(Editor's note: Information provided by Montana and Montana State athletics.)
The Montana and Montana State track and field programs saw more program records tumble at meets Saturday in California.
Montana State made the most of its weeklong stay in southern California on Saturday with two new school records in the women's relays.
Racing at the Mt. SAC Relays at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, Calif., the women's 400-meter relay squad of Brooke Reuter, Peyton Garrison, Jadyn VanDyken, and Jaeden Wolff turned in a blazing time of 44.90 seconds to break the school record.
It marks the first sub-45 second relay in Bobcat history, eclipsing the previous best of 45.05 set last season by Garrison, Wolff, Elena Carter, and Leigha Carter.
Later in the afternoon at the Mt. SAC Relays, the women's 4x400 meter relay team of VanDyken, Garrison, Giulia Gandolfi, and Caroline Hawkes smashed their own school record set two weeks ago in Las Vegas with a new blistering mark of 3:33.66.
The time was nearly two full seconds faster than their race run at UNLV, and placed them third in a Power Four-filled field ahead of Arizona, Colorado, Arizona State, BYU, and Northern Arizona.
The time is the 27th-fastest relay run in NCAA Division I this season, and marked the seventh school record broken by the Bobcat women's track and field squad this week to put an exclamation point on a historic few days.
On Wednesday night in Azusa, Grace Gilbreth broke the record for the 3,000 meter steeplechase. On Thursday afternoon in Long Beach, Sydney Brewster set a new school and Big Sky Conference best in the shot put, while teammate Emma Brensdal matched the feat with a new program-best in the discus. Hailey Coey also broke the school record with a big leap in the long jump.
On Thursday night in Azusa, Kyla Christopher-Moody broke the record in the 5,000 meters.
For the Grizzlies, Samantha Serex made the most of her return to California for the Beach Invitational. The transfer from UCLA was back in the Golden State with the Grizzlies and had a career day in the women’s pole vault.
Serex, already the indoor school record holder for Montana, broke the outdoor record on Saturday afternoon with a mark of 13-5¼. It breaks the former record held by teammate Shealyne McGee.
She did it in impressive fashion, opening her day with a clearance at 11-11¾ and missing just once on her way to the school record. When she reached the potential record-setting bar, she didn’t hesitate, clearing it on her first attempt.
Serex finished fourth overall in the event and moves into second place in the Big Sky Performance list with the mark. She beat the current league leader Libby Hansen from Montana State in Saturday’s competition.
The mark also puts her inside the bubble for an NCAA First Round appearance as she slides into a tie for 37th in the West.
