MSUB Sports 2015-16 Feature Stories

TABLE OF CONTENTS One Step at a Time: Yellowjackets’ Axel Fueled by Adventure..............................................................................................2 The Road back: Izzi Howard Returns for ‘Jackets After Second Torn ACL...............................................................................7 Cameron Lee Rises as Leader Throughout Career as Yellowjacket........................................................................................12 Back With the ‘Jackets: Audri Marrs Returns to Volleyball as Senior Leader for MSUB..........................................................17 Katlyn Lokay Amon MSUB’s Best as 4-Year Starter for ‘Jackets.............................................................................................21 Larson, Hafer Aces in the Hole for MSUB Golf......................................................................................................................26 A Fitting Finish: Perez Scores Top-Class Goal, Winding Up Career with ‘Jackets....................................................................29 Koster Finishing 4-Year Career Strong with ‘Jackets.............................................................................................................32 Ashely Marra a Model of Resilience, Toughness for Yellowjackets........................................................................................37 Setting the Bar High: Kyndal Williams Assists ‘Jackets Throughout Stellar 4-Year Career.....................................................42 New Faces: MSUB Men’s Basketball Freshman Preston Beverly...........................................................................................47 New Faces: MSUB Women’s Basketball Freshman Taylor Edwards.......................................................................................50 Prevost Family Legacy Lives on Within Yellowjacket Women’s Basketball............................................................................53 New Faces: MSUB Men’s Basketball Freshman Cade Alcorn.................................................................................................56 Inside Athletic Training: Meet MSUB’s Miracle Workers.......................................................................................................59 Sternhagen Swinging Strong in Final Season with ‘Jackets.................................................................................................66 Olson Overcomes Odds, Owns One-of-a-Kind Career for ‘Jackets.........................................................................................70 Sparks Shining Bright as Yellowjacket Softball Pipeline......................................................................................................77 Robert Runs Road Rarely Reached in Career with ‘Jackets...................................................................................................82 At Third, Durbin is Invaluable Leader for Yellowjackets........................................................................................................87 Fine Toon-ed Approach: Yellowjacket Senior a Rock at First Base, in Lineup........................................................................91 Haley Rowe Catches on Quickly as Beloved Backstop for ‘Jackets.........................................................................................96 ‘Jackets Ride Johnson’s Electric Right Arm as Pitching Staff Staple......................................................................................100 Sidearm View: Lee Busto a Constant for ‘Jackets in Career as Pitcher...................................................................................105 Shortstop Corey Morris Brings Competitive Edge to Diamond for Yellowjackets..................................................................109 Hometown Hero Reinschmidt Carries Yellowjacket Baseball to Top of GNAC........................................................................113

All Stories Written By Evan O’Kelly, MSUB Athletics Director of Communications.

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One step at a time: Yellowjackets’ Axel fueled by adventure Friday, August 7, 2015 On top of coaching the MSUB volleyball team, Lisa Axel is an adventurer who loves to push herself to the limit from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to hiking through the entire Grand Canyon in a single day.

MSUB SPORTS – One step at a time.

By the time Montana State University Billings head volleyball coach Lisa Axel was 21 hours into her excursion at the Grand Canyon on May 24, those five words seemed to be the only constant in her life. Exhaustion was setting in, every muscle in her body pleading a more and more believable case that her next step would be her last.

But giving in and settling for almost making it isn’t in Axel’s nature. She had expertly navigated 39.5 miles of rocky terrain, while experiencing an elevation change of more than 15,000 feet. With 7.5 miles and 4,350 feet upwards to go, Axel knew there was only one way out of one of the world’s most extravagant natural wonders.

“There was a point where I thought I wouldn’t make it,” Axel said.

With just over a mile separating her from the parking lot she had set off from 23 hours earlier, Axel had reached the final landmark of her adventure. Along with a water refill station, a 911-emergency phone was within Axel’s reach. The callbox captivated her gaze for awhile, her better judgment kicking off a heated debate with her competitive fire to finish what she had started unassisted.

“I knew that wasn’t how I was going to get out of that canyon,” Axel said regarding the emergency phone. “I just kept going.”

Just as she had politely ignored the warning sign to not hike from the south rim of the canyon to the river and back in one day, Axel declined what would be her final resource available and left the phone on the hook. Her knees now nudged their way to the front of the debate she was having with herself, loudly warning that if she did not begin moving forward again that they would lock up and drop her to the ground in her tracks.

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R2R2R Axel had set out to achieve a daring feat, one referred to in the extreme adventure world as “Rim to Rim to Rim.” This excursion is not to be mistaken with the more readily found “Rim to Rim”, a challenge most commonly sought after by runners with the goal of trekking the canyon from top to bottom and back up again.

The challenge Axel faced took it to the next level. Not only did she plan to hike from the south rim down to the canyon floor and back up to the north rim on the opposite side, but without missing a step she would turn around and double her trek all the way back to the south rim.

Her timeline for completing the seemingly impossible journey: 24 hours.

“It is getting to be more popular with ultra runners, but they can do it a lot faster than I could have because they aren’t carrying anything,” Axel said regarding the emerging challenge now simply known as, ‘R2R2R’. “I set my goal as 24 hours as a hiker, and I started researching it. A lot of websites talked about how people do the south rim to the north, stay a night and then come back the next day. Not many hikers do the whole thing continuously.”

Considering the hike covers 47 miles and more than 20,000 feet in elevation change, it is easy to see why Axel was hard-pressed to find many examples of hikers taking it on within a single day.

Leading up to the monstrous task that lay ahead of her, Axel had to hike 50-60 miles per week while at the same time simulating drastic and sudden elevation changes. Expertly upping her mileage and then tapering off gradually as the date grew nearer, Axel felt that she was physically well-prepared for the grueling climb that lay ahead.

A meticulously packed bag on her back, with the exact amount of calories she would need secured along with an extra change of clothes, Axel’s vision started turning into a reality.

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“The day we arrived the canyon was completely clouded in, and you could only see about 10 feet off of the canyon wall,” Axel commented. “It kept us for a day just thinking about what we were getting ourselves into.”

Along with Axel were her friends Mira and Harsha, who planned to act as Axel’s support group throughout the journey. The duo planned to hike to the north rim in advance of Axel and stay the evening before joining up with her on the way back.

With the thick overcast layer however, a small sense of uncertainty began to creep into the back of Axel’s mind. It was not the first time Axel had spent months preparing for such an adventure however, and in a way her latest challenge was driven by a near miss a year earlier.

ICONIC ACONCAGUA, CONQUERING KILIMANJARO Less than 1,000 feet away from the summit of the tallest mountain outside of Asia, Axel was overcome with frustration. What had been a 16-day expedition and a climb of nearly 23,000 feet had come to a bitter end, as Axel helplessly sat just short of the crux of the mission.

Nearly two weeks earlier, Axel and a group of ambitious climbers set out to scale Aconcagua, a mountain in Argentina identified as the highest point in the Southern Hemisphere. Before even reaching the first camp, three of the climbers were rescued via Medevac due to the intense conditions.

Even after her fourth extensive surgery on her left foot, Axel was confident she was ready to take on what would be the highest ascent of her life.

But as she battled through the incredible adversity and found herself on the cusp of achieving her goal, she was reminded of the frustration and helplessness that served as her original motivation to take on extreme mountain climbing.

Growing up as a volleyball player, Axel soon emerged as a standout on the court and developed into a highly-touted college prospect. Hailing from Buffalo, Minn., Axel pursued her athletic career at Division I University of Minnesota, where she was a four-year starter and led the Golden Gophers to a Big Ten Championship in 2002.

Her success as a player led her to pursue her current career path of coaching, however she admits that it was hard to spend any significant time away from the court when she competed at the top collegiate level.

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“I always loved the outdoors but I never had the opportunity to get into mountain climbing,” Axel said regarding her childhood and early adult life. “I played volleyball until my body said, ‘no,’ and then I had to find something else I could compete at. Climbing mountains was the only thing where I could push myself to my limit; where I could train and compete against myself.”

Battling through back injuries related to her career as a volleyball player, Axel refused to accept the diagnosis of a doctor who suggested she shift to a less active lifestyle because of the degeneration in her back. “I went to get a second opinion and a couple of back surgeries later I was capable of getting into climbing,” Axel said. “There are more than 50 peaks in Colorado taller than 14,000 feet, and I have done 25 of them. My goal is to eventually do them all.”

While Axel still has the 50-plus “14ers” in Colorado on her list, her competitive edge pushed her to seek out a bigger challenge.

Axel posing with the MSUB logo towards the At times Axel’s recovery from back surgery was disheartening. She could barely muster the strength top of Aconcagua. to lift herself out of bed, let alone take on a flight of stairs. But as she regained her strength little by little every day, she knew she needed an end goal in mind to work towards.

“It couldn’t just be a mountain in the U.S.,” Axel said regarding her plans for a post-surgery adventure. “I needed something dangling in front of me to help get me through the recovery.”

In January of 2013, Axel rose to the top of Africa as she successfully navigated to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The peak, famous for being the tallest free-standing mountain in the world, stands at 19,341 feet above sea level and became Axel’s first iconic notch in her adventure belt.

“I wanted to do big mountains, but I didn’t really have the technical skills yet,” Axel said on her first thoughts of tackling Kilimanjaro. “That one is hard because of the altitude, but there wasn’t a big technical aspect to it.”

Upon reaching the summit, Axel was reassured that all of the pain and grueling recovery she had gone through had been worth it. When she arrived in her hotel room after descending Kilimanjaro, Axel was already thinking about what was next.

“Aconcagua was higher and was one more step in the technical aspect,” said Axel. “It was an actual expedition. I had made it up 19,000 feet, but I wanted to see if I could get a little bit higher.”

While Axel ultimately surpassed the 20,000-foot mark on her climb up the Argentinian giant, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed that she didn’t quite reach the peak.

“I knew right away that I needed to do something and that I couldn’t wait two years,” Axel said. “I turned back to looking at what I could do in the U.S. that was extremely challenging and where I could push myself. As soon as I got back from Argentina I started researching the hardest hikes in the U.S. and that’s when I found the rim to rim to rim challenge. The Grand Canyon was one of the few places I had never been, and that combined with the challenge made me decide to do it.”

Axel posing at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

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ONE STEP AT A TIME “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T. S. Elliot If Axel had learned anything from her two previous major excursions, it was that the success of the trip laid within the preparation and planning. Similar to the mindset she holds as head coach of the Yellowjackets, she figured that if the prep work had been done properly, then come gameday it was just a matter of execution.

If there were ever a parallel between the volleyball court and the red dirt of the Grand Canyon however, it would be adapting to unforeseen circumstances and adjusting on the fly.

Axel’s knees continued to fight her every step, each one suggesting she should have picked up the emergency phone when she had the chance a half hour earlier.

Out the window was the plan to link up with her friends on the way back to the south rim, as it had taken Axel longer than expected to reach the other side and Mira and Harsha were unprepared to hike after sunset.

Gone was the light from her headlamp, the last symbol of her will to continue flickering out. There was no chance of stopping to replace it, for her knees would have followed the lead of the headlamp’s batteries and finally run out of juice.

Now it was just Axel, three miles separating her from achieving what had become her toughest challenge to date. As she battled onward, refusing to succumb to the terrain, she remembered the feeling of frustration she had battled to get to this point. The inability to step out of her hospital bed post-surgery. The heartbreak of coming impossibly close to the peak of Aconcagua before turning back.

