BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings track & field teams opened up the 2026 outdoor season on Saturday, playing co-host with Rocky Mountain College at Lockwood High School in the Yellowjacket/Battlin' Bears Open.
 
The Yellowjackets would find success with both the men's and women's teams to open the outdoor season, with both sides seeing a number of first place finishes and personal bests to kick off the season. The MSUB women's team would take first in the team scores with a total of 186, and the men would take third with a score of 121. Chief among the 'Jackets top marks would be a school record in the 800m from Micah Strong, who would run her way to the top of the record books with a time of 2:14.97. The freshman would best the previous record time of 2:15.77 set by Sarah Jackson in 2015. Her time would rank fifth in the GNAC this season, and see her take first place in the 800m at the meet.
 
Strong would also run the anchor on the 4x400m relay team consisting of her, Bella Klein, Delainey Engen, and Katie Sheridan, who would take first place in the relay with a time of 4:02.98. Klein would also take first in the 400m with a time of 59.03. MSUB would see a number of additional quality marks to kick off the season, with Izzy Ping racing to second in the 100m with a time of 12.69, climbing into the top ten in her first outdoor race of the season, while Delainey Engen would take third in the 100m with a time of 12.77, and second in the 200m with a time of 26.31, with Ping finishing third behind her with a time of 26.61.
 
In the 800m behind Strong, Chloe Shennum would place second with an outdoor PR of 2:29.27. Gracyn Rock would pace MSUB's finishers in the 1500m, taking third place with a time of 5:11.14, while Ally Coey and Toree Manning would PR in the 5000m with times of 19:41.61 and 20:36.73, placing fourth and sixth respectively.
 
In the throws, the Yellowjackets would dominate with a first place finish in each event, with three of them coming from Hannah Cooper. Cooper would take first in the discus with a throw of 38.04m (124' 9"), hammer throw with a mark of 49.46m (162' 3"), and javelin with a mark of 39.60m (129' 11"). Cooper would take third in the shot put with a throw of 11.57m (37' 11.5"), just behind Rae Smart, who would throw an impressive 14.18m (46' 6.25") to win the event. Smart's mark would be an NCAA provisional qualifying mark, ranking seventh in D2 this season, and top in the GNAC so far. Smart would also place second in the discus with a throw of 37.13m (121' 10"), and fourth in the javelin with a throw of 38.04m (124' 9"). Meanwhile in hammer, Jaida Green would PR with a throw of 48.14m (157' 11"), placing second behind Cooper.
 
For the men, Johnnie Young would put together a pair of strong performances in the high jump and triple jump. Young cleared 2.01m (6' 7") in the high jump to place first in the event for a PR, while taking second in the triple jump with a leap of 13.07m (42' 10.75"). Meanwhile to round out MSUB's first place finishes, the men's 4x400 relay team consisting of Kalub Padilla, JayCee Herbert, Lennon Davis, and Brock Grossman would run a time of 3:27.57 to take the top spot in the race.
 
Grossman would take second place in the 200m with a time of 22.20, while John Roberts would place second in the 100m with a PR time of 10.93. Also setting PRs would be Tyler Grenier, who would finish sixth with a time of 11.15, and Landon Freeman who PR'd with a time of 11.20 to place eighth. Lennon Davis would come in third in the 800m with a time of 2:03.89, while John Achter placed third in the 5000m with a time of 17:22.65.
 
In the field events, Braeden Ferris would pace MSUB in the discus with a throw of 44.04m (144' 6"), while taking third in the hammer throw with a mark of 46.53m (152' 8"). He would finish just behind Cort Sandefur in the event, with the senior taking second with a mark of 48.87m (160' 4"). Kody Biggs would take fourth in the hammer with a throw of 44.80m (146' 11"), while leading MSUB in the shot put with a mark of 13.10m (42' 11.75"), and Sean Zimmer would lead MSUB in the javelin, taking second place with a throw of 53.84m (176' 7"). Finally in the long jump, Caleb Young would take sixth with a mark of 6.00m (19' 8.25").
 
THE BUZZ: Johnnie Young and Micah Strong were named Intermountain Health Athletes of the Meet.
 
UP NEXT: The Yellowjackets will play host once more in their final home meet, the Dave Coppock Yellowjacket Open, scheduled for Saturday, March 28 at Lockwood High School. Meet information and live results will be made available on both the men's and women's schedule pages.