Todd advances to NCAA Championship meet

Wednesday, May 22

Fayetteville, Ark.

Montana

NCAA West First Round

Scenes from day three of the Big Sky Championships in Bozeman, Mont. on May 10, 2024.

Photo by: Jackson Wagner

5/22/2024 9:04:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

Results

By: Montana Sports Information

Evan Todd sat in 36^th place after his second throw at the NCAA First Round meet in Fayetteville, Ark. on Wednesday afternoon. The decorated senior thrower for Montana just one final trip down the runway, one last attempt to prolong an already legendary career.

With his back against the wall, Todd did what he does best. He threw it.

He held nothing back, diving to the ground on the release and crashing onto the runway. After a pair of disappointing first two throws, he watched as his javelin soared through the air.

The final result marked out at 227-0, which moved him up 27 places in the standings and into ninth overall. After coming so close on his previous three trips, Evan Todd had finally booked his appearance at the NCAA Championship Meet.

"It was really a great lesson in athletics the way that things went down with Evan today," head coach Doug Fraley said. "His first two efforts were arguably the two worst throws he's had the entire season. For him to be able to put that on the shelf and get himself mentally and emotionally prepared to do what Evan Todd does on his third attempt in a do-or-die situation, it just shows you the power of having really good focus and discipline and being able to lock in on the task at hand."

There may have been some initial nerves for Todd. His first two throws both measured more than 10 feet in front of his shortest mark at a meet this season. But consistency has been a strength for the Kalispell product, and he delivered on the last throw.

He has now reached at least 227 feet in five straight meets, which includes two marks that have broken the Montana school record. Against the best in the entire West, he found his form when he needed it most.

Todd is the first Montana athlete to compete at the NCAA Championship meet since Hana Feilzer in 2019.

"It's the one thing that Evan hadn't accomplished yet in college athletics, which is representing the University of Montana at the National Championship finals," Fraley said. "It was a great thing, an exciting thing for our program and University to punch his ticket to the highest level in the sport."

In the evening, Zane Johnson put forth an impressive effort in the men's pole vault. Johnson cleared 17-1.5 on his first attempt to hang tough with the best in the region, but was knocked out at 17-5.5. The mark would have been a Montana school record.

This is the fourth time in Johnson's career that he has cleared the 17-foot mark. He did it for the first time at last year's West Regional in Sacramento. This season, he broke the school record with a clearance of 17-3.5 at the Bengal Invitational and also cleared 17-feet at the Big Sky Championship.

The second-best jump of his career moved him up from his seed position of 27^th to a final placement of 22^nd.

"It was a really good finish to Zane's career at Montana," Fraley said. "We're just so proud of Zane and his progression, improvement, and leadership the last couple of years. He's really stepped up and has done a great job getting our pole vault program going. We're very proud of the career that he has had."

Men's Javelin- Evan Todd (227-0^, 9^th)
Men's Pole Vault- Zane Johnson (17-1.5, 22^nd)

^Qualified for the NCAA Championship Meet June 5-8