Two more records fall as Griz finish strong in Pocatello

Friday, May 2

Pocatello, Idaho

Montana

Bengal Invitational

Two more records fall as Griz finish strong in Pocatello

5/3/2025 5:53:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

Results

By: Montana Sports Information

The bar was set high for the Montana track and field team on Friday at the Bengal Invitational. It would be hard for the Griz to match the highs that they reached on day one in Pocatello with a school record, regional marks, and plenty of PRs.

They proved up to the task on Saturday, putting together another tremendous all-around performance to cap off the meet with another school record, more regional marks, and a slew of PRs yet again.

"We got what we came to get out of this meet, which I'm really excited about.," head coach Doug Fraley said. "You're always curious when you have a big day one on a two-day meet like this what the kids will have left. I was really pleased, the effort and energy were even better than yesterday and that's always a key indicator of a team that's getting ready to move forward."

The highlight of Saturday came on the track in a pair of races. Tara Ohlwiler broke the Montana school record last week and ran the 2^nd fastest time in program history on Friday to reach the finals.

She smashed her own record on Saturday, pulling away from the field early and cruising to a win in 11.53 seconds. The time beats her own record and matches Jaeden Wolff, who she beat in the race, for the top time in the Big Sky.

"That was another fantastic race for Tara. She got the best start of her life today," Fraley said. "That was a really good competition in the women's final and she was able to take a great start and hit the phases of her run that we've been working on. She just nailed that today and that's why it was so fast."

The Grizzlies broke another school record in the final event of the night. The women's 4x400-meter relay team of Whitney Morrison, Sophia Clark, Mikenna Ells, and Lily Meskers shattered a 12-year old record by nearly three full seconds.

The team ran a time of 3:37.75 to move into 18^th in the West Region this year.

"They memorized the 4x4 school record, and the 4x1 record, this week and that was a goal of ours," Fraley said. "Unfortunately we missed the 4x1 record by .01, but we took a big, big chunk off the women's 4x4 record at the end of the meet so that was awesome."

The men's vertical jump group had a fantastic day with wins in both the pole vault and the high jump. It started with Carson Weeden. After a near-miss last week, the senior was able to clear 17 feet for the first time in his career.

He won the meet with a mark of 17-0.25. It moves him into a tie for 36^th in the West Region and should book him a ticket to College Station, Texas at the end of May. He's also ranked 2^nd in the Big Sky and defeated the leader, MSU's Colby Wilson, on Saturday.

"Carson has been trying to break that 17-foot barrier since last spring and for him to do it today and win the meet and put himself in the regional mix was really outstanding," Fraley said. "He did a fantastic job today."

Patrick Kremer capped off the field events with another mark that could very well mean a trip to the NCAA First Round. Kremer established a new PR and won the meet by clearing 6-10.25.

The junior moves into a tie for 39^th in the West following the weekend, and he remains in second place in the Big Sky Conference.

"Patrick has been so steady this year indoors and outdoors and it's great to see him get that bar," Fraley said. "It gives him a good chance to go to regionals, and he was really close at the next bar, so we're excited for his trajectory to head towards the championship part of the outdoor season."

The Grizzly men won five races on the track on Saturday. Truman Thompson won the 800m with a time of 1:51.60 and Luke Mest won the 5,000m in 15:23.13. Oliver Simianer ran a 14.94 in the 110-meter hurdles to win the race.

The standout performance came in the men's 100m. Freshman Malaki Simpson blew past a talented field with a blistering time of 10.38 seconds. It's just .06 off the Montana record, although it was over the legal wind limit.

It did fall under the wind limit for the performance lists, and moves him into second place in the Big Sky Conference this season.

"He moved from 11^th to 2^nd in the Big Sky today. We worked a lot on his thoughts about coming out of the blocks this week and he was three for three with great blocks starts between the 200 yesterday, the 100 today, and the relay this morning. He's such a good closer that when he gets out well, he's pretty hard to deal with."

The final win on the track for the Grizzly men came in the final event of the day. Another freshman, Braden Ankeny, brought Montana back in the 4x400m relay in the final 200m, pushing past Montana State to win in a time of 3:10.31.

Erin Wilde joined Ohlwiler as event winners on the women's side, clearing 5-8 to top the field in the women's high jump. It's the best mark for Wilde since opening the season with a 5-10 jump at the Al Manuel Invitational.

The Grizzlies had another bright spot with the return of Mikenna Ells. She was injured in her first race of the season back in March, and hadn't been on the track since. She made her return in the women's 400m and looked sharp, running a PR time of 54.98 to take third.

She also played a key role in the record-setting relay team.

"That's a key thing," Fraley said of Ells coming back. "We've been waiting for her to get back from injury since the first outdoor meet and she was able to get a lifetime best and then played a key role in that 4x4 school record, so it's really good to have her back, she adds a lot to our women's sprint team."

Jayel Dovichak finished second in the women's 100-meter hurdles with a new PR time of 13.78 seconds.

"Jayel had a big run, and several of those girls in the women's hurdles had PRs this weekend," Fraley said. "Jayel had a tremendous effort in the prelims yesterday and came back today and ran a lifetime best in a great field, so it was a really good job by her today."

