FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Gold medals for Nicola Paletti and Hailey Coey highlighted a slew of podium finishes for the Montana State track and field team on the second day of the 2025 Big Sky Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday.
With six out of 17 events scored, Montana State's women trail Northern Arizona 52-49.5, with Montana third at 38.5 points.
On the men's side, Montana State trails Northern Arizona 63-51, with Sacramento State a distant third with 21 points.
Paletti helped set the tone for how the day was going to go, defending his title in the heptathlon on Friday morning with a total of 4,982 points. The senior from Bolzano, Italy, has now won three straight multi-event championships after earning the Big Sky crown at the 2024 indoor meet in the heptathlon and the 2024 outdoor meet in the decathlon.
Friday, Paletti dominated in the 60 meter hurdles and pole vault to set up an easy 1,000 meters and cruise to the win—made even more remarkable by the fact that Paletti had not competed at a single meet prior to the conference championships due to an injury.
Paletti was joined on the podium by junior Mathias Mees, who finished runner-up to claim silver with a point total of 4,842 points. Mees followed Paletti's lead throughout the two-day competition, with the teammates feeding off each other's energy and poise to pull away from the crowd on Friday.
The Belgian scored big points in the high jump, 60 hurdles, and pole vault to finish second in the grueling seven-event competition.
Also on Friday, Coey added another chapter to the growing legend of the junior's storybook season, winning the long jump in dramatic walk-off fashion with a new Big Sky Conference record.
In second place through four of her six attempts, the Billings native had to forfeit a fifth attempt in the long jump in order to go run her heat of the 60 meter prelims.
After winning that heat to qualify for Saturday's final in the 60 meters, Coey quickly returned to the runway for one last attempt at leap-frogging Eastern Washington's Caitlin Simmons, the reigning indoor and outdoor Big Sky champion in the long jump.
What happened next was pure magic.
Coey leaped 21-0½, a new school, Big Sky Conference, and Big Sky meet record, to win the event on the final attempt of the entire competition.
It marks the fourth time Coey has broken the school record in the long jump this year and the third time she has broken the Big Sky record.
