Montana wraps up Lauren McCluskey Memorial with more good marks

Friday, January 24

Moscow, Idaho

Montana

Lauren McCluskey Memorial Open

Photo by: Torrey Vail

Montana wraps up Lauren McCluskey Memorial with more good marks

1/26/2025 12:21:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Results

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana track and field team completed a good overall team weekend in Moscow, Idaho on Saturday with another balanced effort at the Lauren McCluskey Memorial Open. The Griz added four event wins and plenty of PR performances.

"It was good to follow up a really good day one with a really good day two. It's what we were hoping for after starting out strong last night, and I'm glad that the kids were able to deliver quite a few good performances today," said head coach Doug Fraley.

Montana had a winner on Friday night complete a weekend sweep of his sprint events on Saturday. Freshman Braden Ankeny won the men's 400m with a time of 48.15 seconds in his first collegiate 400.

Ankeny also won the men's 200m on Friday night in a time of 21.74 seconds.

"Braden was great, picked up his second win in the sprints. In his first collegiate indoor 400, he ran a really good time and beat a couple of guys that were in the Big Sky Championship finals last outdoor season," Fraley said. "Another strong performance from him, and I'm really excited for him to be running as well as he is as a freshman."

Ankeny dominated on the track for the Grizzlies, and they also had wins in the field events on both the men's and women's side. Both wins came from the usual suspects in the men's shot put and the women's high jump.

Erin Wilde won her third meet of the season with another good jump, clearing 5-7.25 on her way to the victory. Wilde has cleared at least 5-7 in every meet as she continues an impressive season in defense of last year's Big Sky indoor and outdoor titles.

Alex Shields won on the men's side with his third straight PR in the shot put. It's also Shields' third win in as many meets this season. The sophomore from Missoula improved on his previous best mark by nearly a foot with a throw of 56-8.

Last year at this same meet, Shields had a mark of 48-3.5. He's shown fantastic improvement in the year since to become a contender in the Big Sky Conference. His throw on Saturday is the second-best in the Big Sky this season.

"I thought the way he competed today, and the way he's competed in all three indoor meets, has really been stellar," Fraley said of Shields. "He's doing a really good job and I'm really excited for him because he's a kid that has put in so much work in the offseason. Nobody works harder than he does, and you really like to see kids like that get rewarded."

Montana had impressive performances in a number of other events with sprinters qualifying for finals, distance runners setting new PRs, and the field events showing strong again.

The women's pole vault saw four Montana athletes in the top five as both Shealyne McGee and Samantha Serex cleared 12-10.

"We had another really balanced effort. We had good marks and PRs in sprints, jumps, throws, and distance running. Really what you want to see from a team you're trying to develop is good balance, and I thought we hit really good marks in all areas this weekend."

Montana will now have a week off from competition. They return to action on Feb. 6-8 at the Riverfront Invite and Multi in Spokane, Wash.

"It's great to go two in a row and you really get to see a different between meet one and meet two after coming off the break," Fraley said. "A lot of kids were a lot better prepared to go into competition this week than they were in Spokane, and that's pretty normal off a break, so I felt like we made significant progress between those two meets. Now it's great to have a week off and a two-week training block before the next one to allow us to continue to progress."

MEN'S RESULTS
60m qualifying- Brody Thornsberry (7.10, 3Q), Evan Barnes (7.28, 18^th), Gordon McMillion (7.40, 24^th)
60m prelim- Cooper Hewett (6.87, 1^st/23), Karsen Beitz (6.96, 3^rd), Teagun Holycross (6.96, 5^th), Malaki Simpson (7.01, 11^th), Brody Thornsberry (7.10, 18^th)
60m- Cooper Hewett (6.87, 2^nd), Karsen Beitz (6.98, 4^th), Teagun Holycross (7.14, 8^th)
400m- Braden Ankeny (48.15, 1^st/30), Taylor Johnson (49.00, 4^th), Jay Beagle (49.51, 6^th), Garret Dahlke (50.52*, 12^th), Ty Ferguson (51.46, 19^th), Adam Maxwell (52.41, 23^rd)
800m- Morgan Amano (1:56.74, 14^th)
Mile- Lane Cole (4:15.95, 4^th), Carson Steckelberg (4:25.41, 25^th)
4x400m- Montana A (3:16.26, 1^st), Montana B (3:21.36, 5^th)
60mH prelim- Easton Brotherson (8.43, 3Q), Carter Petersen (8.67, 5Q)
60mH final- Easton Brotherson (8.41, 2^nd), Carter Petersen (8.59*, 3^rd)
Shot put- Alex Shields (56-8*, 1^st/40), Donaven Humphries (52-10.75, 5^th), Wade Rykal (51-8.5*, 8^th)

