On a day that had snow showers, sunshine and everything in between, the difference between the Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats came down to just one-hundredth of a second in the final event to determine a winner. Montana’s men, for the first time since 2013, emerged victorious from the rivalry dual thanks to a comeback, last-second win by Paul Johnstone and his teammates in the 4×400-meter relay.
The Grizzlies entered the final event of the day with a two-point lead on the Bobcats, setting up the ultimate ending. A win for Montana in the relay, and they would claim the meet victory. But a loss would result in a tie. When Johnstone received the baton for the anchor leg, the Grizzlies trailed. It wasn’t until the final turn, with the rest of his squad on the side cheering him on, that Johnstone would pull level.
It came down to a photo finish across the line, but the Grizzly veteran leaned just enough to take down the Bobcats. In the moments that followed, as his team swarmed him at the finish line, Johnstone still didn’t know that it was his run that Montana needed for the win.
“I didn’t know until after,” Johnstone said of his meet-clinching run. “I definitely would not have done it without my teammates on the back stretch and in the corner cheering me on. It helped a ton and really motivated me.
On beating the Bobcats for the first time in his career, Johnstone, a Forsyth native, said, “It’s about time, and it feels really good.”
The final meet score would be 97.5-93.5 in favor of Montana. The Bobcats came out ahead on the women’s side by a final of 107.5-85.5.
First year head coach Doug Fraley put an emphasis on this meet, and has bought into the history of the rivalry with Montana State. It may be his first rivalry dual, but he has already figured out how important this matchup is to the Montana community. The celebration on the track that followed the relay solidified his feelings.
“It’s special. What I’ve learned in the short time that I’ve been here is that when you get a victory in Griz-Cat, it’s a cause for celebration,” Fraley said. “They are the kind of program that we’re striving to be down the line, and so for the guys to come out and pull together a really good effort – there were a lot of events that could have gone either way – and we were able to pull some of those events out.”
The Bobcats were picked second in the Big Sky Conference preseason poll and have dominated the rivalry in recent years. Montana’s men were able to string together fantastic performance across all disciplines in order to get the win.
Cooper Hewett built off of a great start last week with a double in the sprint events, taking the title in the 100-meter (10.68) and the 200-meter (21.62). For an athlete that has battled his own injuries in recent years, including a hamstring that sidelined him for the majority of the indoor season, competing back at home and running well has been a nice change.
“Amazing. I felt great actually, and I’m just excited what the season has in store for us to be honest,” Hewett said. “Usually, injuries haunt our whole team but this year we’re getting everybody healthy and we’re actually competing and it’s showing.”
Hewett wasn’t the only double-winner on the day for Montana. On the women’s side, Missoula’s own Brooke Stayner swept the hurdles with some fantastic times in her first runs of the season. In the 100-meter hurdles, Stayner ran a time of 14.65 for the win while she outdistanced a couple of Bobcats in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.60.
Fraley said they have been excited to see Stayner in the hurdles, perhaps the strongest event for the freshman, and that she delivered on it today. For Stayner, competing in her home town and against the rivals added a bit of special meaning to her wins.
“I’m lucky that I have such a good community here in Montana with my family and my team, and honestly there is nothing better than being at home and getting a couple of wins so it was fun,” Stayner said. “I love how this program has come together this year. I love my coaches and it has been such a good experience to get out here as a team and just compete hard.”
The Grizzlies had eight individual wins on the men’s side. Jaydon Green (110-meter hurdles) and Evan Todd (javelin), a pair of athletes that rank toward the top of the conference in their events, handled business. Freshman Patrick Kremer also picked up his second high jump win of the season by clearing 6-5.
Jason Upton made his season debut and also set a new PR in the long jump with a mark of 23-6.25 for a win. And in the pole vault, Carson Weeden outlasted a strong field of competitors to win with his personal-best vault of 15-9.
The final win on the men’s side came from “Mr. PR” Noah Ramirez. After an indoor season that saw him improve his career best marks on a weekly basis, the senior has continued the trend during the outdoor season.
