POCATELLO, Idaho — Montana’s track and field program had a pair of conference champions, another podium finish, a Big Sky championship record, three school marks and plenty of final qualifiers on Friday in an impressive first day at the league's indoor championships.
“We did really well in some of the event finals. We had some Big Sky champions, some Big Sky awards, and some point scorers. I thought it was a great day from that perspective,” UM coach Doug Fraley said. “One of the big things about Friday is getting people through to the finals and I thought we did a heck of a job with that in a lot of areas.”
Erin Wilde continued to cement her place in Montana and Big Sky Conference history with another title in the women’s high jump. It’s now the sixth title for Wilde with three indoor and three outdoor crowns in the event.
The senior from Whitefish was pushed as she chased some history. After a miss at 5-9.75 and a first attempt make from Idaho’s Cami Cvitkovich, Wilde was in second place as the bar moved up to 5-10.75.
Both athletes missed their first attempt, but Wilde went up and over on her second attempt to advance to the 6-foot mark. Cvitkovich exited the competition at 5-10.75, giving Wilde yet another medal for her trophy case.
Wilde ends her indoor career with 13 straight meet victories and a third Big Sky title. She’s just the seventh woman in Montana history to win six combined titles and is only the second to do it in the same event, joining Loni Perkins-Judisch who won seven 400 meter titles.
“I’m really proud of myself. I accomplished everything that I could and everything that I put my mind to,” Wilde said. “Working on the little things really helps and having my family to support me, Erica as a coach, Jaidyn (Pevey) as a freshman keeping me on my toes. I really appreciate everyone.”
It has been smooth sailing in many of the Big Sky titles for Wilde in her career as she has been well ahead of the rest of the jumpers. She faced some adversity on Friday, but Fraley was impressed with how she responded.
“We talked to her after the meet and I told her it was good to see her have to dig in deep and earn one because in several she hasn’t really been pushed,” Fraley said. “This one she had to jump really high to win and it was great to see her respond as she always does at this meet. Six in a row is one hell of an accomplishment for any athlete in any event.”
Kevin Swindler joined Wilde in the winner’s circle on Friday evening with a title in the men’s pole vault. The favorite entering the meet and Montana’s school record holder, Swindler was also pushed to impressive heights in Pocatello.
It was his own teammate, Carson Hegele, that did so on Friday. Both Grizzlies were perfect through the 16-4.75 bar. Hegele missed once at the next bar while Swindler missed twice, moving Hegele into the lead.
When the bar reached the 17-foot mark, Swindler made quick work, clearing on his first attempt. It took Hegele three attempts for his clearance, which would prove to be the tiebreaker between the two.
The two athletes both set program records this year and they both once again cleared the program mark entering the season, clearing 17-4.5 on their first attempts. They tied for the win at that height with Swindler becoming Big Sky Champion on the tiebreak.
Swindler is the first men’s pole vault champion for Montana since Keith Webber in 2014.
Freshman Michael Cullen also scored for Montana in the event. Cullen cleared 16-8.75 to finish fifth in the event and earn four points for the Grizzlies.
“That is an event area that we are leaning heavily on at this meet so to get the win, two podium finishes, and a freshman to come through and score for us, that is a big 22 points on the scoreboard,” Fraley said.
Callie Wilson proved that the bright lights are not too much for the freshman speedster. In her first ever Big Sky Championship race, Wilson broke a Championship record and cut down on her own school record in the women’s 60 meters.
Wilson flew out of the blocks with great reaction time and dusted the field, running a time of 7.30 to break the Championship record and move into #3 all-time in Big Sky Conference history.
“What a phenomenal thing for a freshman to go in and break the championship record,” Fraley said. “Our goal today was to come in and have her do exactly what she’s done the entire indoor season and it’s what she did. She was able to capture the championship excitement and run a big PR and championship record.”
The women’s 60 meters saw plenty of outstanding Grizzly performances as Tara Ohlwiler and Brooke Zetooney also qualified for the finals. They had a matching time of 7.48 seconds, which would have been the school record at the beginning of this indoor season.
The three fastest 60-meter runners in program history will race for the title on Saturday at 12:20 p.m.
Karsen Beitz matched his own school record in the men’s 60 prelims by running a time of 6.72 seconds, qualifying in a tie for second in the 28-man field. His teammate Malaki Simpson ran a PR time of 6.80. It matched the final qualifying time but it came down to thousandths of a second for Simpson to be eliminated in ninth place.
Beitz didn’t stop at the 60 meters. The junior from Missoula broke his own school in the men’s 200-meter prelims with a time of 21.34. It breaks his own record set earlier this season by .01 seconds and sends him through to the finals in a tie for third.
He will be joined in the men’s final by freshman Bennett Bliven who ran a lifetime best of 21.47.
“Karsen took care of business in both of his races today as we expected him to,” Fraley said. “We were only slated to get one guy to the finals in the 200 and freshman Ben Bliven from the Flathead stepped up and ran a lifetime best.”
Montana started off the day on the track by sending the school record holder in the 60-meter hurdles through to the finals. Jayel Dovichak narrowly missed out on breaking her own program record, running a time of 8.40 to qualify for the finals.
She qualified in 6th place, but just .08 seconds separate the top six in what is sure to be a hotly contested final on Saturday.
The women had a couple more qualifiers go through in the next event with Mikenna Ells and Lily Meskers both qualifying in the 400 meters. Ells just missed on her own program record time, running 53.80 to go through with the second fastest time.
Meskers ran a 54.83 to qualify in sixth place. Sophia Clark missed out on a spot in the finals with a time of 55.24, a PR that came .04 seconds away from qualifying.
Wilson and the women’s sprint group continued a very fast day with the top qualifying time in the women’s 200 at 23.75 seconds. Wilson will be joined in the final by three Grizzly teammates as Montana should collect plenty of points in the 200.
Tara Ohlwiler ran a time of 24.03 and Mikenna Ells ran a 24.06 to qualify third and fourth, respectively. Lily Meskers also advanced to the finals with a time of 24.15.
“I’m really proud of the sprint group today,” Fraley said. “We came in with the idea that we had a good opportunity to get people in the finals and not only did we do that, but we also got some bonus athletes into the finals. Any time you can do that, it is a great day in a very volatile area like the sprints.”
The Grizzly men entered the 400 meter qualifying with just two points predicted according to the seed times. They had more qualifiers for the finals than they had predicted points with three advancing to Saturday.
Taylor Johnson had the best time at 47.98, qualifying through in third place. Ben Antley and Braden Ankeny also pushed through in the final two spots with times of 48.39 and 48.40, respectively.
“We were only supposed to get one guy in the final of the 400-meter and we ended up getting three,” Fraley said. “That’s a huge bonus for us as far as opportunity goes tomorrow to score.”
Montana’s men also got a point from the program record holder in the men’s weight throw. Cooper Henkle couldn’t match his record-setting mark, but he finished eighth in a deep field of throwers with a mark of 60-9.25 to get the Grizzlies a point in his first championship appearance.
The Grizzly men sit in fourth place with 27 points through the first six events. The women are in fifth place currently with 22 points. The meet resumes at 10:00 a.m in the field and 11:00 a.m. on the track on Saturday morning.
“We have some really good event finals in field events that we have chances to put points on the board,” Fraley said. “We have a lot of bullets in the gun in the track finals, so our goal that we will talk about this evening is that you have to go out again tomorrow, recreate what you did today, and finish the deal.”
