VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A record-breaking four Bobcat track and field athletes represented Montana State on the biggest stage Friday, competing at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships at Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach.
Shelby Schweyen, Harvey Cramb and Rob McManus all earned second-team All-American honors, with Colby Wilson also in action in the men's pole vault.
Only twice before in program history had Montana State sent two qualifiers to the NCAA Indoor Championships, and this weekend sent four.
Schweyen, a senior from Missoula, battled in the pentathlon throughout the morning on Friday and placed 16th to become the Big Sky Conference's first-ever All-American in the pentathlon.
Schweyen started off finishing 13th in the 60-meter hurdles after clocking an 8.74-second time to pick up 965 points. After clearing 1.60 meters (5-03.00) in the high jump to get 736 points, Schweyen earned 667 more with a mark of 39-08.00 in the shot put.
She gathered 631 points in the long jump after a leap of 17-03.25 and earned 790 more points in the 800 meters with a time of 2:22.46.
Schweyen finished with a total of 3,789 points, placing 16th overall and earning second-team All-American honors after becoming the first Montana State women's pentathlete to qualify for the indoor national championships and just the second-ever Montana State woman's multi to make it to the national meet after Erin Jones-Graf qualified in the heptathlon in 2006.
Schweyen is the seventh Montana State woman to ever earn All-American honors at the indoor national meet and the first since Lucy Corbett (2023, 2022).
Notre Dame's Jadin O'Brien won her third straight national title in the pentathlon, recording 4,596 points.
Later, Cramb and McManus went toe-to-toe with a stacked field in the semifinals of the men's indoor mile.
Cramb, a sophomore from Brisbane, Australia, ran in the ultra-fast first heat, just missing out on making Saturday's final by half a second and placing 11th overall.
The tall Australian clocked a blazing 3:58.51, the seventh-fastest time in prelims but also the seventh-fastest time in the heat — which took only the top four finishers plus the next two-fastest times.
Cramb hung with the pack the entire way, making a late move but briefly stumbling on a competitor's foot that stunted momentum as he began a push.
"Harvey was so close to making the final," Weese said. "In a slightly different position at the bell, he almost certainly would have. Even not having made the final, Harvey has come out of the meet with confidence in his capabilities."
Cramb earns second-team All-American honors, the first career All-American nod for an underclassman that already holds the outdoor 800-meter school record and top-four all-time school marks in the outdoor 1,500 meters, indoor 800 meters and indoor mile.
McManus, a senior from Cashmere, Washington, joined Cramb in earning second-team All-American honors after placing 15th in the men's indoor mile.
Running in the second semifinal heat, McManus also hung with the pack the entire way but was stymied every time he tried to make a move to the front. The gamesmanship of the slower heat meant an emphasis on strategy, with runners blocking each other while jockeying for position.
McManus finished in 4:05.82, picking up his third career All-American honor after twice earning second-team All-American nods at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 2023 and 2024.
Cramb and McManus picked up the 12th and 13th indoor track and field All-American nods in school history and the first since Duncan Hamilton earned three in a row from 2021 to 2023.
McManus also becomes just the fifth Montana State man to earn at least three All-American nods in track and field, joining Levi Taylor, Duncan Hamilton, Weese and Shannon Butler.
"Rob is becoming such a veteran of NCAA Championship meets," Weese said. "Including cross country, he has now competed in five of them and he still has so much of his career in front of him. For him to already be a three-time All-American is special, especially with an outdoor season this year and all of next year in front of him. Rob certainly is going to finish his career as one of the all-time great Bobcats."
In the pole vault, an incredible season came to a close for Wilson on the opening height.
The graduate student from Olympia, Washington, took three attempts at a massive opening bar set at 5.36 meters (17-07.00), but was unable to get over.
Wilson broke his own Big Sky Conference record twice this season and won his fourth Big Sky title in the pole vault.
The winner of 31 meets in the pole vault throughout his career, Wilson has now qualified for the indoor national championships on three occasions.
Duke's Simen Guttormsmen won the title, clearing 5.71 meters (18-08.75).
"With this being such a difficult meet to get into, it was exciting having four individuals qualify," Weese said. "We are already thinking of the possibilities for the coming outdoor season as we tend to be relatively a better outdoor team."
Montana State looks ahead to outdoor season, beginning with the Al Manuel Invite/Cat-Griz Dual on March 28-29 in Missoula at Dornblaser Field.
Normally two separate meets, the Al Manuel Invite will double as the Cat-Griz Dual, with dual scoring employed between Montana State and Montana.
Combined, the Bobcat men and women have won 21 of the last 25 duals over the rivals.