This story had to have a different ending. The more Axel’s body began shutting down, the more her brain became unresponsive. By her final steps, the lone thought occupying her mind was to lift her foot and put it in front of the other. “When I saw the sign reflecting off of my light, I was very confused,” Axel said.

Though she was incapable of comprehending the sight of the lower parking area, Axel had arrived at her final destination. “The first thing I did was call my parents and tell them I made it and that I was safe,” Axel said. “I was in pretty bad shape, and everything was focused on what I had to do to get back to the hotel.”

Axel’s friends were awaiting her arrival anxiously at the parking lot, and managed to safely get her back to their hotel.

With the sense of achievement once again restored, Axel already has plans for the next adventure on her horizon. “I have been considering the seven volcanic summits, which are the highest volcanoes on each continent,” Axel said when asked about the details of her next excursion. “The one in South America is a couple hundred feet shorter than Aconcagua, and I think I will do that one first. I’d like to do it around Christmas of this year.”

If nothing else, Axel has proven she is capable of achieving whatever she sets her mind to. Her competitive edge continues to shine through as she pushes herself to her limits, and there is no end in sight to her ambitious adventures.

Whether scaling the world’s highest peaks, or working on her game plan for the Yellowjackets’ next match, Axel’s approach remains consistent: One step at a time.

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The road back: Izzi Howard returns for ‘Jackets after second torn ACL Thursday, September 3, 2015 MSUB senior Elizabeth Howard returns to the field in 2015 after fighting through a torn ACL in the offseason, a familiar battle she conquers for a second time.

MSUB SPORTS – In the very first preseason scrimmage of 2015 for the Montana State University Billings women’s soccer team, senior midfielder Elizabeth Howard made a statement.

Creating space with the ball from around 30 yards away from the goal, she unleashed a laser-like shot that buzzed past the Sheridan goalkeeper and into the net. The shot was perfectly placed, coming off the foot of one of the Yellowjackets’ most technically skilled players.

Within the context of MSUB’s 2015 season, the goal was little more than the result of good ball movement and creating a scoring opportunity. It was not counted on Howard’s stat sheet, nor was the victorious result for the team counted towards the Yellowjackets’ regular season record.

But for Howard, the sight of the ball piercing the nylon net held a much deeper meaning. Ten months after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, it was evidence that she had returned to full strength. Deeper still, 21 years into her life it was symbolic of her consistent ability to overcome adversity and uncertainty and thrive.

STREET BALL Howard hails from Bristol, England, where she grew up in a world surrounded by boys playing soccer – or as it is traditionally referred to in Europe as “football” – in the streets. Maturing at a young age, Howard quickly adopted independent characteristics as she was raised only by her mother, Alison Hambridge.

Ultimately, it was her and her partner Pete Hale who generously made it possible for Howard to pursue Howard sneaking a soccer ball into her career overseas in the U.S. school so she could play during recess.

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“My father passed away when I was three, and without realizing it I grew up doing everything that he used to do as a kid,” Howard commented on her late father Glenn. “He and I were inseparable, and I really latched onto all of his characteristics.”

Without a father figure in her early life, Howard had to learn to stick up for herself. Naturally, she turned to the constant “kickabouts” with neighborhood kids as an outlet to stay active. “I lived in the inner city, so we didn’t have woods to explore,” Howard said. “We would just play in the street and try not to have our footballs confiscated by the neighbors.”

Sometimes using dust bins as goalposts, wherever there was room for 10 or more people there was room for an impromptu game.

Often times, however, Howard would find herself as the lone female in the group, anxiously looking on as the boys divided up sides without so much as acknowledging her presence. “They would just see this girl hanging out around them and think it was strange,” Howard recalled. “It took a while before they actually let me play.”

Howard would stand along the side of the field, anticipating a ball being cleared out of play that she could retrieve. She figured that if she could boot it back strongly enough, her fellow 10-year-olds of the opposite gender might recognize her ability and welcome her to join the game.

When Howard was eventually allowed to join the action, it was not without visible reluctance and criticism from many of her male counterparts.

The boys refused to go easy on “Izzi”, perhaps even offering an extra elbow to the ribs than they otherwise would have in an attempt to prove their dull point that she didn’t belong.

The extra bruises added to her character and the dissenting language broadened her vocabulary. None of it bothered Howard; the pitch was where she belonged.

KICKING IT UP A NOTCH While opportunities for girls to play football were limited, Howard eventually abandoned the abuse of the street games in favor of joining a club team, the Bristol Rovers. Spending her prep years in one of the top developmental academies in the area, Howard wound up at Filton College, the equivalent of the junior and senior years of high school in the United States.

She attributes her most significant growth as a player to the time spent under the guidance of now-England women’s national team head coach Mark Sampson, under whom Howard and her team captured the English Schools Championship. “Izzi quickly became accustomed to our style of play and our system,” said MSUB head coach Wojtek Krakowiak. “I believe this comes from her youth soccer back in England, and her coaches’ focus on tactical and technical abilities deserve a lot of credit in her development.”

In her first game after winning the prestigious title as a 17-year-old, Howard was inserted as a late-game substitute in a showcase game for a college team from the United States that was traveling to England. With around two minutes left on the clock, Howard collapsed on the field in agony, her hands reaching for her right knee.

“Initially I didn’t know what had happened, but something felt extremely unnatural in my knee,” Howard remembered.

Later that evening at the hospital, it appeared that Howard was simply dealing with a bruised knee, nothing a few weeks of rest couldn’t cure.

But on her way out, a surgeon caught a glimpse of her compromised stride and wasn’t convinced that a bruise was the proper diagnosis. “When I was leaving the clinic, one of the surgeons stopped me and did a Lachman’s test on my knee,” said Howard. “Right away he told me that I had a torn ACL and that I would need surgery.”

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The news came as a shock to Howard at first, and when she realized that she was going to miss her second and final year at Filton she was overcome with emotion. “I went through the cycle of feelings slowly when I tore my ACL the first time,” said Howard. “Denial for two months, anger for two months, then two months of depression.”

It was not the first time in Howard’s life that she faced adversity, but this time she could not reach for the one avenue which had always been available to escape and relieve tension and anxiety. As long as Howard’s knee couldn’t properly support her steps, football was on the shelf as well.

Caught in between staying in England for an extra year and seeking out an opportunity to play in the U.S., a late offer from NCAA Division I Arkansas State University swayed Howard to take a chance at pursuing her game at the next level. “I signed a letter of intent four weeks before the preseason started, cancelled all of my summer plans, and jumped on a plane to Jonesboro, Arkansas,” said Howard. “I got cleared to play the day before our first exhibition game, and that was the first bit of contact I had in sixteen months. It took me awhile to adapt to the American game, but eventually I got into the swing of things. I was fit and healthy, and didn’t have any setbacks.”

After competing in 31 games for the Red Wolves, Howard began to realize the fit wasn’t right. She began exploring other options in the area, targeting Division II schools in the west region with plans of transferring for her final two collegiate years.

“I had been to Montana before and I knew that the GNAC was a very competitive conference,” Howard said regarding her decision to become a Yellowjacket. “Coming here was a redemption for me, it gave me a chance to do what I knew I had to do.”

JOINING THE ‘JACKETS “There are things in soccer that one cannot coach, things that come from within a player’s heart.

Elizabeth definitely possesses those abilities. Our program has grown from her presence, and I believe we can all agree we are lucky to call her a teammate.” – Yellowjacket head coach Wojtek Krakowiak on senior Elizabeth Howard.

The final buzzer sounded at Yellowjacket Field on Oct. 4, 2014, and Howard and her new MSUB teammates gave a frustrated final glance at the scoreboard which read 1-0 in favor of the visitor. Reigning Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion Western Washington University had squeezed out a narrow victory over the ‘Jackets, and Howard’s competitive fire overtook her in the team’s very next training session.

“I went into that practice furious,” Howard said. “(WWU) is so idolized by the conference and for us to lose at home by one scrappy goal to them was annoying. I was mad and exhausted, but I decided I was going to treat that training session like it was the GNAC final.”

Howard cheering on her team at the field while on crutches.

During a game of possession during practice, the unimaginable became reality again for Howard.

She describes it as a “pop,” then a “crunch,” and immediately she knew what had happened. This time reaching for her left knee, Howard again found herself in a heap on the turf, the ligaments support-

ing her severed at the hands of a hard cut.

This time the emotions came quickly, and stronger than ever. On the field – denial. In the car on the way to the training room – anger. Lying motionless on the training table – depression. Kyle Emerick, MSUB men’s soccer senior captain, was enjoying a post-training ice bath when Howard burst through the door to the training room. No words were exchanged, just a hug from one athlete to another in recognition of what was about to be another seemingly endless road to recovery. “He just knew,” Howard said of Emerick. “He didn’t say anything like, ‘you’ll be ok.’ It was the best thing anybody could have done for me that day.”

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A sequence that took six months the first time Howard experienced a torn ACL, this time the emotions came and went in a matter of hours. By that evening, she realized that she knew what it took and she determined she was going to be healthy for her final collegiate season.

In hopes of not worrying her mother, Howard held off informing her of the bad news until she had arranged for the surgery. “I don’t think she was pleased with me, but I reassured her that I was ok,” said Howard. “Next, I had to start finding my fun.”

While the team was away on road trips, Howard had to find ways to keep herself occupied in her room on campus. “I formed an obsession with rearranging my bedroom, starting a week after I had surgery,” Howard said. “I moved the beds around and the room kept changing. I didn’t want to get used to what felt like a paralyzed situation I was in, so I kept changing everything around me.”

Howard’s roommate, Kari Kastelic, would often times return from a road trip to find a completely different setup in the room they shared. “Izzi is such an independent person that it was hard for her to have everyday tasks become strenuous,” Kastelic said. “I can’t imagine what she had to go through in terms of balancing rehab, school, and carrying crutches around everywhere, but I think she handled it better than anybody else could have.”

Like Howard, Kastelic was a new transfer into MSUB’s program last season, and the two clicked instantly and bonded together on and off the field. “We both had a good vibe, and having her as a midfielder in front of me created a good bond between us,” said Kastelic, a center defender for the ‘Jackets. “Izzi is definitely one of the strongest women I know, and if anyone could handle this injury it is her. No matter what she was still supporting the team, always cheering us on from the sidelines, and she had great feedback for all of us.”

The consensus among the Yellowjackets when Howard first arrived was that her lovable and energetic personality would add a valuable dynamic to the squad. “She was so outgoing and bubbly, and she wasn’t afraid of meeting new people,” commented junior Brittney Greenback on her first impressions of Howard. “We knew she had a ton of talent and all of us were excited that she was coming here.”

Howard had played in all eight games as a holding midfielder leading up to her injury, and when her season ended it was Greenback who stepped into the crucial role in the center of the field. “I knew that role meant just as much to Brit as it did to me, and I was happy for her to have that opportunity when I couldn’t play,” Howard said. “She would always send me photos and things to motivate me and recognize me as a player while I was hurt.”

Similar to her previous injury, Howard once again felt the frustration of being immobile as she watched her team put together a memorable season. The Yellowjackets took second place in the GNAC, advancing to the conference championship tournament and finishing the year with a record of 11-4-2.

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REDEMPTION “That goal was surreal for me. For the first time, I felt like I deserved to be selfish for once after what I’ve been through and put myself through.

I needed that moment to solidify everything.” – Izzi Howard on scoring in her first scrimmage back on the field after recovering from her second torn ACL. As far as Howard was concerned, a full recovery was the only option on her radar. Electing to remain in Billings over the summer, Howard diligently worked through the excruciating rehabilitation with MSUB’s athletic training staff, and kept her sights on returning to the pitch in the fall.

