POCATELLO, Idaho — Competing against a stacked field of Division 1 competition, the Montana State University Billings men's and women's track and field team held their own, set new season-bests and had another school record go down with Bradley Graves' 14.80 in the 110-meter high hurdles on day one of Idaho State University's Bengal Invitational on Friday.

Graves' record breaks a five-year-old mark of 14.98 set by Austin Lindquist at the Battlin' Bears/Yellowjackets Open on April 13, 2017. This marks the second school record to go down in outdoor season and the second men's school record to fall in 2021-22. And, as an added bonus, Graves will get another chance tomorrow to improve on that record: His time was the seventh-fastest of the day to advance to Saturday afternoon's eight-man finals.

"I think today was a huge confidence booster for Brad to run a nice, clean race," MSUB head coach Jonathan Woehl said. "He had a very good practice start and a very good start in the race. I think he does better having people around him to compete against, so I'm excited to see what he will do tomorrow."

In what was arguably the deepest heat of the 110-meter high hurdles in the race, Graves got off to an excellent start out of the blocks and cleared the first two hurdles. The third hurdle provided some difficulties, but his second-half racing abilities kicked in from that point forward. Graves moved from the middle of the pack up to third and held on with his a strong, exaggerated arm drive over the final two hurdles to finish third in his heat.

Tomorrow's 110-meter high hurdle finals are scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Earlier this season, the sophomore transfer from Montana State ran a wind-aided 14.65 to win South Dakota Mines' Bauer Open, so Friday's record could be lowered even more.

Yet Graves' day wasn't done. Running in the open 100-meter dash for the first time since his senior year of high school in 2019, Graves ran a lifetime-best 11.35 to place second for the 'Jackets behind William Ullery's 11.27. In the prelims, the sprinters showed out across the board. Madison Thompson ran a collegiate-best 13.10 in the 100 meter dash to lead MSUB, while Sophia Bohl ran collegiate-bests in both the 100- (13.25) and the 200-meter (27.38) dashes — the latter of which was the fastest time of the day for the Yellowjackets. On the men's side, Favor Okere also ran a collegiate-best 11.36 in the final heat of the 100 meter dash, plus Ralston led MSUB in the 200 meters (22.84) and the 400 meters (51.46).

With all the new PRs, Woehl hopes the sprinters can regroup and piece together season-bests in both the 4x100 and the 4x400 relays tomorrow.

"The sprinters who did the best today didn't let the fact that they were running against really good competition get to them," Woehl said. "The goal for tomorrow is to take care of business in the 4x100 and the 4x400 so the sprinters can focus on doing one individual race at Dickinson State next week."

Later in the meet, Ase Ackerman and Kailee Stoppel led the way as MSUB's lone representatives in the 1,500 meter run. In the thick of a competitive heat, Stoppel ran a 4:57.57 — the third-fastest 1,500-meter time of her career — whereas Ackerman ran an assertive race in the second-fastest heat of the day. After going through the first lap towards the back of the pack, Ackerman made two aggressive moves over the next two laps to get back into the lead group. Yet while he threw in a surge to take the lead on the penultimate turn, Montana State's Riley Collins countered with one of his own. Ackerman still finished strong behind Collins and Southern Utah's Isaiah Labra with a 3:57.12 — the 10th fastest time out of 39 runners at the meet.

"Kailee's race went well through the halfway mark," Woehl said. "She's definitely feeling better than what she was, and she'll be just fine by the time we get to conference. Today was still the third-fastest time she has ever run in the 1,500. And Ase looked like he was feeling really good. He's learned a lot from what he did at [GNAC Indoors] where he sat while the leaders went. He's done a good job of being aware in races lately."

MSUB's distance runners also ended the meet on a high note in the 10,000 meter run. Competing in the longest track event for their first time ever, Ally Whitmer and Kit Wiersema worked mostly against the clock in the six-woman heat, tried sticking to their race plans and ended up running better times than both had anticipated going into the race. Whitmer's 43:01.50 was the third-fastest time overall, the eighth-fastest all-time at MSUB and also ranks third in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference so far.

"For her first 10K, she did really well," Woehl said of Whitmer. "She did deviate a little bit from her plan, but she hung right in there. I think she did a really good job of managing her effort. Now that her and Kit have run a 10K before and they know what that experience is like, they can definitely run faster."

Wiersema, who finished in fifth, ranks fourth in the GNAC and ninth all-time at MSUB with the 44:16.30 she posted in her debut.

"I think both of them got to the end of the race and realized they had more left in the tank," Woehl said. "Going into the season — much less two weeks ago — neither of them was planning on running a 10K, but I think both of them did a great job. Barring a bunch of GNAC women deciding to run the 10K this weekend, they should probably at least try to do it at conference."

On the men's side, Bryant Edgerton worked alongside a Weber State runner for the first two-thirds of the race before his competitor broke away. But to Edgerton's credit, the sophomore rallied over the next few laps and was able to finish strong with a personal-best time of 33:29.73. That time ranks fifth all-time at MSUB and 16th in a competitive GNAC field.

"At the beginning of the outdoor season, he ran in the 16:40s in the 5K, but today he ran two of those in a row," Woehl said. "He definitely has come a long way from the beginning of outdoor season."
 
THE RUNDOWN

• Bradley Graves was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Men's Athlete of the Day for setting the school record in the 110-meter high hurdles with a wind-legal 14.80 and for making Saturday's finals in the event by placing seventh overall. Graves also ran the fastest open 100-meter dash time of the day for MSUB with a 11.35. 
• Ally Whitmer was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Women's Athlete of the Day for placing third in the 10,000 meters with a 43:01.50. Her debut in the event not only ranks eighth all-time at MSUB, but also fourth in the GNAC.
• Kit Wiersema's 44:16.30 in the 10K is ninth all-time at MSUB and fifth in the GNAC.
• Jordan Cookman led the way in the hammer throw with a 37.54m mark.
• Ryann Moline was MSUB's leader in the javelin with a 37.54m throw, which was 11th-best on the day.
• Ryder Klein tied his season-best with a 48.10m (157-10) throw in the javelin, which was 12th-best out of 21 throwers.
• Forrest Cross led the way for MSUB in the men's hammer throw with a mark of 45.96m, good for 14th overall amongst 29 throwers.

UP NEXT: Day two of the Bengal Invitational will begin at 11:00 a.m. with the women's discus, women's triple jump and men's shot put. The women's 4x100 relay kicks off the track action at 11:30 a.m. Live stat links can be found on both the men's and women's track schedule pages at msubsports.com.