Griz shatter expectations at Big Sky Indoor Championship

Thursday, February 27

Flagstaff, Ariz.

Montana

Big Sky Indoor Championships

Photo by: Northern Arizona Athletics

Griz shatter expectations at Big Sky Indoor Championship

3/1/2025 7:11:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Results

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana had limited expectations entering the Big Sky Indoor Championships in Flagstaff this weekend, picked in the preseason poll to finish 5^th and 9^th in the league on the men's and women's sides, respectively.

Head coach Doug Fraley's squads blew those expectations out of the water in a fantastic meet inside the Walkup Skydome, finishing third on the men's side and fourth on the women's.

The Grizzly men scored 69 points to finish in third. It's the most points and the best finish for the Montana men's team since 2014. They also finished third that year behind 87 total points.

The women had their best showing since 2017 when they finished second at the conference meet, scoring 66.5 points for fourth. They also had two Big Sky Champions in the same meet for the first time since 2019.

"It means the world to our program. At some point when you're building a program, you've got to get validation through team finishes. I feel like we're starting to get in that area where we are getting some validation with what we're doing in the program. We're just really proud and very excited with the improvements that we've had in the last three indoor seasons."

It's become the expectation that whenever Erin Wilde enters a high jump competition, she will leave it with the win. The Big Sky Championship was no exception.

The junior from Whitefish entered Saturday with three Big Sky titles already to her name, and had not lost a competition yet this season.

A competitive field pushed Wilde to new heights, as she broke the Montana school record and became the first female in school history to clear the six-foot mark. She did it on her first attempt, winning her fourth straight conference crown with the best jump of her career.

"Erin knows how to get it done at championship meets and it was just awesome to watch her not only win her fourth consecutive Big Sky title but do it in style with a new PR, school record, and joining the 6-foot club," Fraley said." That's a huge milestone for women's collegiate high jump, and it's fantastic."

Wilde's mark ties her for 17^th in the country, putting her among the nation's elite in the event. The top 16 athletes are selected to participate at the Indoor NCAA National Championships.

Karsen Beitz joined the ranks of All-Conference athletes for Montana. The sophomore from Missoula set the school record earlier in the year, and then followed it up with an even faster time on Friday to qualify for the finals.

Once there, Beitz won his heat and came within .02 seconds of a Big Sky title, earning the silver medal with a run of 21.38.

"For a guy that was a walk-on and the last person we let on the roster in the summer of 2023 to go to a silver medalist at the Big Sky Championship, just a whisker from winning the whole thing, I'm just so proud of the way he's developed," Fraley said. "He's now maturing as an athlete and I thought his performance was fantastic this weekend."

The men's 4x400-meter relay team joined the All-Conference discussion with their best run of the season. Montana entered with the third best time in the Big Sky this year, but the grouping of Jay Beagle, Taylor Johnson, Ty Ferguson, and Braden Ankeny cut over two seconds off that time and finished as the runner-up.

They ran a time of 3:12.53, coming in just behind the host Northern Arizona team.

Montana's women picked up another chunk of points early on in the day with the women's 60-meter hurdle final. They pushed two athletes through to the final, guaranteeing a couple of point scorers.

Jayel Dovichak then ran a personal record time of 8.60 seconds to just miss out on the Big Sky podium. Freshman Kensey Gault finished in 8.71 seconds to take sixth place as the duo combined for eight points in the event.

The men had a top five finish from a freshman in the 400-meter final. Braden Ankeny ran the best time of his young collegiate career, moving up from his pre-meet seed of six with a new record of 47.60 seconds.

"Braden had a great indoor season for us as a true freshman and held serve today in a great final," Fraley said.

The pole vault was a strength for the Grizzly women yesterday, and the men followed suit on Saturday. They earned 12 points in the event, finishing 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th with a trio of athletes. Carson Weeden led the way, followed by Kevin Swindler and Carson Hegele.

Cooper Hewett held his position in the men's 60m in another impressive field of runners, recording a season best time of 6.81 to finish 4^th in the sprint event.

"It's great to have people like Cooper come in and have his best race of the year," Fraley said. "He came in ranked 7^th, he qualified 8^th, and then he goes in the final and gets 4^th. That was a great effort from Cooper."

The Grizzlies got a big improvement from the performance lists in the men's triple jump. Freshman Caiden Sekuterski recorded a career best jump of 46-5.5 to move from outside of the scoring range in the performance list to a fourth place finish.

"There are a lot of things that take place in a meet, there are some highs and some lows, but the areas where we maybe dropped a point there was always somebody there that picked it up. Caiden Sekuterski in the triple jump wasn't slated to score and ended up getting 4^th. It's those kind of things that really turn your team fortunes around."