“The training room became my mecca and it felt like the only place where I was getting better,” Howard said. “Tom (Ebel) helped push me during my recovery and Lindsay (Sullivan) was the most reliable person I went to in terms of her knowledge about the injury.”

“Izzi never stopped asking questions, and she always wanted to have a better understanding of the inner workings of her knee in order to prevent a tear from happening again,” said Sullivan. “Her path back to the soccer pitch was one of knowledge and understanding first, and then putting it into action to complete her rehabilitation. She has worked tirelessly, always pushing herself, from the day she started working on range of motion to her first game where she scored a goal.”

When Howard and the Yellowjackets take the field and open their 2015 season on Thursday against Carroll College, her appearance will represent a recurring theme of triumph throughout her life stemming from her earliest childhood memories. As her name is announced over the public address system, the memories of being pushed around by the boys on the gritty street fields will flash through her mind. The whirlwind of emotions she endured once for each of her knees will momentarily rise up through her.

Her father’s presence will lead her every step along the way.

“My dad has been my unconditional motivation throughout my whole life,” said Howard. “I haven’t got him to tell me what is right or wrong, but whatever I am feeling I know he is guiding me.”

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Cameron Lee rises as leader throughout career as Yellowjacket Wednesday, September 16, 2015 A four-year starter for the Yellowjackets, senior captain Cameron Lee is a key leadership figure for all of MSUB Athletics as he also serves as the SAAC president for the department.

MSUB SPORTS – Run your eyes up and down the Montana State University Billings men’s soccer roster and diverse is an adjective that only just begins to tell the story of the 30 entries.

Ten different countries are represented between players and coaches, a conglomerate of international styles converging on Yellowjacket Field in Billings and defining its own unique style of soccer.

Among the faces sporting navy and gold are new, promising players possessing potential previously unwitnessed at MSUB. There is a Mexican striker who through four games ranks fourth in the nation in scoring.

There are German and American midfielders who have connected so seamlessly with their forward up top they have created the illusion of being 10-year veteran teammates.

There is a 6-foot-3 British central defender, soft with his words but brilliantly tough and fearless with his tackling on the ball.

There is a German patrolling the 18-yard box, snatching crosses and shots out of thin air and every once in a while stealing the show with a 70yard assist from box-to-box.

There are a pair of Australians in the center, infecting the team with their contagiously positive personalities.

There’s a Brazilian winger, lightning quick with a shot equally displaying power and finesse.

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There are two outside backs; an outspoken leader from England and a humble Washingtonian eager to prove himself as a senior after missing all of last season with an injury.

There are reminders of the fragility of life, a Californian whom the 29 others on the roster will always play for and hold in their highest regards.

A 7-year-old Billings boy who has stolen the Yellowjackets’ hearts, with enough energy and character to lift the spirits of the squad, and with enough inspiration to alter the lives of every single one of them.

In the center of it all is a man who wears the colors as proudly as any Yellowjacket ever has, a humble, gracious leader who has transformed into one of the most significant athletes in MSUB men’s soccer history.

Cameron Lee, born in Cape Town, South Africa, spending much of his childhood in the Isle of Man of the British Crown, has earned the black captain’s stripe he sports on his left arm on Gameday. He has earned it through the leader he has become, through his ability to influence each and every player and every style surrounding him on the field.

Beyond the pitch, he has earned it through all of his peers at MSUB, being elected as the president of the school’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

Above all, Lee has grown into an ambassador for his team, MSUB Athletics and the university as a whole. He has become the fitting semblance of the mission of MSUB to foster growth and well-rounded development of each of its students. Having already excelled as a model citizen and matured into a role model however, there remains work to do in his final season with the Yellowjackets.

OFF TO THE STATES

Cameron Lee as a freshman in 2012.

In December of 2011, Lee put his skillset on display in a showcase at the London Soccer Dome. Collegiate coaches from across the United States were avidly taking notes, searching to pick out the top talent to bring back to their squads across the Atlantic Ocean.

Then-MSUB head coach Dan McNally had his eye on a pair of players at the showcase, as Lee and an Aylesford, England native Sam Butterworth caught his attention and provoked scholarship offers.

“At that point, Sam and I didn’t know each other but we happened to be playing at the same venue,” Lee commented on being recruited to MSUB. “Dan saw us both and spoke to us. Right at that moment I was sold on MSUB, and it was the fact that he took the time after the event to make me feel like I was worth something.”

Though they didn’t know it at the time, Butterworth and Lee would end up becoming roommates their freshman season at MSUB, beginning their college soccer journey together.

Lee inked his letter of intent to become a Yellowjacket and headed to Billings in the fall of 2012. It was the opportunity to compete at a high level athletically while completing his higher education that drew Lee to the United States, and he was surprised at how quickly he adapted to the culture change.

“I knew my father wanted me to get my degree and America was the best fit,” Lee said. “The university system in the U.K. does not concentrate on sports at the age of 18-20, and there was a bigger emphasis on sports in college here. It is very evident that soccer is extremely fast-growing in the States, and to be a part of that in this time is something special that most people don’t realize.”

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Lee had an impact right away, starting in his very first game for MSUB at Chaminade University in Hawaii and playing more than 1,500 minutes as a freshman while starting all 18 contests. In his 12th career match, Lee scored his first collegiate goal as he put the Yellowjackets ahead 1-0 in a road match against Western Washington with a volley finish in the 23rd minute on Sept. 15, 2012.

While it was clear Lee had no problem fitting into the team’s style of play, it was the impact he had on teammates off the field that garnered praise right off the bat as well.

“We hit it off really well from the get-go, and we became pretty good friends off the field,” commented fellow senior Garret Robinson, who met Lee their freshman year in 2012. “We clicked on an intellectual level and both had the same aspirations for life. Coming to Billings was weird for us and Butters, but we all bonded pretty well in our first year together.”

Butterworth cited Lee’s laid back personality and calm mentality as indicators that he would one day grow into a powerful leader. “Cam looks at things in a different perspective from other people,” Butterworth said. “He doesn’t rush into anything, and things worked well between us straight away.”

Helping Lee assume a major role as a freshman were a trio of key role models who he credits with having a major impact on his personal development. In his first season, Lee played next to Conner Moe as a central defender and also looked up to Blair Stevenson and Thomas Chameraud to show him the ropes at the collegiate level.

“Blair adopted me under his wing, and he had a passion for the game that I don’t think many people could match,” Lee said. “He was an exceptional player. Thomas was potentially the best attacking player who I have ever played with, and I could always rely on him.”

Chameraud is currently MSUB’s assistant coach, and alongside him last season was Moe as Lee was fortunate to have two of his major influences remain as guides in a coaching role.

“Conner and I developed a special partnership off the field, and I learned so much from him. More than any other player, he has always been my role model at this university because of his passion, tenacity, and his will to win. He is, in my eyes, the best defender I have ever played with and I have learned absurd amounts from him.”

BLEEDING NAVY AND GOLD

Lee and assistant coach Conner Moe embrace after a home victory during the 2014 season.

“People will remember his leadership skills and his positive, caring attitude. He cares about his teammates a lot, and that is something the younger players on the team can learn from and carry on. And he is the best dancer on the team.” – Senior Garret Robinson on the legacy of senior Cameron Lee. By statistical measure, Lee’s career to this point has been a model of defensive excellence and consistency. He has started 54 matches and played in 56 through his first four games of 2015, and will cross 5,000 career minutes played with his next two matches.

Playing a position that doesn’t lend itself to statistical glamour however, Lee’s career as a center back is more appropriately defined through the growth he has experienced and leadership qualities he has attained.

“Cameron has become a man during his time here at MSUB,” commented Yellowjacket head coach Alex Balog. “He came in four years ago and had the qualities on the field to become a starter right away, but off the field he needed growth. Year-by-year he has become a better person, and in our program that’s the ultimate goal: Improve the human being. I’m very proud of how Cameron has grown into a steady person with a good head on his shoulders.”

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As Lee continues to grow as a leader now in his senior season, he commented that the difficulty of balancing life as a student-athlete is a challenging part of the maturation process that everyone in the program faces.

“College is certainly a learning experience, a time for development and growth in a person’s life,” Lee said. “At times there are a lot of emotional rollercoasters, and you have to find a healthy balance with your social life as well.”

Lee has been able to impart this message among his peers, getting involved with MSUB’s SAAC as a freshman and taking ownership within it.

After serving as a representative for MSUB’s men’s soccer team during his first two seasons, Lee served as vice president last year before being elected president as a senior.

The main function of SAAC, an organization featured at every NCAA institution across all divisions, is to foster relations between athletes, their university, and the surrounding local community. Lee has been tasked with leading a committee of his peers in fundraising and community service projects, and also serves as MSUB’s representative at the conference SAAC level.

“SAAC allows you to be more involved with your school and athletic department in particular,” Lee said. “One of the reasons I aspired to become president is that I want to help people better themselves first and foremost. SAAC provides an ideal opportunity for student-athletes to do this, and we all want to help people on our campus become even better role models than they already are.”

Lee’s concerted effort to serve as a leader among his peers not only on the field but off of it as well is one of the main reasons he is held in the highest regards by those closest to him. “Cam has been a good friend to all of us with his leadership, because he does well just being one of the players like all of us,” commented Daragh Kavanagh. “He doesn’t stand out as a boss figure to us, he is down to earth and is just one of the guys.

He deals with his ups and downs calmly, and rarely loses focus on his goals.”

DEFENDER AT HEART From the time he can first remember playing the game he loves, Lee has always been a defender. His even-keel personality and rare composure fit the position naturally, and even when conditions on his youth fields in Cape Town weren’t ideal, Lee found a way to make the best out of what he had.

“There were some very good academies but there were also some very brutal areas,” Lee commented regarding playing the game growing up.

“Sometimes there were no game balls and you had to bring your own to practice. In the big scheme of things, it was humbling growing up there and seeing that side of the spectrum. It only makes you appreciate what you have that much more.”

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The humbleness has not escaped Lee throughout the fortunate opportunity he has had to compete with the Yellowjackets over the past four seasons. His family has held stronger than anyone else by his side, as he credits his parents and younger brother with providing the platform for his growth at MSUB. “Without them, I would not be here with this opportunity experiencing things I’ve been able to experience,” Lee commented on his mother Theresa, father Marc, and brother Neeson. “My little brother is my best friend and has always supported me. My mother is the extreme loving type, and she has given me the love and support any child could hope for and more. My father has given me the set of tools to become a man, and has always taught me to do that which is right. Those three are closer to me than anyone in my life.”

Lee is completing a degree in organizational communications, with hopes of pursuing occupational practical training opportunities which would provide him with a visa to remain in the United States and begin his career. He has maximized the value of his time as a Yellowjacket, earning a starting spot on the pitch and developing better than he or his coaches could have hoped for into a captain.

“Cameron has turned out to be a great mentor for many of our guys,” Balog said. “Not just the youngsters, but every player in our program knows they can turn to Cameron if they need guidance. The greatest reward for us is to see what he has become and how good of a leader he has grown into.”

Among the wide range of personalities and cultural backgrounds on MSUB’s roster, Lee’s does not stand out at first glance. He doesn’t seek the respect of his teammates through orders; he commands it through the example he displays through his every action.

Beyond all, Lee has embodied the spirit of Yellowjacket Athletics, maximizing the collegiate experience and providing a living example of becoming a leader his peers, family, and all those around him can aspire to emulate.