Ramirez won the shot put on Saturday with a new best of 56-5.75. It was one of three PR’s for him on the day. He also did it in the hammer throw, placing second with a throw of 180-00, and in the discus with a toss of 147-01.
“It feels great,” Ramirez said of his start to the season. “With the weather that we have it’s crazy that we’re all out here together, so to be able to PR on top of that and kind of drive the feeling for everyone else feels great. We’ve got Cali in a couple of weeks, and there’s big things coming.”
He sparked the Griz rally at the start of the day with big performances in the early-going, but it was one of his teammates in the throws department who had a clutch moment down the stretch that helped Montana hold on for the win. Freshman Walker McDonald improved 12 feet on his throw from last week to take second place in that event and get three Grizzly points. It was his throw in the final field event of the day that gave Montana the two-point cushion heading into the relay.
The Grizzlies had seven individual event wins on the women’s side. Stayner had two, and was joined in the winner’s circle on the track by Audrey Smith (12.22, 100m) and Mikenna Ells (56.62, 400m). Madi Arneson, who is in her first year at Montana after previously attending Montana State, won the discus against her former teammates with a throw of 139-10.
The team culture in Fraley’s first year has been improved, and it was evident during the final event of the day. The entire Montana team remained, cheering on the four men that would clinch the historic victory. And it was fitting that it was Johnstone, who has been at Montana since 2019 and is a former Big Sky Champion in the event, that closed it out for the Griz.
“Paul has been off-and-on throughout the indoor season with little nagging injuries that have bothered him, and he came back and ran a 47.7 split on the end of that after having run the 400 earlier today,” Fraley said. “That just shows what kind of a competitor he is and how much pride he has in representing the Griz.”
Montana now has a week off before heading to California for several meets from April 13-15. They will hope for continued growth as they head to that meet and inch closer to the Big Sky Conference Championships. But for now, Fraley sums it up the emotions of a rivalry win simply.
“It’s a great day to be a Griz.”
Griz-Cat Dual Montana Results
Men’s 100m – Cooper Hewett (10.68, 1st/5), Teagun Holycross (10.83, 2nd), Jason Upton (11.13*, 4th)
Men’s 200m – Cooper Hewett (21.62, 1st/5), Teagun Holycross (22.07, 2nd), Xavier Melice (22.19, 3rd)
Men’s 400m – Paul Johnstone (49.19, 2nd/8), Taylor Johnson (43.39, 3rd), Jay Beagle (50.07, 4th), Ty Ferguson (50.25, 5th)
Men’s 800m – Casey Crouch (1:55.59*, 3rd/8), Will Dauenhauer (1:55.60, 4th), Cooper Morris (1:59.25, 5th), Lane Cole (1:59.74, 6th), Brady Woods (1:59.92, 7th)
Men’s 1,500m – Lane Cole (4:04.07, 6th/10), Truman Cowan (4:06.24, 8th), Brady Woods (4:15.66, 9th)
Men’s 5,000m – Nathan Carter (15:04.27, 7th/10), Maxwell Scott (15:05.64, 8th)
Men’s 110m hurdles – Jaydon Green (14.60, 1st/3), Porter Coffield (16.11, 2nd), Adam Maxwell (16.11, 3rd)
