SPOKANE, Wash. — An impactful showing from the Bobcat sprints group headlined action from the Montana State track and field team at the Spokane Sports Showcase on Friday afternoon at The Podium.
A school record in the women's 400-meter relay and top-six all-time MSU performances in the men's and women's 60 and 200 stole the day, while wins in the women's long jump, men's shot put, men's pole vault, and women's shot put also turned heads.
Full results can be viewed here.
"The Showcase Meet at the Podium was a great way to get 2025 competition started," head coach Lyle Weese said. "The throws, jumps, and sprints all had high-quality competition to go up against."
In the final race of the day, the Montana State women's 400-meter relay team took to the same Podium track on which they last set the indoor school record less than a year ago at the 2024 Big Sky Indoor Track & Field Championships.
With three of those same four legs from last February making up the relay in Peyton Garrison, Giulia Gandolfi, and Caroline Hawkes — plus a dynamic freshman in Olivia Lewis running the first stretch in place of Madison Smith — the group beat out UCLA for first place in the event, crossing the line in 3:38.36 to UCLA's time of 3:38.67.
Montana State's time is the eighth-fastest mark in NCAA Division I this season, while UCLA's is the tenth-fastest.
The relay record was a fitting end to an explosive day for junior Peyton Garrison, who before running the relay anchor roared to a win in the 200 meters earlier with a blazing time of 24.02 seconds, beating out UCLA All-American Kayla Fletcher, who ran 24.03 seconds.
Garrison, a junior from New Castle, Colorado, moved up to No. 3 all-time in MSU history with the race, and now sits in the top three indoors for MSU in both the 60 meters and 200 meters.
On the men's side, junior Xavier Simpson had the best day of his Bobcat career, turning in a pair of stellar performances in both the 60 and 200.
First, the Portland native clocked a 6.83 in the men's 60 meters, just four-hundredths of a second off his teammate Drake Wilkes' month-old school record. Simpson's mark was good enough to move him up to No. 3 in the Montana State record book, where four of the top six marks have now come in the last two seasons.
Later, Simpson added another personal-best in the 200 meters, crossing the line in 21.66 seconds to move up to sixth all-time in MSU history.
The Bobcat men's sprints group now possesses four of the ten fastest 60 meter runners in school history and four of the ten fastest 200 meter runners in school history.
In the jumps, Hailey Coey continued a dream start to her junior season, winning the long jump with a personal-best leap of 20-01.00.
Five weeks after setting the school record in the triple jump in her season debut, the Billings product improved upon her existing No. 3 all-time mark in MSU history.
Later on Friday, Coey proved her school record in the triple was no fluke, recording a jump of 40-01.50 to place fourth. The mark was just two inches off the best in program history and is just the third-ever attempt over 40 feet indoors for a Bobcat woman triple jumper.
"There were a number of highlights, but the women's 200 meter and school-record 4x400, Hailey Coey in the long and triple jump, Xavier Simpson in the 60 and 200, and a strong showing in the shot put, weight throw, and pole vault events were very exciting," Weese said.
Elsewhere for MSU:
- Easton Hatleberg won the men's shot put in just his second collegiate meet, tossing 54-06.50
- Colby Wilson won the men's pole vault with a clearance of 17-03.75, his best of the season and the 12th best in the country this winter. Only Wilson, the school-record holder in 18-01.25 (2023) and John Wurtz (1998) have gone over 17-03.00 in school history.
- Sydney Brewster and Emma Brensdal went 1-2 in the women's shot put among collegiate competitors, besting the field. Brewster finished with a best throw of 47-08.00 and Brensdal recorded a mark of 46-09.50.
Montana State hosts the Bobcat Challenge at Worthington Arena next Saturday, January 25, the second of four indoor home meets for the Bobcats this winter.
