Griz off to impressive start at Big Sky Indoor Championship

Photo by: Northern Arizona Athletics

Griz off to impressive start at Big Sky Indoor Championship

2/28/2025 10:10:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

By: Montana Sports Information

The momentum that the Montana track & field team built during the regular season has carried over into the first few days of the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships in Flagstaff, Ariz.

The Grizzlies broke three school records Friday evening on the way to a great first full day of the meet on both sides. Entering the final day of competition, Montana sits in third in the women's competition with 38.5 points and fifth in the men's at 23 points.

Montana's women have already eclipsed last year's point total at the Indoor Championships with plenty of points still on the board. Last year, they placed 9^th with 30 points.

The finals that they had produced points, and the prelims on the track gave Montana plenty more scoring opportunities heading into Saturday.

"I'm really pleased with the day. The finals that we had today we had awesome results with in terms of people scoring and really doing a good job in different groups," head coach Doug Fraley said. "And then with the athletes that we had that needed to advance, we got a lot of people through to tomorrow. Looking at it holistically, we have a lot of bullets left in the gun for finals Saturday.

"This is a position that we haven't been in since I've been here, and I feel like tomorrow we have an opportunity to go out and finish this meet off really well with great team results."

Whitney Morrison set the tone for the event with a Big Sky title on Thursday in the women's pentathlon. On Friday, two more individuals and one relay team earned All-Conference honors.

The performance of the day came from Samantha Serex in the women's pole vault. The event was expected to be a strength for Montana, and Serex and her teammates delivered for Fraley.

Serex had neared 13 feet several times this season, but hadn't cleared that mark as a Grizzly. On Friday, she went up and over 13-3.5 on her very first attempt to guarantee a spot on the All-Conference team. After a miss at 13-5.25, Serex elected to pass and move up to the next bar.

The move paid off for Serex as she broke the Montana school record, set just weeks ago by Shealyne McGee, by clearing 13-7.25 on her second attempt. It earned her runner-up in the Big Sky Conference and earned her team eight points.

"(Serex) led the way with the school record, and we couldn't be more proud of her. Sam is a young lady that transferred from UCLA and she's had a lot of injuries since she got to Missoula," Fraley said. "She's just been plugging away, she's been diligent, she's been stubborn, and has gotten herself to the point where she was able to go out there today and break the school record, set a lifetime best, and win a silver medal. We are thrilled for her and proud of her."

The rest of the Grizzly vaulters delivered as well as Montana exceeded their point projection based on the meet performance list. Molly Chambers had a PR of 12-11.5 to place fourth and Shealyne McGee cleared the same bar to take fifth. Emma Weeden earned a half-point with a mark of 12-1.5.

"The women pole vaulters were amazing today," Fraley said. "Putting 17.5 points on the board for us, that is a real strength."

Patrick Kremer also earned All-Conference honors for the third time in his career in the men's high jump. It was the best performance of his career. Kremer had one miss each at four straight bars starting at 6-6.25, but he cleared his second attempt all the way up to 6-10.75.

He used his third and final attempt to go over the bar at 6-11.75 to set a new PR and earn a silver medal and eight points for the Grizzlies.

"Patrick is a podium machine when it comes to Big Sky Championships and that continued today," Fraley said. "He pushed one of the best jumpers in the country to his max today and jumped one quarter of an inch below seven feet. He's getting close to that seven-foot barrier, which is elite in college athletics."

Kremer followed his older sister Maddie, a volleyball player for the Grizzlies, to Montana. He joined the track team, and has been an impactful athlete ever since.

"I'm so proud of him. He was a walk-on that came into my office when I was hired and he was already a freshman at UM and wanted to know if he could be on the track team. He had a 6-2 PR in high school, so he's a real success story coming from a last-minute walk-on to a multiple time All-Big Sky guy getting close to the seven foot barrier."

The final All-Conference honor of Friday came from the men's distance medley relay team. The squad of Cutter Thatcher, Morgan Amano, Keagen Crosby, and Lane Cole kept pace with the league's elite and earned their way onto the podium.

The event can be hard to predict with many schools not running during the regular season, but it's a fantastic result for the group of Grizzlies.

"That was one of the absolute highlights of the day. We were really anticipating getting somewhere between fifth and seventh in that event, and those guys really performed at a high level and made the podium," Fraley said. "I'm so proud of that quartet to be able to come together like that and really outperform the predictions and get on the podium, it's no easy chore in the Big Sky Conference."

The pole vault and pentathlon are two strengths for the Grizzly women, but they also picked up some points in the weight throw thanks to a PR from Savana Ramirez.

Ramirez used her first throw of the competition to leave her mark, registering a new personal best and placing fifth with a throw of 57-6.5.

Missoula native Gordon McMillion delivered for his home town team in the men's long jump, finishing in fourth place with a mark of 23-4.

The day started with a fantastic effort from freshman Oliver Simianer in the men's heptathlon. Simianer sat in 10^th place following the first six events of the multi, and appeared to be well outside of scoring range.

It would take a heroic effort in the 1,000m for Simianer to make his way back up inside the top eight, and he pulled through with just that. The freshman won the race and the final event of the heptathlon by over 13 seconds to move into eighth and claim a point for his team.

On the track, Montana competed in plenty of prelims but did what they needed to do and then some in qualifying for several finals.