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Back with the ‘Jackets: Audri Marrs returns to volleyball as senior leader for MSUB Tuesday, September 22, 2015 After completing her undergraduate degree at Metro State University-Denver, Audri Marrs suits up for the Yellowjackets and serves as a key leadership figure in her final year of eligibility with the Yellowjackets.

MSUB SPORTS – The first time Audri Marrs stepped into Alterowitz Gymnasium on the Montana State University Billings campus in August she wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

Much like the new teammates around her, she felt her inner nerves come to life, the same feeling every student-athlete gets when being introduced into a new program. Her worries were not those typical of an incoming freshman however; what would be served for lunch in the cafeteria that day or where she was supposed to go to finalize her financial aid package.

That was a path Marrs had already been down and back, as she completed her undergraduate degree at Metro State University-Denver last spring.

Rather, it was the notion that she would be returning to the court as a player after putting her career on hold after her sophomore season with the Roadrunners. The uncertainty surrounding whether or not she would be able to transition from the coaching mindset she had adopted during her final two undergraduate years back to fitting in as a teammate at the collegiate level again.

These were the questions racing through Marrs’s mind the first time she put on the last volleyball uniform she would ever wear as a player.

Three weeks into the Yellowjackets’ season Marrs has answered these questions in the affirmative, and has solidified herself as a valuable and unique leader among her peers.

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RISING UP Listed on MSUB’s roster as standing 5-foot-11, Marrs has always been among the taller women in her peer groups throughout her life. Though she was always active outdoors as a kid, Marrs never took to organized sports and it wasn’t until her eighth grade P.E. teacher talked her into trying basketball and volleyball that she stepped onto a court.

Slamming down kills and rising up for layups came naturally to Marrs, and it wasn’t long before her game as a spiker began to garner attention from coaches at the collegiate level.

“I was recruited out of my club volleyball team to go to Metro State,” Marrs said of her junior year at Chaparral High School in Denver. “It was kind of overwhelming because I hadn’t been in the (organized sports) realm for very long and I didn’t understand a lot about recruiting. I just wanted to pick a school that was going to be a good fit.”

After redshirting as a freshman in 2011, Marrs stepped into a key role for Metro State as she started all 29 matches and led the team in total blocks with 89 the next season. Marrs was enjoying success on the court at the Division II level, but circumstances in her life presented her with a difficult decision to make after her first two seasons.

“There were some things going on outside of volleyball that needed to take precedent, and I decided that I had to focus my time and energy on those things,” Marrs said. “In the end it involved me having to leave the volleyball program.”

Marrs was certain that her volleyball career had come to an end, but she remained in school and completed her bachelor’s degree in human development in four years at Metro State.

Whether Marrs knew it or not, however, there was one set of eyes that remained on her even when she turned in her jersey and swapped her knee pads and ankle braces for cowboy boots. It was MSU Billings head coach Lisa Axel who kept Marrs in mind, and who ultimately provided her with one final opportunity to compete in college volleyball.

FROM MSUD TO MSUB “Audri brings valuable playing experience to our program. With so many new athletes on our team this year it was very important to bring in an upperclassman who has played at a high Division II level.” – MSUB head coach Lisa Axel on senior Audri Marrs.

Now in her fourth season as head coach at MSUB, Axel, like Marrs, was a product of Metro State. Serving as an assistant coach in the program when Marrs first broke in, Axel liked what she saw from Day 1 and knew all along the potential Marrs had to be a standout.

Even when Axel departed to pursue the head coaching opportunity with the Yellowjackets, she remained in touch with Marrs and would take the time to check in with her periodically.

When Axel learned that Marrs stepped away from volleyball, she locked away in the back of her mind that her former player would still have a year of eligibility left down the road.

“I never thought I would play college volleyball again,” Marrs said with a convincing degree of certainty. “I decided my senior year that I wanted to get into counseling, and after meeting with a friend at a mental health center I learned that I needed to get my master’s degree if I wanted to pursue that career.”

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The phone call from Axel came during the spring of Marrs’s senior year, as her former coach cast her a line in the form of a mutually beneficial opportunity. With a young team on her hands, Axel saw tremendous value in Marrs’s leadership capabilities and playing experience. With the desire to begin her master’s degree and a year of eligibility left in her pocket, Marrs saw what would be her final chance to play the game competitively.

“We communicated about it off and on during my senior year,” Marrs said regarding signing with the Yellowjackets. “Towards the end it became more real, and I thought MSUB would be a good opportunity to further my education and test the waters with psychology.”

“I had the opportunity to coach Audri when she played at Metro State,” Axel said. “She has fit in very well here at MSUB as we run a very similar system to the one she was familiar with. Audri is a very smart blocker and has done a great job slowing down our opponents.”

In particular, Marrs commented that she has tried to impart her knowledge of the game to MSUB’s two freshman middle blockers, Taylor Albertson and Miranda McConnell, and share things with them that she wishes she would have known in her first college season.

“The best thing I can do is bring positivity and help whenever I can,” Marrs said. “I have been trying to help them understand that everything is a process, and it takes time to develop skills at the college level.”

RANCH HAND Marrs has ambitions to pursue a career in the field of family counseling or working with at-risk youth. In particular, the practice of animal therapy strikes itself as intriguing to Marrs, and through one of her most recent endeavors involving ranching the idea has grown on her.

Often times, therapy animals are used by universities to provide a form of stress relief to students, especially during high-pressure periods such as finals week. Marrs feels she could hit the ground running with the unique form of counseling, as she is currently gaining valuable experience working with animals on a regular basis.

“About a year ago I purchased a herd of Scottish highland cattle, which are not your typical Black Angus breed,” Marrs said. “I figured I would invest in it and raise the herd for a while, and it has been really fun. I have helped people start their own herds, and it has been a unique and special experience.”

A far cry from a normal 9-to-5 job, the outdoor, hands-on environment of the ranch is what appeals most to Marrs. Currently responsible for 500 head of beef cattle, Marrs is in charge of maintaining her herd’s feeding, water and nutritional intake, as well as marketing them.

“It takes up a big part of the spring, and I also run a big hay operation during the summer,” Marrs said. “Having a herd is the closest thing to a family environment or a team that you can get out on the ranch. It is nice to have that.”

COUNSELOR ON AND OFF THE FLOOR “I am really grateful to her, the team and MSUB for giving me the opportunity to finish my eligibility. It has been really rewarding to have her as a head coach and to have had her as an assistant before. Everyone has been really accepting of a unique situation, super helpful, and I couldn’t have asked for a better team or coaching staff to experience this with.” – Audri Marrs on head coach Lisa Axel and the 2015 Yellowjacket team.

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In the Yellowjackets’ most recent match against Northwest Nazarene University, Marrs wound up on a set from Kyndal Williams and fired down a loud kill. As her momentum carried her back down to the court, she turned around with a smile on her face and let out a natural yell of triumph.

Waiting for her were her five teammates on the court, arms up with a similar look of excitement and enthusiasm written across their faces.

It’s a feeling Marrs is still getting used to again, but is one that she has never forgotten even through her two-year hiatus from the game.

“The biggest fulfillment is the sense of family within this team,” Marrs said. “I really enjoy all of the girls and the personalities we have, and there is an openness that the team brings that is hard to find elsewhere. Especially since I had gone away from being on a team and am now getting back into it, I realized how different this is from outside friendships.”

In terms of goals, Marrs simply hopes to set the best example that she can for her teammates and ensure that she shows them how to play the game the right way. “Since it is my last chance to play, I just want to leave it all on the court and play the best that I can,” Marrs said. “I want to be better at the things I wasn’t as good at my first time around, and I think that helps me have a positive mentality.”

Whether she is helping families in need through counseling or breeding a strong herd of cattle, or perhaps a little bit of both, Marrs will one day reflect on her time as a Yellowjacket having given her a special leadership opportunity. It is one she has taken ownership and advantage of, and she has already begun to impact those around her through her unique and inspirational journey back to the court.

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Katlyn Lokay among MSUB’s best as 4-year starter for ‘Jackets Friday, September 25, 2015 Turning in one of the best careers in MSUB women’s soccer history, senior captain Katlyn Lokay is a leader on and off the field who inspires teammates through her humble leadership.

MSUB SPORTS – With her team trailing 2-1 on the road against Northwest Nazarene University and with time running down in the second half, then-junior Katlyn Lokay of the Montana State University Billings women’s soccer team knew the Yellowjackets had to make a move and do so quickly.

MSUB was fighting for positioning in the 2014 Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s soccer standings, vying for a return to the conference championship which Lokay had experienced as a freshman in 2012 but had eluded her and the ‘Jackets in 2013.

In the 84th minute in the final regular season match of the year, Lokay tucked home her third goal of the season to tie the score at 2-2.

In the second overtime period, Lokay’s fourth goal of the season clinched the come-from-behind victory and sent the Yellowjackets into the conference tournament on a positive note. Lokay and her teammates turned a losing season in 2013 into an 11-3-2 regular-season finish in 2014 as the Yellowjackets finished in second place in the regular season standings.

Lokay’s goals in that match were not career-defining or particularly memorable beyond the week that followed. But they served as a perfect representation of the impact she has had on MSUB’s program throughout her four-year career.

Now as a senior with MSUB, Lokay wears the captain’s arm band proudly. She has earned it as she has grown into a vital leadership figure who the players around her aspire to be like.

Most of all, she has been a game-changer for the ‘Jackets, just as she was on that November afternoon in Nampa, Idaho. Lokay has developed into a player MSUB can always count on to come through in the clutch and lift her entire team through the way that she carries herself.

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PLAYING WITH THE BOYS Many kids experiment with a variety of sports growing up, testing their hands – and feet – at as many different activities as they can.

For Lokay however, it has been soccer since Day 1. When she first started out, it didn’t bother Lokay that she was thrown into the boys’ small-sided games as a kid. “Growing up I never did other sports, it was just soccer,” Lokay said. “I got to the age where boys don’t like passing to girls and I started to get frustrated.”

Lokay joined the Boulder County Force for her U9 season, and when she reached the U11 age Lokay began to take her game to the next level. Playing under head coach Ryan Hinkle, Lokay credits her early teenage years as being most crucial to the technical development of her game.

“He taught me how to read the game and all of the technical things,” Lokay commented on her early coach. “He taught me everything I know and gave me an opportunity to grow and be part of a top tier team.”

By the time she reached high school, Lokay had excelled on every team she had played for, learning skills as a central defender as well as an attacking midfielder during her development. It was Lokay’s adaptability to different roles and strong work ethic that initially caught the attention of MSUB head coach Wojtek Krakowiak.

“One night my dad came to me and said he had a coach from Montana on the phone who wanted to talk to me,” Lokay remembered. “He told me he wanted me to come for a visit, so my mother and I flew out, did a tour and I trained with the team. I felt like when I visited it was similar enough to home but far enough away for me to feel independent. It just felt right and it was where I was supposed to be.”

A roughly eight-hour drive from her home town of Boulder, Colo., Lokay knew right away during her initial visit that Billings was the right choice to pursue her career at the college level. After signing her letter of intent however, Lokay faced one of the toughest decisions of her life prior to her senior season at Boulder High School.

After a subluxation of the patella in her left knee, Lokay needed surgery that would force her to miss her final prep season. “I renounced my captainship, and got surgery that December so I didn’t play my senior season,” Lokay said. “Rehab was the main focus for me that spring, and I was nervous about being fit coming into college as a freshman.”