Overall, the Grizzlies had 21 more PRs on the day. One of the biggest improvements not only in this meet, but also this season, has come from Scout Nadeau. She had a throw of 47-1 and is now ranked 5^th in the Big Sky.

"She just keeps climbing the ladder in the Big Sky and it seems like every week after the track meet when we have team meetings we're acknowledging that Scout has had another PR in the women's shot," Fraley said. "Today was four weeks in a row where we've done that and she just keeps getting better and better,s o it's great to see her hitting on all cylinders."

The regular season concludes next Friday at the Tom Gage Classic in Bozeman. The Grizzlies will then head to Sacramento for the Big Sky Championships May 14-17.

"I'm really proud of how the kids came back on day two and not only maintained the momentum, but raised the level of it," Fraley said. "We're excited to finish the last big meet of our regular season on a high note in both days and we're excited now to put the finishing touches on things and get the kids competing at the Tom Gage meet next week and then get ready to go to Sacramento."

MEN'S RESULTS
100m- Malaki Simpson (10.38*, 1^st), Karsen Beitz (10.50*, 4^th)
200m- Braden Ankeny (21.18, 2^nd)
400m- Ty Ferguson (47.86*, 2^nd), Jay Beagle (47.88, 3^rd), Taylor Johnson (48.42, 4^th)
800m- Truman Thompson (1:51.60, 1^st), Keagen Crosby (1:53.29, 3^rd), Lane Cole (1:55.47, 6^th), Colin Shaules (1:58.02*, 11^th), Morgan Amano (2:01.37, 16^th)
5,000m- Luke Mest (15:23.13, 1^st), Zachary Giesch (15:54.65, 2^nd)
110mH- Oliver Simianer (14.94, 1^st)
400mH- Cutter Thatcher (53.87, 2^nd)
Steeple- Kanoa Blake (9:52.40, 3^rd)
4x100m- Simpson, Ankeny, Beitz, Hewett (40.35, 2^nd)
4x400m- Beagle, Johnson, Ferguson, Ankeny (3:10.31, 1^st), Maxwell, Thatcher, Thompson, Simianer (3:24.08, 5^th), Shilhanek, Crosby, Amano, Dahlke (3:24.15, 6^th)
High Jump- Patrick Kremer (6-10.25*, 1^st), Zachary Travis (6-8.25, 2^nd), Adam Maxwell (6-4.25, 5^th), Oliver Simianer (5-10.5, 9^th), Porter Coffield (5-8.5, 10^th)
Pole Vault- Carson Weeden (17-0.25*, 1^st), Corbin Luce (16-4.5, 3^rd), Carson Hegele (16-4.5, 4^th), Kevin Swindler (15-6.5, 7^th)
Triple Jump- Caiden Sekuterski (44-9.75, 3^rd)
Shot Put- Alex Shields (54-10.25*, 5^th), Wade Rykal (53-11*, 8^th), Donaven Humphries (52-10*, 9^th), Porter Coffield (38-7.5*, 19^th), Oliver Simianer (30-2, 20^th)
Discus- Tyler Bates (146-0, 7^th), Porter Coffield (120-7, 14^th), Oliver Simianer (86-2, 17^th)

WOMEN'S RESULTS
100m- Tara Ohlwiler (11.53^, 1^st), Rileigh McGree (11.87*, 4^th), Brooke Zetooney (12.02*, 6^th)
400m- Mikenna Ells (54.98*, 3^rd), Sophia Clark (55.51*, 4^th), Claire Hutchison (56.59, 5^th), Cosley Bruno (57.65, 7^th)
800m- Mackenzie Morgan (2:15.76, 3^rd), Olivia Coll (2:21.90*, 8^th), Libby Hartz (2:31.36, 14^th)
5,000m- Heidi Olson (18:23.56, 5^th), Kayla Ingraham (18:48.49, 7^th), Sofia Hinderman (19:39.17, 8^th)
100mH- Jayel Dovichak (13.78*, 2^nd), Whitney Morrison (14.17*, 4^th), Ainsley Shipman (14.22, 6^th)
Steeple- Abigail Kotran (12:06.96, 2^nd)
4x100m- Meskers, McGree, Hutchison, Ohlwiler (45.50, 2^nd), Smith, Zetooney, Bruno, Santiago (47.24, 3^rd)
4x400m- Clark, Ells, Morrison, Meskers (3:37.75^, 2^nd)
High Jump- Erin Wilde (5-8, 1^st), Maddie Kremer (5-4.25*, 3^rd), Whitney Morrison (5-2.25, 6^th)
Triple Jump- Ainsley Shipman (38-4, 3^rd)
Shot Put- Scout Nadeau (47-1*, 3^rd), Cathlene Van Zyl (42-8.25, 8^th), Morgan Thomas (41-1.75, 10^th), Whitney Morrison (37-10.75*, 12^th), Kensey Gault (36-2.25*, 14^th)
Discus- Morgan Thomas (136-7, 10^th), Mary Mickelson (135-1, 11^th), Cathlene Van Zyl (119-8, 15^th)