Men’s 400m hurdles – Cutter Thatcher (52.27*, 2nd/4), Adam Maxwell (56.94, 3rd), Porter Coffield (58.38, 4th)
Men’s 3,000m steeplechase – Cooper Morris (9:41.90, 7th/8), Rogelio Mares (10:00.09, 8th)
Men’s 4x400m relay – Montana A (3:17.63, 1st/2)
Men’s high jump – Patrick Kremer (6-5, 1st/4), Alfred Peterson (6-5, 2nd)
Men’s pole vault – Carson Weeden (15-9*, 1st/7), Zane Johnson (14-9, 3rd), Carter Petersen (14-3.25, 5th), Carson Hegele (13-9.25, 6th)
Men’s long jump – Jason Upton (23-6.25*, 1st/7), Gordon McMillion (22-0.25*, 3rd), Patrick Kremer (21-6.75, 4th), Alfred Peterson (21-5.5, 5th), Dylan Zink (19-6.25, 7th)
Men’s triple jump – Zane Johnson (43-2.25, 3rd/4), Dylan Zink (43-2.25, 4th)
Men’s shot put – Noah Ramirez (56-5.75*, 1st/6), Wade Rykal (47-7, 4th), Walker McDonald (43-8, 6th)
Men’s discus – Walker McDonald (158-06, 2nd), Noah Ramirez (147-01*, 5th)
Men’s hammer – Noah Ramirez (180-00*, 2nd/8), Walker McDonald (162-05, 5th), Wade Rykal (138-02, 7th)
Men’s javelin – Evan Todd (222-00, 1st/5), Matthew Hockett (208-07*, 2nd), Everett Fred (197-10, 3rd)
Women’s 100m – Audrey Smith (12.22, 1st/12), Holly Sudol (12.28, 2nd), Cosley Bruno (12.56, 6th), Rileigh McGree (12.86, 8th), Kara Mattson (12.88, 9th), Destiny Santiago (13.08, 12th)
Women’s 200m – Mikenna Ells (25.63, 2nd/12), Audrey Smith (26.17, 4th), Ainsley Shipman (27.28, 10th), Destiny Santiago (27.34, 11th)
Women’s 400m – Mikenna Ells (56.62, 1st/6), Lily Meskers (58.13, 4th)
Women’s 800m – Katie Whitehurst (2:16.98*, 2nd/7), Mackenzie Morgan (2:19.18, 3rd), MacKenzie Dean (2:23.76, 4th), Jaylyn Hallgrimson (2:26.74, 5th), Iris McKean (2:32.19, 7th)
Women’s 1,500m – Jaylyn Hallgrimson (4:58.04, 5th/6), Iris McKean (5:07.66, 6th)
Women’s 5,000m – Olivia Lackland-Henry (18:03.06, 3rd/11), Kayla Ingraham (18:28.69, 7th), Beatrix Frissell (18:36.72, 9th), Leah Gath (21:22.20, 11th)
Women’s 100m hurdles – Brooke Stayner (14.65, 1st/7), Ailsa Gilbert (15.04, 3rd), Kara Mattson (15.56, 4th), Ainsley Shipman (15.76, 5th), Rileigh McGree (16.07, 6th), Morgan Radtke (16.81, 7th)
Women’s 400m hurdles – Brooke Stayner (1:05.60, 1st/3)
Women’s 4x100m relay – Montana A (46.96, 1st/3)
Women’s high jump – Morgan Radtke (5-6.6, 1st/4), Erin Wilde (5-4.25, 4th)
Women’s pole vault – Shealyne McGee (12-1.5, 1st/9), Emma Zimmerman (12-1.50*, 2nd), Molly Chambers (11-7.75, 5th), Ani Smith (11-1.75, t-6th), Aly Tekippe (11-1.75, t-6th)
Women’s long jump – Ailsa Gilbert (17-10.25, 2nd/9), Perry Paffhausen (17-9.5, 3rd), Morgan Radtke (17-6.75, 4th), Brooke Stayner (17-4, 5th), Kara Mattson (17-3.5, 6th), Ainsley Shipman (17-1.5, 7th), Rileigh McGree (16-1.5, 8th)
Women’s triple jump – Ainsley Shipman (37-7.75, 3rd/5), Ailsa Gilbert (FOUL, 5th)
Women’s shot put – Madi Arneson (40-10.5, 3rd/6), Molly O’Dell (37-0.5, 6th)
Women’s discus – Madi Arneson (139-10, 1st/6), Molly O’Dell (108-10, 5th)
Women’s hammer – Kaitlyn Gallo (175-00, 2nd/6), Savana Ramirez (169-06*, 3rd), Molly O’Dell (130-11, 5th)
Women’s javelin – Lea Moose (128-01, 2nd/8), Autumn Morse (124-10, 3rd), Kylie Frohlich (121-02, 4th), Cyisa Weidman (114-00, 5th), Tatum McNamara (113-07, 6th), Brooke Stayner (83-01, 8th)