When she was able to get back onto the field, Lokay trained with her brother Zac’s club team as she was reminded of her early youth days playing with the boys. “That was frustrating at first, but it ended up being the best thing for me,” Lokay said regarding working out with her brother.

“I was just trying to get my strength and quickness back.”

CAREER UNFOLDING “I remember watching her start consistently our freshman year. She just puts her head down, does what she has to do, and doesn’t ask questions. I have always looked up to her and she always puts her best effort into everything.” – Senior Ashely Marra on senior Katlyn Lokay.

Not only did she recover stronger than ever, but Lokay hit the ground running from her first day as a Yellowjacket. As a freshman, she started all 20 matches and led the team in minutes played with 1,798. In just her third career match, Lokay scored her first two collegiate goals, lifting the Yellowjackets to a 2-0 victory over Dixie State on Sept. 6, 2012.

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What stood out beyond Lokay’s two goals and assists in her first season however was her versatility and rare leadership she displayed as one of the youngest players on the team. “I remember to this day when she played every position her freshman year except for goalkeeper,” Krakowiak commented. “This tells you that she had excellent coaches in the past who really focused on tactical and technical aspects of the game. She raises the bar every day for MSUB women’s soccer and we are very lucky that she chose MSUB.” Lokay’s productive first season culminated in a run to the GNAC Championships, where the Yellowjackets advanced to the title game before falling to Western Washington. “As a freshman I had no idea what it meant to make the tournament, but throughout the season I realized that to get there was huge,” Lokay said. “When we beat Seattle Pacific in the first round it was the best feeling in the world. You can’t really describe it without being there.”

Despite the successful first campaign, Lokay and the ‘Jackets struggled to play at the same level her sophomore year as MSUB just missed the conference tournament and finished with a record of 6-8-2. Lokay again started every match and led the team in minutes with 1,486, but she experienced a familiar challenge upon the conclusion of the season.

Katlyn Lokay as a freshman in 2012.

With the surgery on her left knee and the recovery it entailed still relatively fresh in Lokay’s mind, she suffered the exact same injury on her right knee and again faced surgery and six months away from the game. Motivated by her injury as well as MSUB’s subpar season, Lokay was determined to recover stronger than ever after she had to sit out during the Yellowjackets’ spring season in 2014.

Returning home over the summer, Lokay worked with physical therapist Jeff Hoobler who she credits with helping her through the grueling rehab a second time. “Having him there was very helpful, because he knew what my body needed and what my circumstances were,” Lokay commented on Hoobler. “Having that support system helped me get back to 100 percent.”

While Lokay had to deal with the frustration of not playing with her teammates in the spring, then-fellow sophomore Teegan Koster faced the same injury and was also sidelined. The duo had already grown close and developed a strong friendship, but working through their injuries together only helped strengthen their bond. “It is never fun to sit out, even in the spring, but I am glad Katlyn and I both went through the injury together,” Koster said. “She bounced back really quickly. No one can question how hard she works, and she has always led by example.”

“Teegan has stuck with me throughout ups and downs and everything I have been through here,” Lokay said. “I don’t know what I would do without her support in life in general.”

‘LOKAY’ RHYMES WITH ‘OK’ “Soccer has taught me to come out of my shell. I didn’t talk much my freshman year and was shy off the field. Now, especially being a captain, I have to be able to communicate with my teammates on and off the field. College athletics are hard, and it takes a lot of mental and physical strength. Making it through four years here has taught me to grow up a lot.” – Katlyn Lokay.

By season’s end, Lokay will become just the seventh player ever at MSUB to cross 6,000 career minutes played. Her presence on the field over the past four years has been a model of consistency rarely matched, but her contributions off the field within her team and university have been just as significant.

Lokay as a sophomore in 2013.

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Lokay currently serves as the vice president for MSUB’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and carries a 3.3 grade point average while pursuing her degree in psychology. After college, Lokay has ambitions of joining the police force, explaining her desire to build a career around making a difference in peoples’ lives.

“Because I have played soccer my whole life, I have always enjoyed the physical aspect and being hands-on,” Lokay said.

“That part of police work appeals to me, and I want to be out on my feet being active. I want to do something that makes a difference and that isn’t the same thing every day.”

Lokay admits that she has always been somewhat of a soft-spoken leader, choosing her words wisely and electing to think through situations rather than act on impulses. “One of the things I respect about Katlyn is that she is fine being the outsider looking in,” Marra said. “It is interesting to get her point of view on things because she will see something completely different than other people.”

When Marra and Lokay first joined the program together as Lokay as a junior in 2014. freshmen, Lokay had an immediate impact on her classmate in one of the first team sessions they had together. Participating in an early-season fitness exercise – known to athletes as “the beep test” – Marra set out determined to match Lokay stride-for-stride and keep up with her.

“I remember thinking, ‘I am going to stay with this girl, I am just as fast as her,’” Marra recalled with a laugh. “She sprinted the whole thing and I think I made it to level six. I have made it a goal ever since to beat her in races, but she always wins.”

CAPTAIN LOKAY “What I like most about Katlyn is her personality. She is a very humble person with a huge heart, she never complains, and she always has a positive attitude. She has raised the bar very high for the women’s soccer program, not just on the field, but also as a person, student, and athlete.

It will be a huge job for me to find another Katlyn.” – MSUB head coach Wojtek Krakowiak on senior captain Katlyn Lokay.

Wearing the captain’s arm band for the third straight season, Lokay now helps anchor MSUB’s back line as a central defender. She has served in every role imaginable for the team, scoring goals when the Yellowjackets needed them most, and stopping opponents in their tracks in the defensive third.

Lokay as a senior in 2015.

Among her goals in her final season are to help the Yellowjackets build on last season’s success and return to the conference tournament. So far, MSUB is off to a 4-1-1 start and is 2-0 in conference play after a comefrom-behind 2-1 win over Western Oregon on Thursday.

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Krakowiak and the Yellowjackets have asked Lokay to be everything they have needed throughout her career, and each time she has responded by exceeding expectations. Her humble and gracious attitude is something she credits to her development growing up, putting her parents and siblings at the forefront of the senior leader she has grown into.

“My parents are my rock in everything I have done,” Lokay said regarding her mother Linda and father Henry. “My dad was my first coach, and he was just a parent who had no idea what he was doing. But he was passionate about it and he is still passionate about it now. Even now that I’m older in college he and my mom drive eight hours to come watch as many games as they can. I would not be the player, person, or leader I am without them.”

Don’t expect MSUB’s to be the last uniform Lokay ever wears, as she undoubtedly will one day follow through with her ambition to join the police force. Perhaps she’ll even earn the title, ‘Captain Lokay’ in another role besides her current one in the navy and gold.

When she moves on, the ‘Jackets will be hard-pressed to find a talent as humble and effective as Lokay has been throughout her career.

“We always joke, ‘who is going to be the next Katlyn?” Marra said. “You just want to play like her, do what she does, and make your presence known on the field the way Katlyn does.”

Next season, the ‘Jackets will set out to find an answer to Marra’s question. For now, they will continue to band together around one of the most unique and talented players to ever suit up for MSUB.

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Larson, Hafer aces in the hole for MSUB Golf Monday, October 12, 2015 Having already each hit a hole-in-one, freshmen Scott Larson and Shealyn Hafer are off to a roaring start in their young collegiate golf careers at MSUB. MSUB SPORTS – Scott Larson will never forget the first swing of his college golf career.

Stepping into the tee box on the 11th hole at Heritage Todd Creek Golf Club in Thornton, Colo., on Sept. 14, Montana State University Billings’ Larson wasn’t sure what to expect in his debut tournament.

Larson has been competitively golfing since he was 14, but his ultimate goal of becoming a collegiate golfer was about to come true as he prepared to tee off.

Gazing down the long, 192-yard par-3 hole, Larson reached for his trusty 6-iron as he had done countless times before.

It was the same 6-iron he gripped as a junior at Glacier High School in his home town of Kalispell, Mont., when he connected perfectly on the par-3, sixth hole at Northern Pines Golf Club and watched his ball drop into the cup 192 yards away for a hole-in-one.

This time sporting the navy and gold in his first tournament as a Yellowjacket, the setting – from distance to par to club selection – was identical, and what happened next was all but fate.

Somewhere embedded in Larson’s muscle memory was a snapshot of his perfect swing two years earlier, a backswing-to-follow-through in perfect synchrony that his body was able to summon a second time.

Same distance. Same club. Same swing. Same result.

After one hole, Larson was 2-under par with an eagle on the leaderboard. After one hole, Larson had drilled an ace in the most improbable, unforgettable, and unrepeatable fashion imaginable.

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“No one knew it went in, but when we all got down there we realized it was in the cup,” Larson said. “On this one I was a little more in shock than my first one. There was more emotion behind it since it was my first swing.”

MSUB women’s golf freshman Shealyn Hafer was in the first tee box 30 miles north at Fox Hills Golf Club, in Longmont, Colo., getting set for the first shot of her career when she heard of Larson’s ace. MSUB head coach Shawn O’Brien was offering Hafer advice as she prepared to swing away, while checking the live stat updates on his phone from the men’s tournament.

“He told me right before my first shot, but it didn’t really dawn on me until after the round,” Hafer said. “It is crazy cool to have your first college shot be a hole-in-one. I had never seen one; no one I had ever been on a team with had ever hit one before.”

“I couldn’t quite decide if it was a typo, or if Scott had made a swing that he would never forget,” O’Brien said regarding his reaction to the live update on his phone. “It took me a second to process that they had started in a shotgun format, and that was his first-ever collegiate swing.”

LATER CAME HAFER Fast-forward three weeks, to Sand Hollow Resort in St. George, Utah where Butte, Mont., native Hafer and the Yellowjackets were competing in their fourth-consecutive road tournament. Hafer had reached the 15th hole in Round 1 on Oct. 5, and an already frustrating round took a further turn south.

Left of the green on the seemingly simple 110-yard par-3 chip shot was a drastic drop off surrounded by red rocks where ill-struck tee shots went to turn into double bogeys.

Hafer knew she needed to aim small and miss small, but she winced as her Pro V1 released from her pitching wedge and faded short and to the left of the green. She knew immediately she had missed her mark, and four strokes later her scorecard threatened to give under the weight of her pen as she inked a frustrated ‘5’.

Working her way through the course a second time the following day, Hafer had a chance at redemption on the hole that had cost her two strokes. “To the right, the green slopes and there’s a side hill,” Hafer said. “I figured that if I was able to catch that, it would be perfect.”

Somewhat caught in between club lengths, Hafer elected this time to go with a half swing using her 9-iron in hopes of playing it safe. As quickly as she had lost two strokes the day before she gained them right back as her aim was true on the right side of the green. “It hit the side of the hill, and it didn’t even roll,” Hafer said. “It jammed into the hole really fast. I saw it go in and I started freaking out.”

Freshman Scott Larson.

Though O’Brien was at the course for the Yellowjackets’ second ace in as many weeks, it wasn’t until after Hafer’s round that he learned of her incredible shot. “I had seen Shea a couple holes prior to her hitting it, but when her round was over I was still on the course,” O’Brien recalled.

“She sent me a text message and told me to come see her in the club house. I just had this crazy odd feeling, so I responded back, ‘hole in one?’”

O’Brien’s hypothesis was right on the money, as he congratulated Hafer when she gave him the news.

Meanwhile, Larson and his male teammates were in their hotel when fellow freshman Braden Luper made the announcement. “Braden said, ‘Shea just hit a hole-in-one!’” Larson said. “I had never been on a team with someone who hit one before so that was pretty exciting.”

