Griz get five wins in Spokane

Friday, January 17

Spokane, Wash.

Montana

Spokane Indoor Challenge

Photo by: Torrey Vail

1/18/2025 10:04:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana track and field team had a strong start to the 2025 indoor season in Spokane over the weekend with several key veterans making their debuts at The Podium. The Griz had four men claim victories and defending Big Sky Champion Erin Wilde picked up a win for the women.

Montana also had 10 top three finishes and plenty of top fives in a balanced meet all around.

"It was great to have some kids come out with event wins, top threes, and top fives to begin the 2025 campaign," head coach Doug Fraley said. "As with any meet you're going to have a mixed bag, which we got. We saw some really good stuff but have some things we're going to need to get better at in a lot of areas, but there were a lot of positives to take away and that's always a good thing coming off an extended break."

Wilde had her indoor PR to claim the title in the women's high jump, clearing 5-9.75. It's a nearly three-inch improvement from her first meet of the season in Bozeman back in December. Wilde has now won four straight meets dating back to last year's indoor season.

She's just a quarter of an inch short of Brenda Naber's 1994 school record.

"The highlight of the meet in talking about high-level performance was Erin (Wilde) in the high jump," Fraley said. "That's a really big opener for this point in January, and I was really pleased to see her come off the break and put a good meet together like that to get things rolling."

Montana started things off in style on Friday night, winning both of the events that they had student-athletes compete.

Donaven Humphries won the men's weight throw with an impressive mark of 57-2.75 on his third throw of the competition. Humphries, the younger brother of school record holder Shawn Humphries, made quite the first impression for Montana.

It's the best mark in the competition by a Grizzly since Matt Ward cleared the 60-foot mark in 2022.

It was one of two wins for the men's throws group, which had a great weekend as Alex Shields completed the Montana sweep with a win in the shot put. Shields had a new PR with a distance of 55-9.75 to win in the 29-man field.

"It's really good to see our throws group developing," Fraley said. "Coach Kolb is doing a really nice job with that group and we're starting to get the right kind of athletes and the right size in that group. It's really good to see it coming together because that needs to be one of the cornerstones of our program."

Patrick Kremer also picked up a win on Friday night in the men's high jump. Kremer cleared 6-8, missing out on his career best mark by less than an inch. It was a good meet for the Kremer family all around as his sister, Maddie, made her track debut with a fourth place finish in the women's high jump after her four-year volleyball career at Montana.

The final win for Montana came on the track as sophomore Henry Ballinger crossed the line first in the men's mile. Ballinger ran a time of 4:15.01 to lead the 20-man field across the line.

The Grizzlies had two athletes reach the finals of the sprint events in the meet. Tara Ohlwiler reached the 60-meter finals and placed sixth with a time of 7.62.

On the men's side, Cooper Hewett ran a time of 6.85 in the finals to place third in a competitive field. Hewett, Montana's school record holder and the defending Big Sky Champion in the event, has struggled with his health in recent years.

Last year he ran in Bozeman in December, but missed every other regular season meet before winning the title at the Indoor Championships. He got off to a great start in his 5^th year.

"It was great to see Cooper Hewett run a prelim and a final and come out of it healthy. He's the defending Big Sky champ at 60-meters but hasn't been able to stay healthy for any length of time," Fraley said. "It was great seeing a guy like that who decided to come back for a fifth year get through a prelim, knock some rust off, and then run better and get third place in a really good field."

The Grizzlies had some impressive freshmen performances as well, and a number of PRs throughout the rest of the events. In the women's pole vault they had six athletes finish tied for seventh or better with three of them setting personal best marks. The men also had two top three finishes in the event.

The success spread from the track, to the ring, to the pits, as every area had performances to highlight in the first meet of the year.

"What I liked a lot about this weekend was we had a win in the mile, we had wins in the throws, we had a win in the jumps, and some top marks on the track," Fraley said. "It was a good well-rounded effort for our team."

The Griz return to action next week in Moscow, Idaho at the McCluskey Invitational hosted by the University of Idaho. The meet will take place on Friday and Saturday Jan. 24-25.

