The Montana track and field program announced its class of 13 prep athletes who signed National Letters of Intent this week.
The list included Emma Andrews of Kalispell, a standout multi-sport athlete. Andrews will join Butte’s Erika McLeod, Billings’ Morgan Sulser and Missoula’s Hana Feilzer. The Grizzlies also added Haley Gellner of Billings and Madison Page of Belgrade.
The Grizzlies lost a small but talented senior class, led by heptathlon All-American Lindsey Hall and record-setting and multiple-time Big Sky Conference champion Kourtney Danreuther. The pair helped lead Montana to a runner-up finish at last month’s Big Sky outdoor championships.
“This is a great recruiting class,” said UM coach Brian Schweyen, “one that we’re super excited about. I think it can be like a Hall- and Danreuther-type class.
“They have a lot of talent and are super competitive, and should allow us to continue what we’ve been doing.”
Andrews competes in the jumps.
McLeod is coming off a memorable Class AA state meet where she won four state championships. She was recently named the Montana Gatorade Track Runner of the Year.
Sulser, the 2013 Gatorade Montana Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year, swept the 100 meters and 100-meter hurdles at the Class AA state meet. She finished second to McLeod in the 300-meter hurdles and finished third in the 200 meters. Her winning time in the 100 at the state meet of 12.19 set a new all-class record. The 14.11 she ran in the 100-meter hurdles as a junior is also an all-class record.
Feilzer will give the Grizzlies the same type of versatility. She won the discus at the Class AA state meet and added runner-up finishes in the shot put and high jump. She also competed in the javelin.
Gellner was top five in both the 100 and 200 meters at the Class AA state meet as a junior, and Page won the Class A long jump title last month and finished second in the triple jump, an event in which she has gone farther than 37 feet.
Her background is similar to that of Havre’s Sammy Evans, who joined Montana as unheralded signee two years ago and is now the reigning Big Sky indoor and outdoor triple jump champion.