Cats Dominate Tom Gage Classic

BOZEMAN, Mont. — In their lone opportunity this outdoor season to compete at their home facility, the Montana State track and field team made it count while benefitting from beautiful weather as they took to Bobcat Track & Field Complex on Friday for the Tom Gage Classic. 

The 2025 regular season finale was highlighted by a school record from Harvey Cramb in the 800 meters, plus more all-time top-ten marks across the distance, jumps, and throws groups. 

Facing off with in-state competitors from Montana, Montana Tech, and Rocky Mountain College, Montana State made strides to ready themselves ahead of next week’s 2025 Big Sky Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Sacramento, California. 

“There were a lot of good things,” head coach Lyle Weese said. “Obviously we had not as many of our sprinters compete today since they’re resting up for next week, and the jumpers were maybe a little bit of a mix. With the distance and the throws, I thought we went out there and competed well and I thought we showed mostly in all areas great consistency, which is always good heading into a championship meet that you can replicate marks regardless of the meet or the location—the consistency was awesome.” 

Leading the day was the 800 meter race from Australian sophomore Harvey Cramb, who broke his own school record from a year ago with an altitude-converted time of 1:47.22. 

The mark shaved a second off his previous-best from this time last year, and gives the 2025 NCAA indoor All-American in the mile the No. 27 mark in the nation in the 800. Cramb also ranks No. 21 in the country this season in the 1,500 meters. 

“Harvey’s race was so impressive because he led from start to finish and got out really hard,” Weese said. “He doesn’t race the 800 all that often, so it’s not something he’s super used to. Especially getting out that hard I think made it a very challenging situation for him but he hung on and ran a really fast time.” 

In the men’s 1,500 meters, the Bobcats executed their gameplan of getting junior Sam Ells qualified for the NCAA West First Rounds.

With three-time All-American Rob McManus setting the pace through the first two-plus laps, Ells crossed the line in an eye-popping, altitude-converted time of 3:38.19, the third-fastest time in school history behind only Duncan Hamilton (2023) and Harvey Cramb (2025). 

“Sam’s kind of on the edge for Regionals in the 5,000 meters,” Weese said, “So we wanted to take today and make sure it was a focus of our distance team to make sure that he is in for sure in the 1,500 meters so that he doesn’t have to worry about it. It was nice to get that regional mark taken care of for Sam so that he can just go and race at conference and not worry about times.” 

The top-48 marks in both the West and East Regions advance to the NCAA First Rounds, and Ells did more than enough to punch his ticket to College Station in late May. Friday’s race puts him at No. 31 nationally and No. 15 in the West Region. 

In the women’s 1,500 meters, sophomore Eva Koos continued her breakout season with an electric race that catapulted her into second place all-time in Montana State history. 

The Wisconsin native crossed the line in an altitude-converted time of 4:22.84, behind only teammate Kyla Christopher-Moody in the race who set the school record in March. 

In fact, Koos’ time just would have narrowly been the school record itself by four one-hundredths of a second had Christopher-Moody not set it, edging out Holly Stanish from 1988 (4:22.88). 

In the women’s 800 meters, the Bobcats got a big race from sophomore Annie Kaul. 

The native of Plentywood, Montana, won handily in an altitude-converted time of 2:09.01, now the third-fastest time in school history after narrowly surpassing her teammate, Jada Zorn, who finished second on Friday in Bozeman. 

Kaul’s race is the fastest by a Bobcat woman since Christie Schiel set the school record in 2017 (2:06.87). 

Over in the pole vault pit, freshman vaulter Megan Bell continued her late-season surge with huge clearance of 13-08.25 to win on Friday. 

Bell, a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, went up and over on her third attempt, pushing her to No. 3 all-time in school history behind only two-time national champion Elouise Rudy (2007) and Maisee Brown (2024). 

Libby Hansen, a junior from Helena, Montana, also cleared a personal-best bar on her home track, getting over 13-02.25 to move up to eighth all-time at Montana State. 

Montana State will take three of the eight best pole vaulters in school history to the conference meet next week, with all three ranking in the top-six in the Big Sky this season (Richards, Bell, Hansen). 

Elsewhere, Taylor Brisendine capped an emotional day with a new personal-best in the triple jump that added on to what was already the third-best mark in school history. 

After walking the stage at graduation in Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in the morning, the native of Kalispell headed to the track and won the triple jump with a leap of 40-08.25–now the second-best mark in the Big Sky this year. 

Brisendine was one of 15 seniors recognized as part of Senior Day festivities following the meet. 

“It’s always a happy day and also a sad day,” Weese said. “We are graduating some people that have contributed so much to our team over the years and have been such an integral part of our team. It is great to see them moving on to the next stage of their life, finishing up graduating and moving on, but we’ll sure miss them here.” 

THE RUNDOWN 

• Easton Hatleberg and Talon Holmquist put on a show in the men’s shot put to finish 1-2. Hatleberg recorded a personal-best of 58-02 to improve on his No. 9 all-time mark in school history, with Holmquist not far behind with a personal-best throw of 57-08.25 

• Destiny Nkeonye won the men’s long jump with a leap of 24-02.25, just three inches off his No. 3 all-time MSU mark. Nkeonye also won the men’s triple jump, with teammate Mathias Mees taking second. 

• Bob Hartley, redshirting this outdoor season, won the men’s pole vault on number of misses over teammate Colby Wilson. Both cleared a bar at 17-04.25 

• Sydney Brewster, the Big Sky Conference record-holder and three-time defending Big Sky Women’s Field Athlete of the Week, won the shot put with a throw of 53-01.75. Teammate Emma Brensdal finished second. 

UP NEXT 

Montana State travels to Sacramento, California, for the 2025 Big Sky Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Sacramento State at Hornet Stadium beginning Wednesday, May 14, and continuing through Saturday, May 17. 

The Montana State men are the defending Big Sky outdoor champions, while Montana State’s women have finished runner-up at five consecutive conference championship meets. 

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