HELENA — Three Helena Capital Bruins took home individual state titles from the Class AA state track and field meet in Missoula last weekend. And one of those three Bruins found himself atop the podium not once, but twice.
Capital senior Brayden Brisko repeated as Class AA’s pole vault state champ, and perhaps more unexpectedly, won the 100-meter title in his first season competing seriously as a sprinter.
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“I think the thing that I’ll take away the most is just the memories with teammates and stuff like that,” Brisko told MTN Sports Wednesday at Vigilante Stadium. “I think that jumping high and stuff was always fun. But the things that I remember the most for sure, going and hugging teammates and spending time with the team is definitely what I’ll take away the most.”
En route to winning back-to-back pole vault titles, Brisko established himself among the most dominant vaulters in Montana high school history. Brisko’s 16-foot, 16-inch mark at the Western AA divisionals meet shattered the meet record and would have set a new state record if Brisko had done it one week later.
That level of achievement isn’t lost on Brisko’s pole vault coach.
“Five, 10 years from now, he’s going to be one of those kids that his name comes up, and coaches standing around will be like, ‘Well, we had this kid, Brayden Brisko, and here’s everything that he did,'” Capital pole vault coach Mikayla Nickol said. “So, I know he’s made a huge impact, but I think we’ll see how big of an impact it is down the road when his stories are still being told.”
But beyond Brisko’s state titles and record-breaking marks, the senior said he hopes his work ethic is what future Bruins remember him for.
“I mean, I kind of just showed kids what hard work can do,” Brisko said. “I know coming into high school I wasn’t — I wouldn’t say I was that outstanding of an athlete, really. And I think that I just worked really hard, and I kind of earned what I wanted, and I hope that kids were kind of able to see that even someone who doesn’t seem that special can do something pretty cool.”
