Griz travel to California for trio of meets

Photo by: Casandra Evans/University of Montana

4/14/2026 1:16:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

By: Montana Sports Information

PACIFIC COAST INVITATIONAL
April 16 / Long Beach, Calif. / Live Results / Meet Schedule

BRYAN CLAY INVITATIONAL
April 16-18 / Azusa, Calif. / Live Results / Meet Schedule

BEACH INVITATIONAL
April 17-18 / Long Beach, Calif. / Live Results / Meet Schedule

Sunny skies and strong competition await the Montana track and field program as the top Grizzlies athletes head to California this week for a trio of meets in the Los Angeles area.

Montana will compete in the Pacific Coast Invitational and the Beach Invitational, both held at Long Beach State, and will also send three men's middle-distance runners to the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific.

The week should provide the top of Montana's roster with plenty of opportunities for good marks against top-level competition from around the country.

"We're excited, as with every year when we go out to the two Long Beach meets and the Bryan Clay meet for the middle-distance runners," head coach Doug Fraley said. "It's an opportunity for us to get tremendous competition, great weather, and great facilities, which is everything you want in a two-day trip like this. Our athletes are excited and raring to go."

The Grizzlies had a strong start to the season with several athletes already contending for regional trips with their early marks. There are seven men and four women currently inside the top 50 in the NCAA West Region standings.

The top 48 make it to the NCAA First Round meet. While some Grizzlies at the top, like Erin Wilde in the high jump and the duo of Kyle Iorg and Hunter Loesch in the javelin, have likely cemented their places in Fayetteville, the rest of the roster will be looking to improve upon marks to join them.

"Once you hit mid-April, you're really in that period where you need to get going as far as performance standards go," Fraley said. "Whether it's moving up the Big Sky rankings or trying to get regional marks, this is the push from here through mid-May where it all starts. We take this trip very specifically at this time to get our best athletes in good weather, good facilities, and great competition."

Montana broke five school records at the season opening meet in Missoula while also knocking off three facility records at Dornblaser Field. After the terrific start, the Griz had a short week of training and a bus ride to Spokane the morning of the competition at the Whitworth Peace Meet.

They still had stellar performances across the board in week two, highlighted by freshman Titus Jeffrey's school record throw of 182-2 in the men's discus. After a fast and furious two weeks of competition, the Grizzlies were able to reset last week.

The sun was out in Missoula for a full week of training. They had a weekend off before the big California trip, getting things tuned up for three days of competition.

"We had a really good week of training last week and an off weekend to really get prepared to go on a back-to-back really on the Thursday and Saturday competitions," Fraley said. "We were very fortunate with the weather last week to get great preparation."

The Grizzlies will have multiple chances to put up marks that move them up the Big Sky and regional performance lists, but they also have the chance to replicate a similar schedule to what they will see in Portland in May at the Big Sky Championships.

"It's always good to be able to see how people do on short turnaround because that's really the name of the game at the conference meet where it's prelims on Friday and finals on Saturday and for some field athletes they have finals on the same day," Fraley said. "The schedule of these meets sets us up well to be able to see who is able to turn around and go again on short recovery."

The Pacific Coast Invitational opens at 9:00 a.m. (MT) with the men's hammer throw with track events beginning at 12:15 p.m. (MT). Full meet schedules can be found linked above.

The Grizzlies will be back in Missoula next week for the Montana Open on April 24-25. They will honor the senior class at the event, and are also hosting a Spring Social Friday night at the Still Room from 6-8 p.m. Fans interested in the social, which will feature a silent auction, can purchase tickets HERE.

MONTANA MEN'S ENTRIES

PACIFIC COAST INVITATIONAL
100m- Karsen Beitz, Romin Saleki, Ben Bliven
200m- Karsen Beitz, Braden Ankeny, Ben Bliven, Romin Saleki, Cadence Waller, Taylor Johnson, Ben Antley
400m- Braden Ankeny, Cadence Waller, Ben Antley, Taylor Johnson, Garrett Dahlke
4x100m- One squad
High Jump- Patrick Kremer, Sam Henderson
Pole Vault- Kevin Swindler, Carson Hegele, Michael Cullen
Long Jump- Patrick Kremer
Triple Jump- Sam Henderson
Shot Put- Alex Shields, Astin Brown, Titus Jeffrey
Hammer- Donaven Humphries, Cooper Henkle
Discus- Titus Jeffrey, Cooper Henkle
Javelin- Kyle Iorg, Hunter Loesch, Cooper Henkle

BRYAN CLAY INVITATIONAL
800m- Truman Thompson, Morgan Amano, Henry Ballinger
1,500m- Henry Ballinger, Truman Thompson

MONTANA WOMEN'S ENTRIES

PACIFIC COAST INVITATIONAL
100m- Callie Wilson, Tara Ohlwiler, Brooke Zetooney, Rileigh McGree, Lily Meskers, Isabelle Berry, Jayel Dovichak
200m- Callie Wilson, Tara Ohlwiler, Lily Meskers, Brooke Zetooney, Rileigh McGree, Claire Hutchison, Sophia Clark, Isabelle Berry, Ainsley Shipman
400m- Lily Meskers, Sophia Clark, Claire Hutchison
100mH- Jayel Dovichak, Ainsley Shipman, Isabelle Berry
4x100m- Two squads
High Jump- Erin Wilde, Jaidyn Pevey
Pole Vault- Shealyne McGee, Reghan Skogen, Hannah Moses
Shot Put- Scout Nadeau, Lillian White
Discus- Lillian White, Morgan Thomas
Hammer- Mary Mickelson, Morgan Thomas, Scout Nadeau
Javelin- Ashley Carroll, Brynn Fuller, Ella Moodry

MONTANA SCHOOL RECORDS
The following school records have been broken this outdoor season.