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“I hadn’t been playing as well as I wanted to, and that hole-in-one was kind of a reassurance for me,” Hafer said. “Between my swing change and everything else I have been going through, it was a good boost of confidence.”

ONE(S) FOR THE AGES “Hopefully it doesn’t take me another five years before we see this happen again.” – MSUB head coach Shawn O’Brien on his team’s two recent holes-inone.

A feat considered rare across the global spectrum of sport, the hole-in-one pops up from time to time as a reminder of the brilliant simplicity, incredible difficulty, and sometimes pure luck that goes into a golf shot.

Any average golfer has the ability to hit an iron shot 100-plus yard: Brilliant simplicity. To analyze the number of factors from wind to slope to club range involved with a given shot is where it gets tricky: Incredible difficulty. Both of these combined with a degree of sheer luck play into the feat recently accomplished by Larson and Hafer.

It’s impossible to say when those three factors may combine again and result in the perfect outcome.

“The first hole-in-one I was able to witness was (alumnus) Jake Letman hitting one as a freshman in Hawaii,” O’Brien said. “I had to wait five more years to have our program hit two within two weeks of each other.”

Freshman Shealyn Hafer poses with her hole-in-one ball in Utah.

Perhaps it will be another five years or more before the next Yellowjacket holein-one. Perhaps it will come when MSUB resumes its season at the Yellowjacket Spring Invitational in March, as it nearly did on Friday at the Yellowjackets’ home course of Pryor Creek Golf Club.

Another freshman on the team this year, Kortney McNeil made solid contact on the par-3 second hole of the Elmer Links Course, and watched as her tee shot punctured the green, kicked off of the pin, and came to rest a foot away from the cup. Awaiting the arrival of the ball in a golf cart just off of the green was O’Brien, who momentarily thought he had witnessed yet another ace.

“I thought the ball flight looked good initially off of the club, I lost it for a little while, and then picked it up about 20 feet from the ground,” O’Brien said. “When the ball hit, it blew part of the back of the cup out. I jumped out of my cart because I was in disbelief that it hadn’t gone in.”

Narrowly missing the opportunity to fish McNeil’s ball out of the cup, O’Brien settled for reconstructing the hole in advance of McNeil’s tap-in birdie putt.

“In a matter of three weeks, our golf program hit the back of the cup three times,” O’Brien commented on the three incredible tee shots.

The simple question that remains for the Yellowjackets: Who’s next?

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A fitting finish: Perez scores top-class goal, winding up career with ‘Jackets Friday, October 16, 2015 After transferring to MSUB in 2014, Fernando Perez carries himself as an experienced senior leader with the ability to be a game-changer in moment’s like Thursday’s world-class, game-winning goal.

MSUB SPORTS – As the second half was set to kick off at Yellowjacket Field on Thursday, Montana State University Billings men’s soccer head coach Alex Balog elected to go with a familiar lineup save for one switch.

The Yellowjackets would start the second half the same way they started the match, except senior Fernando Perez was slotted in as a center midfielder to begin the final 45 minutes against tough Great Northwest Athletic Conference opponent Northwest Nazarene University.

Little did he know it, but Perez, a transfer to MSUB last year from Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyo., was about to make the most significant contribution of his career for the ‘Jackets.

Six minutes into the second half, Perez watched as junior Julian Toenges, controlled the ball down the left side of the field and took on several NNU defenders. Toenges’s patience on the play allowed Perez to make a run towards the top of the 18-yard box on the right side, and what happened next prompted a chaotic celebration on the field by Perez and his teammates.

Perez had one chance to make his shot towards goal count, as he knew the only way to finish the rolling cross by Toenges was going to be with a single touch from his left – off – foot. Burying his head in concentration, Perez swung his left leg around with perfect timing, meeting the Nike Ordem ball with the instep of his left foot and curling it expertly into the upper-right corner of the goal.

A customary dive from NNU goalkeeper Ryan Foo didn’t come until the ball had already hit the back of the net – there was no play on a shot that perfect.

What started as an ecstatic Rhys Lambert failing to keep his legs under him as he embraced Perez turned into a swarm of Yellowjackets around the senior who had just nudged his team in front 1-0. When the final whistle sounded 40 minutes later and the goal stood as the game-winner, Perez had done more than just score his second goal of the season and perhaps best of his life.

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He had helped the Yellowjackets claim sole possession of second place in the GNAC standings with six matches left to play in the regular season.

He had shown the flash of brilliance that caught the eye of Balog during an I.D. camp two years ago, when he ultimately decided Perez was a player the ‘Jackets could not pass up.

FOLLOWING HIS BROTHER’S LEAD Perez was born in Greeley, Colo., where he and his two brothers and sister grew up with athletics as a fundamental activity. The youngest of the four, Perez looked up to his older brother Jesus who began to excel in soccer at the highschool level while Perez was still at an impressionable young age. “My oldest brother didn’t start playing soccer until high school,” Perez said. “I would go watch him play, and that’s when I realized I should give it a try.”

Perez first started playing organized soccer at age nine, learning the game dually through watching his brother and playing on a club team. By the time he reached high school, Perez had stood out enough on the pitch to earn a starting spot with the varsity team and began taking his game to the next level.

It was ultimately Perez’s brother who inspired him to reach out to the college offers that were beginning to trickle in, and Perez elected to stay close to home and begin his career at LCCC. “I never thought I wanted to play college soccer, but my brother really influenced me to continue my career and get to where I am now,” Perez said. “I just wanted to follow in his footsteps.”

Perez also considered the prospect of kicking on a college football team, but his passion for soccer fueled his decision to continue the sport he considers his first love.

GETTING HIS MSUB I.D. Perez began his career at LCCC with the understanding that he would have a tough decision to make after his first two seasons. He would eventually have to transfer to another school to complete his degree, and if he wanted his soccer career to continue he had to find the right fit.

“I was in the middle of whether or not I should continue playing,” Perez said. “I still loved the sport, and I realized that I should keep playing and see where I ended up.”

Where Perez did end up was in front of Balog’s eyes at MSUB’s annual I.D. camp in March of 2014. Standing out among the wide array of hopeful collegiate players, Balog knew quickly that Perez had the skill not just to make his roster, but to grow into an impact player in the two seasons of eligibility he had left.

“Fernando ended up at MSUB almost by accident,” Balog said. “He came to one of our I.D. camps in 2014, and our guys who were there during the camp all came to me and told me we needed to try to sign Fernando. We did, and it has proven to be a great decision, both for him and for us as a program.”

During his first-ever trip to Montana for the camp, MSUB’s campus stood out to Perez as he began to see himself fitting into the university. An education major, Perez felt MSUB could supply him with a valuable academic experience, as he has aspirations to one day combine the paths of teaching and coaching.

“I liked the campus, and everything about the coaches,” Perez said. “Alex gave me a great opportunity to come here and continue my college soccer career. I was excited about that.”

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ADJUSTING TO DIVISION II Just as Balog suspected during the camp, Perez came in and had an impact right away. In his first season, he started nine matches and played in 13 as a central midfielder, racking up 746 minutes and taking 16 shots.

Though he saved his first goal for this season, the maturity and experienced decision making were the traits that stood out most to his new head coach. “I like that Fernando has an apparent beacon of calmness in the middle of the field where things can often become frantic,” Balog said.

“Fernando is also someone who has completely bought into our program’s philosophy and fits in very well. We know we can rely on him on and off the field.”

Entering the program only with community college experience, Perez credits 2015 seniors Kyle Emerick and Matt Brink with helping him adjust and providing leadership to the program. “They had been here, and they were senior captains,” Perez said. “They were great guys to hang around with and to be around.”

Perez quickly learned how to manage his time, between his busy class schedule and the demanding agenda required by collegiate athletics. One thing that stood out to Perez was the conglomeration of different styles within MSUB’s program, with players from all over the globe coming together and playing as a unit.

Perez has roots in Mexico, with Spanish being his first language. Being bilingual helped with Perez’s acclimation to the team, as he was easily able to pick up on the different chatter throughout the squad in multiple different languages. “When it comes to soccer, you have to be open-minded to different people and the way that they play,” Perez commented on the diverse team. “It wasn’t too hard to adapt to. Once we had been here for two weeks, we learned how each other played.”

FINISHING STRONG “Fernando is a composed, mature, intelligent young man. He likes to listen and “steal” with his eyes and ears. Few things go unnoticed by him.

His composed character translates itself in his demeanor on the field, where as a center midfielder, he often seems unfazed by what is going on around him.” – MSUB head coach Alex Balog on Fernando Perez.

Just as Balog described him, Perez was totally unfazed Thursday when he found the back of the net. He used his keen observation to recognize the play Toenges was setting up, and hit his mark with a composed, world-class finish.

While the game-winning goal was a tangible reminder of Perez’s ability to influence a match, it is the effort that he displays winning challenges in the midfield and distributing the ball with intentional skill that have defined his career at MSUB. “Fernando is someone who will give everything he has when we step onto the field,” Balog said. “The best compliment I can give him is that I wish we could have had him for four years instead of two, but having him beats not having him.”

Perez is thankful for the opportunity to continue his career with the Yellowjackets, recognizing the unique family aspect of the team he has grown with over the past two years. “It is special how we all come together and make somebody feel welcome,” said Perez, who is often referred to by his teammates as ‘Nando’. “Even if it is a recruit, someone from the community, or if they play a different sport, we bring them in and make them part of the Yellowjacket Family. It is great to end my college career here playing for Alex and Thomas (Chameraud). I have enjoyed every second of it.”

With the Yellowjackets now in second place in the GNAC standings, Perez and his teammates are poised to continue the momentum of their current two-match winning streak with an opportunity to keep rising in the conference table.

“Everybody just came ready to work, ready to play soccer and to have fun,” Perez said. “That is what is happening right now, and everybody is just enjoying it.”

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Koster finishing 4-year career strong with ‘Jackets Wednesday, October 21, 2015 A four-year letterwinner for MSUB, Teegan Koster is finishing a strong career with the ‘Jackets as a diverse asset with the ability to adapt to different positions and roles within the team.

MSUB SPORTS – Growing up in Dallas, Texas, Montana State University Billings women’s soccer senior Teegan Koster had no choice but to be active in sports as a child.

Koster’s mother Kris and father Mark encouraged their oldest child to lead her younger sister Jessie and brother Jonathan by example. It was not surprising that Kris Koster pushed sports with her children, herself having been a volleyball player at Carroll College in Helena, Mont., for two seasons.

Little did she know it at the time, but her mother’s connection to Montana would come full circle when Koster eventually elected to attend MSUB. Koster had her hands in a bit of everything, from basketball to softball to cheerleading. But there was one sport that always stood out beyond the rest, as Koster quickly found her own on the soccer pitch.

“For some reason, specifically the teams that I was on always clicked for me,” Koster said of her early soccer playing days. “I loved the physicality of it, and it was one of the sports I was better at.”

Soccer became more than a weekend game for Koster starting in fifth grade, which was the first year she got involved at the club level and began playing competitively.

Guiding the way for Koster as she began to hone her technical soccer skills were her club coaches Jim and Theresa Eamma. Koster credits the duo with teaching her everything she knows about the game, and cited the influence they had beyond the field as being most significant.

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“I was still at a young age, but they made the team a family,” Koster said. “It wasn’t just soccer, but they influenced me and the other girls as people. We learned life lessons from them.”