MONTANA MEN'S RESULTS
60m Final- Cooper Hewett (6.85, 3^rd)
60m Prelims- Cooper Hewett (6.86, 4Q), Karsen Beitz (6.96, 11^th), Teagun Holycross (6.96, 16^th), Brody Thornsberry (7.10, 23^rd), Evan Barnes (7.24, 31^st)
200m- Braden Ankeny (21.51, 5^th/52), Karsen Beitz (21.86, 7^th), Jay Beagle (22.25*, 13^th), Taylor Johnson (22.28, 14^th), Ty Ferguson (22.79, 18^th), Adam Maxwell (23.54*, 33^rd), Brody Thornsberry (DQ), Gordon McMillion (DQ)
400m- Garrett Dahlke (51.38, 13^th/28)
800m- Morgan Amano (1:55.91, 2^nd/18), Michael Jump (1:57.97*, 8^th)
Mile- Henry Ballinger (4:15.01, 1^st/20), Lane Cole (4:18.14, 6^th)
3,000m- Carson Steckelberg (8:57.96, 22^nd/26)
60mH- Evan Barnes (9.18, 13^th/21), Easton Brotherson (10.22, 21^st)
4x400m- Ferguson, Ankeny, Thornsberry, Beagle (3:22.47, 4^th/13)
High Jump- Patrick Kremer (6-8, 1^st/18), Adam Maxwell (6-4.75*, 6^th), Zachary Travis (6-2.75, 8^th)
Pole Vault- Carter Petersen (15-0.25, 2^nd/13), Carson Hegele (15-0.25, 3^rd), Corbin Luce (14-6.25, 8^th), Kevin Swindler (NH)
Long Jump- Caiden Sekuterski (22-5.75, 3^rd/31), Patrick Kremer (22-0.25, 6^th), Gordon McMillion (21-10, 7^th)
Triple Jump- Dylan Zink (42-6.25, 9^th/17)
Shot Put- Alex Shields (55-9.75*, 1^st/29), Donaven Humphries (53-6.5, 4^th), Wade Rykal (50-4*, 6^th)
Weight Throw- Donaven Humphries (57-2.75, 1^st/19), Tyler Bates (53-6.5, 3^rd), Wade Rykal (49-6.5*, 6^th), Alex Shields (48-11.75*, 7^th)

MONTANA WOMEN'S RESULTS
60m Finals- Tara Ohlwiler (7.62, 6^th)
60m Prelims- Tara Ohlwiler (7.63, 6Q), Rileigh McGree (7.71*, 12^th), Brooke Zetooney (7.77, 14^th), Lily Meskers (7.79, 16^th), Claire Hutchison (8.04, 30^th), Destiny Santiago (8.06, 31^st), Audrey Smith (8.18, 36^th),
200m- Lily Meskers (24.82*, 5^th/51), Tara Ohlwiler (24.95*, 6^th), Brooke Zetooney (25.29, 10^th), Claire Hutchison (25.99, 18^th), Jayel Dovichak (26.53, 26^th), Isabelle Berry (26.67, 30^th), Destiny Santiago (26.88*, 32^nd), Audrey Smith (26.99, 34^th)
400m- Sophia Clark (57.46, 3^rd/19)
800m- Libby Hartz (2:20.48, 9^th/21)
3,000m- Iris McKean (10:24.34, 4^th/17), Abigail Case (10:43.04, 7^th)
60mH- Kensey Gault (8.90, 9^th), Jayel Dovichak (8.95, 11^th), Whitney Morrison (9.00, 12^th), Ainsley Shipman (9.17, 14^th), Isabelle Berry (9.22, 15^th)
4x400m- Hutchison, Clark, Zetooney, Meskers (3:53.01, 3^rd/12)
High Jump- Erin Wilde (5-9.75*, 1^st/21), Maddie Kremer (5-3.75, 4^th), Whitney Morrison (5-3.25*, 9^th), Kensey Gault (4-9.5, 15^th)
Pole Vault- Shealyne McGee (12-11.75*, 3^rd/19), Molly Chambers (12-6*, 4^th), Samantha Serex (12-6, 5^th), Chesnee Lawrence (12-0*, 6^th), Hannah Moses (11-6.25, 7^th), Emma Weeden (11-6.25, 7^th), Ani Smith (11-0.25, 10^th)
Long Jump- Whitney Morrison (17-7, 3^rd), Rileigh McGree (17-1.25, 9^th), Emily Maughan (16-7.75, 16^th), Perry Paffhausen (15-11.75, 24^th)
Triple Jump- Ainsley Shipman (38-4.75, 4^th)
Shot Put- Scout Nadeau (44-1.5*, 2^nd/29), Cathlene Van Zyl (41-7.75, 4^th), Morgan Thomas (36-3, 14^th)
Weight Throw- Savana Ramirez (53-8.25, 6^th/31), Scout Nadeau (49-1.5, 9^th), Morgan Thomas (49-1.0*, 10^th), Mary Mickelson (43-7.75, 16^th)

*designates PR