Montana gets 3 more titles, pair of 3rd-place finishes at Big Sky indoor championships

POCATELLO, Idaho — The Montana track and field program added three more gold medals to its trophy case Saturday as both the men and women finished in third place at the Big Sky Indoor Championships. 
 
It’s just the second time in program history that both teams have finished in the top three in the league at the same indoor championship. The men have finished third in back-to-back years now while the women had their best finish since 2017. 
 
Coach Doug Fraley’s teams have improved week-after-week this season and have knocked off countless program records in the process. They were at their best in Pocatello over the three days of the conference meet. 
 
“I’m really proud of the fact that we progressed through the regular season and were at our very best at the Big Sky Championship,” Fraley said. “That is what our design is so to be able to work our way through January and the first part of February and then do the best things that we’ve done this indoor season at the championships is what I’m most proud of.”
 
Freshman Callie Wilson was the star of the meet for Montana as she brought home a pair of titles in the sprints at her first conference meet. Wilson was favored in both the 60 and 200 meters after Friday’s prelims and backed up her performance in the finals. 
 
Wilson broke the Big Sky championship record for the second straight day in the women’s 60, once again jumping out to a lightning fast start and posting a time of 7.26 to move into No. 2 all-time in the league. 
 
The gap between second and seventh was .08 seconds. The gap between Wilson and second place was .15 seconds as she won in completely dominant fashion.
 
She took to the banked track inside the ICCU Dome a short time later for the finals of the 200. She was neck-and-neck with Eastern Washington’s Judith Koumedzina coming out of the turn, but pulled away down the final stretch for the win. 
 
Wilson ran a time of 23.54 in the win, just missing on her own school record of 23.49 set earlier this season. She’s the first Grizzly to ever win the 60 and the first to win the 200 since Loni Perkins-Judisch in 2008.
 
She didn’t stop there. Wilson also handled the second leg of Montana’s record-setting 4x400-meter relay run. The team earned All-Conference honors, finishing second with a time of 3:38.80. 
 
Wilson’s 22 points earned her the league’s Freshman of the Year honor, the first Grizzly to ever win the award in women’s indoor track and field. 
 
“Tremendous meet for Callie,” Fraley said. “She’s been on top of it for two and a half months now and for her to go out and beat the caliber of athletes that she was competing against the way she did this weekend and add a relay leg at the end of the meet was tremendous. She’s so deserving of that freshman of the year honor.”
 
Karsen Beitz also came into Saturday’s finals in a good position in both the 60 and 200 races. The Montana school record holder had the best day of his career, running new PR times in both events to improve on those records. 
 
He claimed the crown in the men’s 200 meters with a time of 21.09 to edge out Idaho State’s Alex Conner. Beitz became the first Grizzly since Darren Stringer in 1993 to win the 200 indoors. 
 
He started his day by reaching the podium in the 60, running a time of 6.69 to finish third in an event that featured a Big Sky Championship record. 
 
“Karsen was really on point this weekend,” Fraley said. “He had big goals coming into this meet. He wanted to break 6.70 in the 60 meters as well as making the podium, and he wanted to win the 200. He was just edged out last year and got second in Flagstaff. He came in hyper focused and firing on all cylinders and delivered like a real champ this weekend.”
 
The sprint group as a whole had a stellar Saturday in Pocatello. Fraley had eight women and six men reach the finals in the 60, 200, and 400 races, which led to a bunch of points in Montana’s favor. 
 
Mikenna Ells broke her own school record in the women’s 400 meters to finish in second place in the event with a time of 53.75. The senior from Whitefish came back an hour later and put three more points on the board with a sixth place finish in the 200. 
 
Ells ended the meet for Montana, running the final leg of the record-setting relay team. She finished the meet with 13 points.
 
“Mikenna had an unbelievable weekend,” Fraley said. “I am really proud of the way she’s progressed to a new level throughout the indoor season.”
 
Tara Ohlwiler also added 11 points to Montana’s total with a podium finish in the 200 behind a time of 23.88 seconds. Ohlwiler just missed out on the podium in the 60 with a new lifetime best of 7.42 that was good for fourth place. 
 
Lily Meskers scored in both the 200 and the 400 and was part of the relay team, and Brooke Zetooney finished fifth in the 60 meters in a solid all-around group effort.
 
“Tara, along with the rest of our women’s sprint group, had a terrific meet,” Fraley said. “Tara just missed the podium in the 60 with a lifetime best and then coming back in the 200 really determined to get on the podium and running a big indoor PR to get that third spot. It showed a lot of toughness and maturity on her part.”
 
Montana had two more All-Conference honorees in Patrick Kremer and Sam Henderson. The duo had identical performances in the men’s high jump to tie for third place with a mark of 6-8.25. 
 
It’s the fifth medal of Kremer’s decorated career in the event and his third indoors. 
 
Henderson earns the honor in his first ever championship meet. The freshman from Butte was pulling double duty on Saturday as he bounced between the high jump and triple jump. He nearly reached the podium in the triple jump, getting bumped to fourth on Kellan Quinley’s final jump of the day. Henderson jumped 49-7.25.
 
“For him to get third in the high jump and fourth in the triple jump while the events were going on simultaneously was a tremendous accomplishment for a true freshman. He’d take a triple jump, take his spikes off, high jump, throw them back on and triple jump. It’s a difficult task and he handled it like a pro. He was calm, cool, and collected through the whole thing and I’m really happy and proud of him.”
 
Montana added points in plenty of areas over the three days of the meet as the Grizzlies showcased their depth. Freshman Titus Jeffrey scored three points in the shot put, Bennett Bliven added two points in the 200 meters, and three Grizzlies scored in the men’s 400. 
 
The women scored in nine of the 17 events during the meet, picking up nine points from three different athletes in the pole vault on Saturday to add to what the sprint group did. 
 
It led to a 91-point performance from the women and a 75-point performance from the men. It’s the most points for the men since 2014 and most for the women since 2017. 
 
“We talked to our team this week about how it can come down to a point or two making the difference between two team places, and we were able to get some points that we weren’t expecting this week,” Fraley said. “It turned out to be the difference between third and fourth place for us. I was really proud of the effort of some of our athletes that weren’t slated to score and that exceeded their expectations because that’s what you have to have at a championship meet.”
 
Northern Arizona’s men and women both won the team titles with 200 and 164.5 points, respectively. Montana State finishes in second in both with 91 points on the men’s side and 135 on the women’s. 
 
Montana held off Idaho for third on the women’s side by just 4.5 points. The Grizzly men beat Weber State by 5.5 points to hold onto third place in a highly competitive meet. 
 
“We’re really proud to be able to get third in both, especially with how good the league is this year compared to years past since I’ve been here, We’re proud that we’re elevate our game while the rest of the league is doing the same and our finishes proved that.”
 
Montana made great strides during the indoor season and they will now have a chance to rest up for a few weeks before starting the outdoor season March 27-28 with the Al Manuel Invitational in Missoula.  
 
“We’re looking forward to having a month to get recovered and then getting back into some serious training to prepare for the outdoor season. We’re looking forward to it because we add some really good pieces to our team with outdoor events that they don’t contest inside. I’m proud of the direction the program is going in, proud of our athletes, and I just felt like it was a great weekend for Griz track and field.