While Koster had her family away from home on the field, she and her sister Jessie were close enough in age to spend time together on the same team. Nowhere was the sibling rivalry more apparent than on the field, with the sisters constantly vying to top each other’s performances. “We are so intensely competitive, whether or not we were playing a sport,” Koster said with a smile. “It was always whose team won more games or who scored more goals. That was a big part of us growing up.”

Looking on as her daughters competed with one another, Kris reflected on the time they spent as rivals on the field and as teammates. “It was really fun being an athlete in college, and so it was great having the girls be so competitive,” Kris Koster said. “They started in gymnastics and soccer, and because of their age difference, they played on different teams at first. When we moved to Oregon, both played soccer on the same competitive team, and that was really fun.

Any time they got to play together it was the best because we could watch them at the same time.”

“Having a former collegiate athlete in the family was really influential,” Koster said. “She was always the parent who, when we got hurt, would say, ‘you’re fine, get back up!’”

Koster with Jim and Theresa Eamma at age 12.

Through her age 14 season, Koster learned the ins and outs of the game and prepared herself to hit the ground running with her prep career quickly approaching. But just as the notion of high school soccer became a reality, Koster and her family uprooted and headed for the West

Coast.

SHERWOOD BOUND A small city 30 minutes south of Portland, Sherwood, Ore., presents itself as a rich soccer town. Elevated above the city of 12,000 is Snyder Park, the beacon of the soccer community where all ages of players converge on the turf field atop the hill.

Close by is Sherwood High School, where Koster would call home for the next four years and where she ultimately developed into a collegiate-level player.

“It was a bit of a culture shock, and I started my freshman year a week after we moved,” Koster commented on her family’s relocation. “I didn’t know a single person, but my mom had been in contact with the head coach there, Bill Brown. He got me started in a summer league and helped me out a lot.”

While Koster was caught up trying to get used to her new environment, she couldn’t have predicted how well her prep career would mold her for her next step. By her sophomore season, the Bowmen reached Koster and her sister Jessie clockwise from upper left: Lacrosse, age 16, the Oregon Class 5A state championship game. The loss was hard for cheerleading, age seven, soccer age 5.

Koster to swallow at the time, but the redemption came two years later as she helped her team claim the state title on penalty kicks and closed her prep career with a bang.

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“I had played with so many girls who were going off and playing in college, and I definitely had a love for the sport,” Koster remembered. “I didn’t want it to stop at high school, being in that environment and on such a successful team.”

With the confidence to carry her game on at the college level, Koster drew on her strong foundation from the soccer experts she had learned from. Playing for two seasons with Eastside United, Koster was under the tutelage of Portland State University head coach Laura Schott. Her senior year, it was Mike DePinna who headed the FC Portland squad who played the role of Koster’s final mentor before college.

“My last year right before college was really competitive,” Koster said. “Mike was a really good coach and I learned a lot from him. Playing with other players of such a high caliber solidified that I could definitely play in college.”

WELCOME TO THE GNAC

Koster playing in the 2014 GNAC Championships against Seattle Pacific at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Wash.

After making contact with Yellowjacket head coach Wojtek Krakowiak as a junior, Koster wound up at an overnight camp at MSUB as she began to narrow down her college options. Drawing on her history of changing scenery, Koster liked the idea of moving away from home and felt that MSUB would be a good fit. “It was somewhere new, and I had done the whole new student thing before so I wasn’t worried about that,” Koster said. “I met the class of players one year ahead of me, and fit in with them over the summer. There was a good mix team-wise, and the school had everything I was looking for academically.”

Among Koster’s first encounters at MSUB was fellow freshman Katlyn Lokay, who since has grown into her closest friend through four years together with the Yellowjackets. “Teegan was the first girl I met moving into the residence halls, and she was putting up this crazy wallpaper,” Lokay recalled. “That is the first memory I have of her. We have always been pretty close, and we have gone through the same experiences together with soccer, school, and life in general.”

Lokay could not predict that the two of them would endure identical knee injuries following their sophomore seasons, but having each other to work through the rehabilitation together made the setbacks more manageable.

“It was definitely helpful having Katlyn there because she had been through the injury before,” Koster said. “Spring semester we did rehab every day, and it would have been a lot worse if I didn’t go through it with her.”

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The mirroring knee injuries are not the only parallel that can be drawn between the two seniors throughout their careers, as both have adapted into various positions throughout their time at MSUB. Listed as a defender on MSUB’s roster, Koster has ultimately played a much more versatile role throughout her career. As of late, she has been part of the Yellowjackets’ offensive attack, starting her last five matches and averaging north of 70 minutes per game.

“Teegan is a very intelligent player who is able to play different roles and positions on the field,” Krakowiak commented. “As a coach, you always want to recruit players who can play multiple positions. Teegan came from a very good club and had received excellent training and a solid foundation in soccer. That enables her to read the game at a different level. She could very well play holding or attacking midfield, or even an outside back if needed. That says a lot about her soccer I.Q. on the field.”

Thrown into the mix right away as a freshman, Koster played in 14 matches, starting two and recording 628 minutes. Her first career assist was an important one, coming on the first goal in a 2-1 win over Northwest Nazarene on Oct. 4, 2012.

Later that season, Koster got her first taste of action in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women’s Soccer Championships, playing 25 minutes in the championship game as the ‘Jackets lost to Western Washington 2-0.

Teegan Koster (right) and Katlyn Lokay.

“In general that was one of the most successful seasons I have been a part of,” Koster said of her first year with the ‘Jackets. “We started off 9-0, and you can’t explain to people who haven’t been to the GNAC tournament what it’s like playing under the lights. There is a lot of pressure, but there is excitement because it is your chance to make the (NCAA) tournament. Beating Seattle Pacific in the semifinals that year is a moment I will never forget.”

So far, Koster has racked up 2,479 minutes over her three-plus seasons, starting 19 games and playing in 51 total throughout her career. Her first-ever goal came in her sophomore season, as she scored against the University of Mary in the 82nd minute on Sept. 16, 2013 at Yellowjacket Field.

“Teegan is always someone who never makes excuses no matter the situation, and who always gives one hundred percent,” Lokay said. “She sets a really good example for the freshmen, and she has always been willing to do what is best for the team. She has played wherever we have needed her to play.”

LASTING IMPACT “I think Teegan will do awesome wherever she ends up after college. In our program, our student-athletes learn the importance of academics, discipline, teamwork, punctuality, excellence, and being proactive. Teegan has definitely developed these skills throughout her time at MSUB, and I don’t doubt that she will do amazing things in her professional career.” – MSUB head coach Wojtek Krakowiak on senior Teegan Koster.

Pursuing her degree in marketing, Koster has aspirations to build a career around event coordination. Starting out as a health and human performance major, Koster credits her current academic advisor Brenda Dockery with helping shift her vision to a career path she is excited about.

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“She set me up with an internship to finish my degree, and she has really great experience and valuable knowledge,” Koster said of her advisor.

“She helped me solidify that I am definitely going to be doing something in business and marketing.”

Koster has been selected to the GNAC academic all-conference team in each of the last two seasons, an honor given to students who maintain a grade point average of 3.20 or higher while earning a varsity letter.

“We are extremely proud of her hanging in there, playing and giving it her all,” Koster’s mother commented. “For her to do so well, and to keep her grades up the whole time the team was traveling was impressive because they travel so much. Hopefully it will have made her a stronger, better person for the future. To be able to do all the things she’s done and balance them together will help her to be super successful as a young adult.”

With three matches left on the regular season schedule, Koster and the ‘Jackets will fight to reach their third GNAC tournament in her four years at MSUB. Drawing back to her early days learning the game, Koster credits her parents and family for helping shape her into a consistent, steady player that her team relies on every game.

“My parents would never give up on me or let me quit or give up on a situation,” Koster said. “They have given so much time and effort getting me to practices and games, and going out of their way to make sure I’ve been able to do what I love. I definitely wouldn’t be here without their support.”

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Ashely Marra a model of resilience, toughness for Yellowjackets Friday, October 30, 2015 Wrapping up a four-year career with the Yellowjackets, senior Ashely Marra has overcome injuries throughout her career and become an invaluable leader for MSUB. MSUB SPORTS – In one of the earliest soccer games she can remember playing in, Montana State University Billings senior Ashely Marra received an ultimatum from her father.

One of two five-year-old girls in the game at the time – the rest were boys – Marra and her female teammate elected to take a seat in the middle of the field and work away at the dandelions scattered around the grass.

Though Marra and her friend were oblivious to the game moving in a circle around them, her father Ernie was less sympathetic to his daughter’s weeding efforts.

“He said I could never play soccer again,” Marra said with a smile.

Not only did Marra defy her father’s words and continue playing soccer – intended as a mild paternal warning more than anything – she has grown into a senior leader for the Yellowjackets and is completing her career as a collegiate soccer player.

Marra credits her family getting her started with soccer at a young age and the support they have shown throughout her life with allowing her to pursue soccer at the next level. Her sister Amanda has been there the entire way, guiding her as a teammate in high school and as a mentor off the field as well.

Her parents’ involvement in the Air Force has molded Marra’s work ethic to be rigid and tenacious, traits she has needed time and time again throughout her career at MSUB.

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Now with one match left in her career, Marra will reflect on her time wearing the navy and gold on Saturday as the ‘Jackets host Central Washington on Senior Day. MSUB is still fighting for the fourth and final berth into the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships, making the final game at Yellowjacket Field for MSUB’s four seniors a high-stakes affair.

Marra’s road through four years has been anything but straight and narrow, as she has been required to answer time and time again with adversity staring her straight in the face. Despite opening and closing her career with injuries, Marra’s resilience has prevailed and she has never given up. It is because of her determination and dedication to her team and university that teammates and coaches alike hold high respect for Marra, and value the leadership role she owns within the team.

FRESH START Two weeks into Marra’s freshman campaign with the Yellowjackets, her ability to kick a soccer ball vanished. The pain coursing through her leg had her sidelined, but determining the exact injury and how much time she would miss proved to be more complicated than she initially thought.

“At first everyone thought it was my groin so I sat out and took care of it,” Marra said. “It wasn’t getting better though. I started to have MRIs and X-Rays, and it was a month and a half into the season and no one could figure out what was wrong.”

Ultimately, Marra’s injury stemmed from misaligned hips, contrary to the early suspicions of a pulled groin. The Yellowjackets got off to a 9-0 start that season, and were well on their way to a berth in the inaugural GNAC Championships. Midway through the season, MSUB head coach Wojtek Krakowiak pulled Marra into his office, to have what would end up being the most difficult conversation of her life to that point.

“Wojtek brought me in and we decided that I was going to have a medical redshirt that season,” Marra said. “I busted into tears. Not playing my freshman year was probably the toughest thing I’ve had to overcome in my life this far.”

In many ways the freshman season is a crucial one, after which players often determine if they have what it takes to continue as a college athlete.

The season-long injury nearly pushed Marra to return home to Las Vegas and give up on her college soccer dream. Remaining in Billings during team road trips meant missing out on bonding time with her teammates, as Marra felt herself become distanced from the program.

Phone calls home every weekend started out with a request for Marra’s parents to come pick her up. Ernie Marra, who grew up playing soccer and competed on the Air Force team during his service, and his wife Lisa hadn’t left an option for their two daughters in terms of attending college.

Giving up was not an option in their eyes.

Marra’s freshman year of high school, she and her sister played together for one season before Amanda continued her career at Lyon College in Arkansas. After watching her sister have a successful four years at the NAIA school, Marra was driven to have the same kind of college experience despite her early setback.