The relays finished things off, and they did it in style. The women's team set a new school record for the second time this year, running a time of 3:30.63 to finish fourth in the event.

It brought the point total up to 66.5 for the Montana women, the most at an indoor championship since 2017. The Grizzlies finished 9^th in the event last year, and were projected at the start of the season to finish 9^th yet again.

Behind some impressive returning veterans and some up-and-coming talents, the women shattered the expectations placed upon them to finish fourth.

"I'm so proud of the women's team. 9^th place last year, picked to be 9^th again this year, and the ladies that returned this year took it as a challenge to finish much higher in the Big Sky. We've added some key pieces with newcomers, and I can't tell you how proud we are as a staff of the women's team and the way they've turned it around."

The men's relay team took care of business to earn a silver medal and cap off a fantastic week for the Montana track program.

"The biggest thing that I'm proud of on both sides is we had an impact from scoring in all areas. Distance with the distance medley relay points, the sprints, the hurdles, the vertical jumps, the horizontal jumps, the throws," Fraley said. "Every area of our team contributed to these finishes and that's what I'm most proud of because that's the type of team we're trying to build at the University of Montana.

"I have to give credit to my staff," Fraley said. "A head coach is only as good as the staff that they hire and the job that those assistant coaches do and I feel really good about the staff that we have in place. A big credit to all my assistant coaches."

WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES
1.Northern Arizona – 205
2.Montana State – 132.5
3.Sacramento State - 78
4.Montana – 66.5
5.Idaho State – 47
6.Idaho – 45
7.Eastern Washington - 41
8.Weber State - 27
9.Northern Colorado – 19
10.Portland State - 1

MEN'S TEAM SCORES
1. Northern Arizona – 188
2. Montana State – 148
3. Montana – 69
4. Northern Colorado – 50
5. Idaho – 45
t6. Eastern Washington – 44
t6. Sacramento State – 44
8. Weber State – 36
9. Idaho State – 31
10. Portland State - 5

WOMEN'S RESULTS
60m- Tara Ohlwiler (7.50, 4^th)
Mile- Libby Hartz (5:32.46, 27^th)
3,000m- Iris McKean (10:41.75, 21^st)
60mH- Jayel Dovichak (8.60*, 4^th), Kensey Gault (8.71, 6^th)
4x400m- Clark, Morrison, Hutchison, Meskers (3:40.63^, 4^th)
High jump- Erin Wilde (6-0*^, 1^st), Maddie Kremer (5-2.25, 10^th)
Triple jump- Ainsley Shipman (37-10.5, 10^th)
Shot put- Scout Nadeau (43-3.25, 12^th), Morgan Thomas (41-5.25, 17^th), Cathlene Van Zyl (41-5, 18^th)

MEN'S RESULTS
60m- Cooper Hewett (6.81, 4^th)
200m- Karsen Beitz (21.38, 2^nd)
400m- Braden Ankeny (47.60, 5^th)
Mile- Lane Cole (4:19.70, 17^th), Keagen Crosby (4:26.97, 22^nd), Morgan Amano (4:44.42, 28^th)
4x400m- Beagle, Johnson, Ferguson, Ankeny (3:12.53, 2^nd)
Pole vault- Carson Weeden (16-10.25, 4^th), Kevin Swindler (16-6.5, 5^th), Carson Hegele (15-10.5, 6^th)
Triple jump- Caiden Sekuterski (46-5.5, 4^th)
Shot put- Alex Shields (56-0.5, 6^th), Wade Rykal (53-.7.75, 8^th), Donaven Humphries (53-1.5, 9^th)

^School Record
*PR

Montana Men's Point Scorers
Patrick Kremer – 8, high jump
Karsen Beitz – 8, 200m
4x400m Relay - 8
Distance medley relay - 6
Gordon McMillion – 5, long jump
Caiden Sekuterski – 5, triple jump
Cooper Hewett – 5, 60m
Carson Weeden – 5, pole vault
Braden Ankeny – 4, 400m
Kevin Swindler – 4, pole vault
Donaven Humphries – 3, weight throw
Alex Shields – 3, shot put
Carson Hegele – 3, pole vault
Oliver Simianer – 1, heptathlon
Wade Rykal – 1, shot put

Women's Point Scorers
Whitney Morrison – 10, pentathlon
Erin Wilde – 10, high jump
Samantha Serex – 8, pole vault
Molly Chambers – 5, pole vault
Tara Ohlwiler – 5, 60m
Jayel Dovichak – 5, 60mH
4x400m- 5
Shealyne McGee – 4, pole vault
Kensey Gault – 7,(4 pentathlon, 3 60mH)
Savana Ramirez – 4, weight throw
Distance medley relay- 3
Emma Weeden – 0.5, pole vault