POCATELLO, Idaho — The Montana track and field program got a first look at the Big Sky Conference Championship venue this weekend. Safe to say, they like what they saw at the ICCU Arena two weeks in advance of the conference meet.
The Grizzlies maintained an incredible run of form this indoor season by breaking four more school records. Erin Wilde (high jump) and Mikenna Ells (400 meters) broke women’s records while Cooper Henkle (weight throw) and Kevin Swindler (pole vault) broke records for the men.
The four new record holders add to a huge group for UM coach Doug Fraley. The Grizzlies now have 10 new record marks this season, the most in a single season in program history.
The meet spanned two days for Montana with a prelims and finals format similar to what the Grizzlies will see at the conference championship meet. They took advantage with several big performances in addition to the school records.
“Overall, I thought we had a really productive weekend in Pocatello,” Fraley said. “Obviously the highlights are the school records, but there was a lot of maturity and learning about the facility from our team which is going to be very important in two weeks when we got back for the Big Sky Championships. I thought our athletes navigated that very well.”
Mikenna Ells started off the record-breaking in the women’s 400-meter prelims on Friday. The Whitefish product ran a time of 53.76 to break Kourtney Danreuther’s 14-year old program record.
Ells’ time is also the 10th best in the history of the Big Sky Conference. She had far and away the fastest qualifying time, but didn’t run in Saturday’s final as she focused on the 200 meter final, where she finished second.
“She’s been ready to pop one for quite a while, and the way she ran that race she gave herself a chance to run fast and it was great to see her have the confidence to do that,” Fraley said. “I think this will give her the confidence that she can run even faster.”
It was another graduate of Whitefish High School that broke the next school record for Montana. Erin Wilde already owned the program mark in the women’s high jump, but extended on her own personal best mark on Saturday to win her 11th straight indoor meet.
Wilde cleared 6-0.5 to improve her school record by a half-inch and move into a tie for fourth in Big Sky Conference history.
“Erin was awesome today,” Fraley said. “She made a PR and had a school record on a really awesome jump and then she had a good attempt at the next height. It was a stellar performance from her, especially at the location where the meet will be at in two weeks.”
The men’s records both came in the field on Saturday. The men’s pole vaulting group has been highly competitive all season. Last week, Carson Hegele broke a 12-year old record in the event.
This week, it was Kevin Swindler who put his name in the history books. Swindler cleared 17-3, which broke Hegele’s record. He didn’t stop there, clearing 17-6.5 for a double PR, double record setting day.
Swindler moved in to a tie for sixth all-time in the Big Sky Conference with his mark and is now inside the top 40 nationally this season.
“That’s a competitive group and Kevin is a talented guy that we’ve been waiting for him to jump that high for a good while now,” Fraley said. “It was great to see him do it not only once, but twice today. That’s a group that’s going to be moving forward and doing great things for us here in the future.”
Cooper Henkle, a true freshman from Spokane, Wash., has been improving all season and had his best day in Pocatello. Henkle took second in the men’s weight throw with a toss of 62-11.25. He broke Shawn Humphries’ record from 2020.
He took advantage of the finals format in the event, uncorking the record throw in his sixth and final attempt.
“It was a really, really stout throw for Cooper today,” Fraley said. “Breaking a weight throw record as a freshman is really one of the hardest things to do in our sport simply because the event isn’t contested in high school. When you have a guy that’s really just in his first year learning the event have the ability to break a good school record like that, it is a testament to the potential of that young man.”
It was a great overall weekend for Montana with four event wins on the women’s side and two on the men’s side in competitive fields.
Callie Wilson continued her tremendous freshman season with wins in the 60 meters and 200 meters. She had the fastest time in qualifying in the 60 meters and was second in the 200 but came back to win both with times of 7.37 and 23.85 in the finals.
She wasn’t the only freshman to impress in multiple events. Sam Henderson of Butte had a tremendous day in the jumps for the Griz. Henderson set new PRs and entered the top 10 in program history in both the high jump and triple jump.
Henderson and Patrick Kremer tied for second in the men’s high jump by clearing 6-10.25. The freshman won the men’s triple jump with a distance of 49-2.5.
“He’s been steady as she goes the whole indoor season, and it was great to see him get rewarded for that consistency,” Fraley said. “It’s that consistency that allowed him to hit two PRs today.”
Jayel Dovichak was also in the winner’s circle for the second week in a row in the women’s 60-meter hurdles. She set the school record last week in the event and nearly improved on it in Saturday’s final, running a time of 8.41 seconds for the win.
Montana had 18 women and 13 men run in finals on Saturday. There were several more that qualified, but didn’t run in the finals. The experience inside the championship venue was valuable, as was the two-day format.
“You always find out a little bit about where the fitness and the emotional energy sit when you have to lace them up two days in a row and sometimes with multiple races in a day,” Fraley said. “I thought we responded well to that. It’s the championship schedule we will have in two weeks so you have to be able to not only blow and go in the prelims, but you have to come back the next day, sometimes on tired legs, and be better than you were the day before.”
The bulk of Montana’s roster finished up its regular season on Saturday in Pocatello. The Grizzlies will now have a two-week training block to keep improving into the Big Sky Championships from Feb. 26-28.
“I feel like our core of athletes are all in a good place. After the meet, we talked about the importance of getting into this facility and having a good meet, which we did,” Fraley said. “We also talked about showing up for work on Monday because you have to recreate it every week. Don’t ever take for granted what you did one week assuming that it will be there two weeks later at the championship.
“Our motto right now is to come to work every day and try to get better,” Fraley continued. That’s what is going to be required of us to get a great finish at the championships.”