WOMEN'S RESULTS
60m qualifying- Jayel Dovichak (8.07, 3Q), Isabelle Berry (9^th)
60m prelim- Tara Ohlwiler (7.66, 5Q), Rileigh McGree (7.76, 10^th)
60m final- Tara Ohlwiler (7.66, 4^th)
400m- Sophia Clark (56.75*, 7^th), Claire Hutchison (57.99, 10^th), Cosley Bruno (59.54, 12^th)
800m- Katie Whitehurst (2:18.95, 4^th), Libby Hartz (2:19.36*, 6^th), Mackenzie Morgan (2:20.66, 8^th)
600m- Whitney Morrison (1:38.64, 5^th), Kensey Gault (1:40.52, 6^th)
Mile- Iris McKean (5:13.17, 13^th), Shay Pederson (5:16.25, 14^th)
60mH prelim- Kensey Gault (8.74, 2Q), Ainsley Shipman (8.94, 3Q), Whitney Morrison (8.93, 5Q), Jayel Dovichak (8.96, 6Q), Isabelle Berry (9.34, 10^th)
60mH final- Kensey Gault (8.69*, 2^nd), Jayel Dovichak (8.78, 3^rd), Ainsley Shipman (8.80*, 4^th), Whitney Morrison (8.84*, 5^th)
High jump- Erin Wilde (5-7.25, 1^st/11), Maddie Kremer (5-1.25, 8^th)
Pole vault- Shealyne McGee (12-10, 2^nd/19), Samantha Serex (12-10*, 3^rd), Emma Weeden (12-4, 4^th), Molly Chambers (11-10, 5^th), Hannah Moses (10-10.25, 8^th)
Shot put- Scout Nadeau (44-5.25*, 3^rd/35), Cathlene Van Zyl (43-10*, 5^th), Morgan Thomas (38-6, 12^th), Whitney Morrison (36-3, 17^th)

FRIDAY - MEN'S RESULTS
200m- Braden Ankeny (21.74, 1^st/59), Karsen Beitz (22.02, 8^th), Teagun Holycross (22.49, 15^th), Malaki Simpson (22.57, 17^th)
1,000m- Morgan Amano (2:32.21, 4^th/14)
3,000m- Lane Cole (8:31.94*, 5^th/51), Carson Steckelberg (8:51.16*, 22^nd)
High jump- Patrick Kremer (6-9.75*, 2^nd/18), Zachary Travis (6-2, 10^th), Adam Maxwell (6-2, 10^th)
Pole vault- Carson Hegele (16-0.75*, 2^nd/21), Carter Petersen (15-7, 3^rd), Corbin Luce (14-7.25, 9^th)
Long jump- Gordon McMillion (23-8.75*, 2^nd), Caiden Sekuterski (23-2*, 4^th), Brody Thornsberry (21-11*, 8^th)
Weight throw- Donaven Humphries (59-5.5*, 2^nd/41), Tyler Bates (54-8.25*, 8^th), Wade Rykal (49-2.5, 15^th)

FRIDAY - WOMEN'S RESULTS
200m- Lily Meskers (24.52*, 1^st/53), Tara Ohlwiler (24.82*, 3^rd), Sophia Clark (25.42, 11^th), Claire Hutchison (25.86, 16^th), Isabelle Berry (26.35*, 22^nd), Brooke Zetooney (27.68, 33^rd)
3,000m- Abigail Case (11:00.78, 22^nd)
DMR- Pederson, Bruno, Hartz, McKean (12:23.78, 6^th/9)
Long jump- Ainsley Shipman (18-11.75*, 2^nd/23), Whitney Morrison (18-6.5*, 5^th), Rileigh McGree (18-4.5*, 6^th), Kensey Gault (17-3.5*, 11^th)
Weight throw- Savana Ramirez (54-0, 5^th/37), Morgan Thomas (50-7.75*, 8^th), Scout Nadeau (47-11.25, 10^th)