Spokane Sports Showcase: Unleashing the Bobcat Sprints This Friday!

SPOKANE, Wash. — An impressive display from the Bobcat sprint squad was the highlight of the Montana State track and field team’s performance at the Spokane Sports Showcase on Friday afternoon at The Podium in Spokane, Washington.

A school record was set in the women’s 4×400 meter relay, along with top-six all-time MSU performances in the men’s and women’s 60 and 200 meters, which dominated the day, while victories in the women’s long jump, men’s shot put, men’s pole vault, and women’s shot put also drew attention.

Complete results can be viewed here.

“The Showcase Meet at the Podium was an excellent way to kick off the 2025 competition,” said head coach Lyle Weese. “The throws, jumps, and sprints all faced high-quality competition.”

In the concluding race of the day, the Montana State women’s 4×400 meter relay team competed on the same Podium track where they set the indoor school record less than a year prior at the 2024 Big Sky Indoor Track & Field Championships.

With three of the same four runners from last February—Peyton Garrison, Giulia Gandolfi, and Caroline Hawkes—plus an energetic freshman in Olivia Lewis running the opening leg instead of Madison Smith—the team surpassed UCLA to claim first place in the event, finishing in 3:38.36 compared to UCLA’s time of 3:38.67.

Montana State’s time stands as the eighth-fastest mark in NCAA Division I this season, while UCLA’s is tenth-fastest.

The relay record capped an exciting day for junior Peyton Garrison, who before anchoring the relay, secured a victory in the 200 meters earlier in a stunning time of 24.02 seconds, narrowly outpacing UCLA All-American Kayla Fletcher, who finished in 24.03 seconds.

Garrison, a junior hailing from New Castle, Colorado, moved up to No. 3 all-time in MSU history with her run and now ranks among the top three indoors for MSU in both the 60 meters and 200 meters.

On the men’s front, junior Xavier Simpson enjoyed the best day of his Bobcat career with outstanding performances in both the 60 and 200.

First, the Portland native registered a 6.83 in the men’s 60 meters, just four-hundredths of a second shy of teammate Drake Wilkes’ month-old school record. Simpson’s time elevated him to No. 3 in the Montana State record book, with four of the top six times now recorded in the past two seasons.

Later, Simpson added another personal-best in the 200 meters, finishing in 21.66 seconds, moving him to sixth all-time in MSU history.

The Bobcat men’s sprint team now claims four of the ten fastest 60-meter athletes in school history and four of the ten fastest 200-meter athletes in school history.

In the jumps, Hailey Coey continued her remarkable start to the junior season by winning the long jump with a personal-best jump of 20-01.00.

Just five weeks after setting the school record in the triple jump during her season debut, the Billings native improved her existing No. 3 all-time mark in MSU history.

Later on Friday, Coey demonstrated her triple jump record was legitimate, achieving a leap of 40-01.50 for a fourth-place finish. This mark was only two inches shy of the best in program history and is just the third-ever attempt exceeding 40 feet indoors for a Bobcat woman triple jumper.

“There were several highlights, including the women’s 200 meter and school-record 4×400, Hailey Coey in the long and triple jump, Xavier Simpson in the 60 and 200, as well as strong performances in shot put, weight throw, and pole vault events that were highly thrilling,” Weese remarked.

THE RUNDOWN

• Colby Wilson secured the men’s pole vault title with a clearance of 17-03.75, his personal best this season and the 12th best in the nation this winter. Only Wilson, the school-record holder with 18-01.25 (2023), and John Wurtz (1998) have surpassed 17-03.00 in the school’s history.

• Sydney Brewster and Emma Brensdal finished in first and second respectively in the women’s shot put among collegiate contenders, outperforming the competition. Brewster concluded with a top throw of 47-08.00, while Brensdal achieved a mark of 46-09.50.

UP NEXT

Montana State will host the Bobcat Challenge at Worthington Arena next Saturday, January 25, marking the second of four indoor home contests for the Bobcats this winter.

Field events will commence at 9:15 a.m., while track events will begin at 11 a.m.

Admission to all home competitions is complimentary.

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