MSU sweeps Cat-Griz track and field dual

BOZEMAN — Three school records and a slew of head-turning performances carried the Montana State track and field teams to a pair of resounding wins over their arch-rival at the Cat-Griz Dual on Friday afternoon at Bobcat Track and Field Complex.

The Bobcat men secured their 11th win in the last 13 duals over the Grizzlies, winning 112-78, while the Bobcat women won their tenth dual in the last 12 meetings, picking up a 107-82 victory.  

"It's so nice to just have a team score, and a team score that both teams are into," coach Lyle Weese said. "It's one of the unfortunate things about track and field that we don't have team scores very often, so when you're able to go up against a rival and have a team score, it really brings the team together." 

The MSU men, ranked 20th in the latest USTFCCA NCAA Division I Ratings Index, finished with their second-highest point total since 2011, while the women finished with at least 100 points for the fifth time in the last seven years. 

The men won 15 of 20 events, while the women won 12 of 18 events. 

Two weeks after he wrote his name at the top of the record book with a mark that shattered a men's javelin record that had stood since 1997, Pat Vialva surpassed his own previous best with a throw of 228 feet, 4 inches. 

The sophomore now owns the 23rd best mark in NCAA Division I. 

Shortly thereafter, the women's 400-meter relay team of Elena Carter, Peyton Garrison, Leigha Carter, and Jaeden Wolff smashed the school record with an altitude-converted time of 45.05 seconds. 

In perhaps the most surprising performance of the day, Manhattan native Michael Swan Jr. obliterated the school record in the men's 200 meters, crossing the line in a converted time of 21.17. Swan, the son of former Bobcat sprinter Steve Swan, has his name in the top-ten lists for both the indoor and outdoor 400 meters, but had run just one previous outdoor 200 meter race in his collegiate career. Friday, the sophomore broke the 200 record that had been held by Dan Johnson since 2008. 

Glacier High product Taylor Brisendine contributed to the women’s win with a second place in the triple jump, marking 38-11.5. 

Whitefish’s Talon Holmquist led a 1-2 Bobcat finish in the men’s shot put, with Holmquist throwing 55-3.75. Furdyk was also second in the hammer throw behind teammate Elijah Jackman. Jackman also won the discus (174-10).

One Montana highlight was Ariel Clark marking 186-3 to win the women’s hammer throw; that ranks second in the Big Sky Conference. 

Mikenna Ells won the women’s 400 in 56.13 for the Grizzlies, and fellow Whitefish graduate Erin Wilde won the high jump by clearing 5-8.

Glacier product Evan Todd was second in the javelin with the second-best throw of his career Friday: 227-7. The Grizzlies also swept the men’s relays.