There were school records to be had on the track for both the Grizzly men and women. Tara Ohlwiler broke her own 60m school record with a new best time of 7.49 seconds. Karsen Beitz also broke his own school record, running a time of 21.30 in the men's 200m to reach the finals.

"Those were fantastic runs to break school records, set personal records, and position themselves well for the finals tomorrow," Fraley said. "We couldn't ask for more from the two of them with regards to that."

The duo were part of a group of six Grizzlies that advanced to Saturday's finals on the track. Montana will have guaranteed points from those six athletes as they look to far exceed their preseason expectations.

Cooper Hewett, the defending Big Sky Champion in the 60m, reached the final with a time of 6.83. Freshman Braden Ankeny also reached a final on the men's side with a time of 47.64 in the men's 400m.

The Grizzly women had two athletes advance in the women's 60-meter hurdles. Freshman Kensey Gault, who already has scored four points for the Griz in the pentathlon, advanced with a time of 8.73.

Jayel Dovichak also reached the finals with a time 8.60.

On top of that, Montana will have several field events remaining where they have athletes expected to compete for Big Sky titles. It all sets up for a potentially super Saturday in Flagstaff.

"We feel really good with the momentum that we have that started yesterday and continued through today with the multis," Fraley said. " It was really just a wave of momentum that we just kept going throughout the course of the day. Our hope is that our kids get a good night's rest because it's a quick turnaround tomorrow and we're able to come out and continue to ride that momentum through the end of the meet."

WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES
1.Northern Arizona – 52
2.Montana State – 49.5
3.Montana – 38.5
4.Eastern Washington – 30
5.Idaho State – 18
6.Idaho – 17
7.Sacramento State – 14
8.Northern Colorado – 11
9.Weber State – 4

MEN'S TEAM SCORES
1.Northern Arizona – 71
2.Montana State – 51
3.Sacramento State – 27
4.Idaho – 24
5.Montana – 23
6.Idaho State – 16
7.Weber State – 12
8.Northern Colorado – 5
9.Portland State – 4
10.Eastern Washington - 1

MEN'S RESULTS
60m Prelim- Cooper Hewett (6.83, 8Q), Karsen Beitz (6.84, 9^th), Teagun Holycross (6.85, 10^th), Malaki Simpson (6.97, 21^st)
200m Prelim- Karsen Beitz (21.30^, 2Q), Malaki Simpson (21.55, 11^th), Braden Ankeny. (21.71, 13^th)
400m Prelim- Braden Ankeny (47.64, 5Q), Taylor Johnson (48.22, 10^th), Jay Beagle (48.56, 12^th), Ty Ferguson (49.82, 18^th)
60mH Prelim- Easton Brotherson (8.52, 12^th)
DMR- Thatcher, Amano, Crosby, Cole (9:58.93, 3^rd)
High jump- Patrick Kremer (6-11.75*, 2^nd), Adam Maxwell (6-4.25, 9^th), Zachary Travis (6-2.25, 11^th)
Long jump- Gordon McMillion (23-4, 4^th), Caiden Sekuterski (22-1.75, 11^th)
Weight throw- Donaven Humphries (60-1.25, 6^th), Tyler Bates (52-0, 17^th)

Men's Heptathlon- Oliver Simianer (4,359, 8th)
60m- Simianer (7.57, 11^th)
Long jump- Simianer (21-6.25, 3^rd)
Shot put- Simianer (26-2.75, 12^th)
High jump- Simianer (5-8.5, 7^th)
60mH- Simianer (8.65, 8^th)
Pole vault- Simianer (11-1.5, 8^th)
1,000m- Simianer (2:52.88, 1^st)

WOMEN'S RESULTS
60m Prelims- Tara Ohlwiler (7.49^, 5Q), Rileigh McGree (7.66*, 13^th)
200m Prelims- Tara Ohlwiler (24.47*, 10^th), Lily Meskers (24.57, 13^th)
400m Prelims- Sophia Clark (55.36, 9^th)
60mH Prelims- Kensey Gault (8.73, 4Q), Jayel Dovichak (8.60, 5Q)
DMR- Hartz, Hutchison, McKean, Clark (12:24.81, 6^th)
Pole vault- Samantha Serex (13-7.25^*, 2^nd), Molly Chambers (12-11.5*, 4^th), Shealyne McGee (12-11.5, 5^th), Emma Weeden (12-1.5, t8th), Hannah Moses (11-7.75, 11^th)
Long jump- Ainsley Shipman (18-8.5, 9^th), Whitney Morrison (18-4.5, 10^th), Rileigh McGree (17-3.5, 15^th)
Weight throw- Savana Ramirez (57-6.5*, 5^th), Morgan Thomas (52-2.75, 13^th), Scout Nadeau (50-6.25, 16^th)

*Denotes PR
Q- qualified for Saturday's final

Montana Men's Point Scorers
Patrick Kremer – 8, high jump
Distance medley relay - 6
Gordon McMillion – 5, long jump
Donaven Humphries – 3, weight throw
Oliver Simianer – 1, heptathlon

Women's Point Scorers
Whitney Morrison – 10, pentathlon
Samantha Serex – 8, pole vault
Molly Chambers – 5, pole vault
Shealyne McGee – 4, pole vault
Kensey Gault – 4, pentathlon
Savana Ramirez – 4, weight throw
Distance medley relay- 3
Emma Weeden – 0.5, pole vault