5.

Todd owns six of the 10 best marks in Montana program history after his mark of 228-4 at the Bengal Invitational. His most recent mark was the sixth-best in program history, and is the fourth throw this season for Todd that ranks within the top seven in Montana's history.

Erin Wilde had her top performance in an impressively consistent season in Pocatello. She cleared 5-8.75, extending her lead atop the Big Sky performance list and moving into the top 40 in the region. She should be safely into the Regional field of 48 after the performance.

Jason Upton is schedule to compete in the men's long jump. Upton has the two best jumps by a Montana athlete since 2000, and currently owns four of the top 10 long jump performances this century. He narrowly missed out on regional qualification last year as the last man out, and is currently ranked 47^th this season.

Jayel Dovichak ran an altitude-adjusted time of 13.91 in the prelims of the 100-meter hurdles at the Bengal Invitational. The freshman from Canada became just the fourth Grizzly since 2000 to run a sub 14-second time in the event.

Samantha Serex, a transfer from UCLA with regional experience in the pole vault, has been recovering from an injury all season. Last week, she had her best performance by clearing 13-0.25. It's the 4^th-best mark in the Big Sky and ranks 61^st in the region.

Freshman Henry Ballinger has been one of the best middle distance runners for Montana in some year, running the second-best 1,500-meter time (3:45.38) and fifth-best 800-meter time for the Grizzlies since 2000.

Montana will open the Big Sky Conference Championship with the heptathlon on May 8-9. The full meet will run on May 10-11.

Montana Women's Entries
100m- Mikenna Ells, Lily Meskers, Audrey Smith, Destiny Santiago
200m- Claire Hutchison, Audrey Smith, Cosley Bruno, Destiny Santiago
400m- Claire Hutchison, Cosley Bruno
800m- Mackenzie Morgan, MacKenzie Dean, Jaylyn Hallgrimson, Layne Lathrop, Ella Rubel
1,500m- Jaylyn Hallgrimson, Kayla Ingraham, Iris McKean, Jade Hallgrimson, Abby Sherwood
5,000m- Iris McKean, Abby Sherwood
High Jump- Erin Wilde, Claire Hutchison
Pole Vault- Samantha Serex, Emma Zimmerman, Molly Chambers, Chesnee Lawrence, Hannah Moses
Long Jump- Ainsley Shipman, Perry Paffhausen
Shot Put- Cathlene Van Zyl, Scout Nadeau, Morgan Thomas, Whitney Morrison
Discus- Morgan Thomas, Mary Mickelson, Cathlene Van Zyl
Hammer- Ariel Clark, Savana Ramirez, Morgan Thomas, Mary Mickelson, Scout Nadeau, Molly O'Dell, Cathlene Van Zyl
Javelin- Lea Moose, Ashley Carroll, Tatum McNamara, Brooke Stayner

Montana Men's Entries
100m- Teagun Holycross
200m- Paul Johnstone, Jay Beagle, Ty Ferguson, Cade Johnstone, Gordon McMillion, Garrett Dahlke
400m- Garrett Dahlke, Henry Ballinger, Truman Thompson
800m- Casey Crouch, Lane Cole, Michael Jump, Brady Woods, Colin Shaules
1,500m- Colin Shaules, Brady Woods, Zachary Giesch
5,000m- Maxwell Scott, Zachary Giesch
400mH- Adam Maxwell
Steeple- Carson Steckelberg
High Jump- Patrick Kremer, Zachary Travis, Adam Maxwell, Rhett Reynolds
Pole Vault- Zane Johnson, Kevin Swindler, Carson Hegele, Carter Petersen, Jackson Merrill
Long Jump- Jason Upton, Jethro Thorne, Gordon McMillion, Patrick Kremer
Triple Jump- Dylan Zink
Shot Put- Alex Shields, Wade Rykal, Memphis Black, Porter Coffield
Discus- Walker McDonald, Porter Coffield
Hammer- Walker McDonald, Wade Rykal, Alex Shields, Memphis Black
Javelin- Everett Fred, Porter Coffield