Reaching out to Marra was a sophomore on the 2012 team, defender Jessie Mancilla, who encouraged Marra throughout her rehab. “Jessie took the time outside of soccer to get to know me as a person,” Marra said. “That really helped me because she didn’t treat me like I was someone who just couldn’t handle college soccer.”

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Looking on as Mancilla scored the game-winning goal in MSUB’s 1-0 win over Seattle Pacific in the semifinals of the GNAC Championships that year, Marra knew she wanted to have that experience on the field as a player. “I decided to stay my sophomore year because if I went home, I wanted to be able to say that I had at least played college soccer, even if it was just for a year,” Marra said. “Sophomore year wasn’t as great as freshman year, but winning or losing is not what makes you stay. I stayed for the team, and I still had a passion for the game.”

STUD IN THE MAKING “I was extremely impressed with Ashely’s attitude her freshman year, as it is not easy to sit out and push yourself off the field in your first year in college. She did a tremendous job of getting back on the field and came back in unbelievable shape. I really admire her for sticking with it and finishing her career at MSUB.” – MSUB head coach Wojtek Krakowiak on senior Ashely Marra.

Marra’s determination to get back on the pitch her sophomore season was noticed by teammates and coaches alike, as she elevated herself into a starter for the majority of the 2013 season. Racking up 875 minutes in her first year on the field, Marra started 11 matches and played in all 16 as a midfielder for the ‘Jackets.

Though Marra was not initially sold on the idea of moving to Montana, her success as a sophomore reinforced her decision to enroll at MSUB. “I knew I wanted to leave Las Vegas, but I had no ambition or desire to come to Montana,” Marra commented on her college decision. “Wojtek saw me play at a tournament and he kept emailing me saying I would fit well within the system here.”

Her curiosity piqued, Marra and her mother headed north on a visit to MSUB’s campus. After watching the ‘Jackets in a home game against Western Oregon, it was a personal touch that ultimately stood out to Marra and made her decision to join the program an easy one.

“What sold me was that Wojtek took me and my mom to lunch in the cafeteria, and he sat with my mom at a table while I was with the team,” Marra remembered. “I got to know the women’s and men’s teams, and he made it really personal which stood out to me.”

Jump ahead to Marra’s junior season, and a familiar aura surrounded the team that reminded her of her freshman season. The ‘Jackets had missed out on the GNAC tournament her sophomore year, but it wouldn’t be long before Marra got to find out for herself what it would be like to toe the turf at Starfire Sports Complex under the lights on the conference’s top stage.

Playing in all 17 of MSUB’s matches, Marra helped the team to an 11-4-2 record and had her first two assists. In a home match against Northwest Nazarene on Oct. 2, 2014, Marra fed a pass to Kari Kastelic, and watched as her teammate scored the game-winner in a tight 1-0 victory.

Marra also had an assist in MSUB’s 2-0 shutout of Saint Martin’s, as she played a big role in the Yellowjackets’ outstanding 6-1 home record during the season. Finishing second in the regular season, MSUB advanced to the conference tournament for the second time in three seasons.

“My junior year is probably what I will remember the most when I leave MSUB, because of our record and the girls that I played with,” Marra said.

“Just to make it that far to the GNAC tournament is something I will definitely remember. Sitting on the bench watching it my freshman year was way different than being able to play in the game.”

One of the keys to Marra’s junior season was the addition of MSUB assistant coach Stephen Cavallo, who Marra credits with having a major impact on the team’s mentality all season long. “I don’t think a lot of people give Stephen the credit he deserves,” Marra said. “He came in and really made a difference, and he has such a positive attitude. There is a mutual feeling of respect between the players and Stephen, and he is someone any of us can always go talk to.”

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MARRA MENTALLY TOUGH

Starting the first eight matches of her senior season, Marra was well on the way to putting together her best campaign yet. Midway through however, her final year was brought to a halt with a major foot injury that has kept her on the sidelines since early October.

The recently revitalized memory of her ill-fated freshman campaign has not deterred Marra from being an important leader as one of four seniors during the 2015 season. With the ‘Jackets on the cusp of another GNAC tournament berth, her guidance and support down the stretch has been what players new and old have needed to overcome setbacks.

“Even when she is off the field injured you can still hear her voice, and she is the loudest one out there,” said freshman forward Alycia Wright, who is tied for the team lead in goals with five. “She is supportive off the field pushing us, and I have looked up to her because she has a big heart and is aggressive. She has helped influence my play a lot.”

Throughout the years by Marra’s side has been fellow four-year senior Katlyn Lokay, who admires the grit Marra has displayed despite not being able to contribute on the field over the past month. “Ash is one of the most mentally strong girls I have played with here,” Lokay said. “Through her injuries she will still insist on playing and working her hardest to get onto the field. She always brings and gives everything for the team and makes being a positive influence her number one priority. That’s something you can really respect about her.”

“Ashely has been fantastic with our younger players, and it is absolutely essential to have a person like that on our team who is not afraid to speak her mind,” Krakowiak said. “She is fully aware of how much work you need to do in order to put yourself in a position to make the GNAC tournament in our exceptionally-competitive conference, and she can share that with the younger players. All-in-all her leadership this year has been impeccable and will be greatly missed.”

Marra with her sister Amanda (bottom, right), and her father Ernie posing with the Air Force soccer team (bottom row, second from right).

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WHAT’S IN A NAME? When MSUB’s four graduating seniors – Marra, Lokay, Teegan Koster and Elizabeth Howard – are honored in a pregame ceremony Saturday, Marra will be accompanied by her parents and sister. Marra receives a text message after every game from her father, who was the first to take her off the field when the glow of dandelions was more important than the game itself. Even after mistakenly switching the ‘E’ and ‘L’ on her birth certificate, Ernie Marra remains as his youngest daughter’s biggest role model through the example he has set throughout her life.

“After every game he tells me the good and the bad, and everything I did,” Marra said. “He is still my coach, and he’s my biggest support. He’s the first person I call if I ever have an issue.”

A business management major at MSUB, the lessons Marra has learned throughout her four years in the program figure to impact her life well after her time wearing No. 15.

“Not being able to have everything go your way, but still remaining positive and reminding yourself that you still have a huge impact on the team is what I hope to leave behind,” Marra reflected. “For the incoming players and freshmen, they should come in thinking they will play 90 minutes, but if it doesn’t happen, you need to stay positive and give whatever you can.”

Just as Mancilla took Marra under her wing four seasons ago, the senior has returned the kindness in her own way and impacted this season’s freshman class. The first road game Marra missed after her injury, Wright scored MSUB’s lone goal in a tough 2-1 loss at Northwest Nazarene.

Though her spirits were not high after the defeat, the first thing Wright saw on her phone after the match gave her a sense of encouragement.

“I received a text from Ash saying that I did a good job and to keep my head held high,” Wright said. “That boosted my confidence and that was very kind of her. She didn’t have to reach out to me, but that brightened my day after that loss.”

The message of motivation is a testament to the teammate and mentor Marra has become for MSUB, and is a mark of the lasting impact she will have on the soccer program for years to come.

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Setting the bar high: Kyndal Williams assists ‘Jackets throughout stellar 4-year career Thursday, November 12, 2015 Completing one of the most prolific four-year careers in MSUB history, Yellowjacket senior setter Kyndal Williams has started every match during her four years in the volleyball program and hasn’t missed a set.

MSUB SPORTS – There was no clock counting down the minutes and seconds remaining during last Saturday’s volleyball match inside Alterowitz Gym, but everyone in attendance could sense that time was running out for the visiting team.

One of the few sports not constricted to the restraints of a clock, an outside factor holding ultimate authority over when play begins and ends, volleyball places the fate of the match solely in the hands used to dig, set, block, and kill the ball.

It was this sense of hope that Saint Martin’s University clung to as the match moved deep into the fourth set, but by then it was far too late. The host Montana State University Billings spikers could taste victory, and had burst out to a 24-13 lead in the final set after three close affairs to start the match.

It was Senior Night for MSUB, and four-year starter Kyndal Williams commenced the evening with the performance of the national anthem after a pregame ceremony.

Now she toed the hardwood in the final home set of her decorated career, assuming her position in front of the net one last time. She knew it had to be her, that the last touch at home in of one of the best careers in MSUB history had to result in a win.

This time, the woman who had set up more kills in her career than all but four in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and one at MSUB – 3,883 assists – was going to put one away herself.

Spotting a small hole in the middle of the court as SMU’s Hannah Neumann served the ball, Williams knew exactly what she was going to do when the ball came her way. Junior Kimmy Kirk handled the service as she pushed the ball forward, and what Williams did next was a fitting finale inside the gym she had called home for the last four years.

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Deceiving the Saints’ defense, Williams reached up with only her left hand and pushed the ball over the net and towards the floor. Her head began to turn back towards her teammates before the thud of leather meeting floorboards, an audible cue for the Yellowjackets to converge around Williams in a celebratory embrace.

Over her four seasons, Williams has never missed a set, as she has stood tall as a symbol of consistency and putting her teammates into good situations. On Saturday, Williams finished her home career her way: As a winner.

COACH, MENTOR, MOTHER Sheila Williams is a self-proclaimed “product of Title IX.” Graduating from Belgrade High School, she was one of the pioneers who pursued athletics into college as she competed in basketball and threw javelin at Bethel College (Minn.).

Thirty-two years after graduating, one of Montana’s legendary high school coaches rose to her feet to applaud as she watched her youngest daughter celebrate with her teammates. Sheila and her husband Marvin had been there for almost every one of Williams’s matches at Alterowitz, and the way the final one ended reassured Sheila that a lifetime of coaching her daughter had paid off.

“Her volleyball career started with balloons, and ever since she was little she has had some kind of ball in her hands,” Sheila Williams said of Kyndal. “I was pretty blessed that I got to spend a lot of time with her and her sister as a mom and as a coach. That was pretty awesome.”

Williams and her older sister, Kelsey, grew up in Helena, Mont., where she and her mother both agree that she was “born in the gym.”

“I loved growing up with my parents as coaches,” Williams said, as her father Marvin is also a 30-year high-school coaching veteran. “My sister paved the way for me in terms of athletics, and she set the bar high for me.”

The Williams sisters played volleyball together under their mother for two seasons during their prep careers, but it wasn’t until Kyndal’s junior year and Kelsey had shipped off to Lewis-Clark State to play college volleyball that the Bengals captured their first state championship.

“Our mom never really pressured us to be involved with volleyball, but it was all we knew and we were just in that environment,” Williams said. “I don’t think I would have it any other way because of the people I have met and the things I have learned. It got me a scholarship into college and I loved it.”

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SETTING THE STAGE “The best athlete in my opinion is the setter. It is not an easy position because you are the coach on the floor, and some players take offense to that. She is not always easy to play with, but she has a way to will people to win. She definitely did it for us, and it has been fun to watch her do it collegiately.” – Sheila Williams on her daughter Kyndal.

By the time Williams reached her junior year of high school, she had developed into a college-level prospect on the volleyball court. Although that was the ultimate path she would pursue beyond high school, her primary sport up to that point had been basketball.

Williams was a standout in hoops for the Bengals as well, and she found that the parallels between point guard and setter were transferrable skills. “I loved having the control aspect of the game, being able to distribute, call plays, and be a scorer,” Williams commented on playing basketball. “It’s the same way in volleyball. I can control the tempo of the game, and I love being able to touch the ball and be a part of every play.”

Since she arrived at MSUB, Williams has been a part of literally almost every play, as she started her first match as a freshman and never looked back. Four years later, she has played in 381 of a possible 381 sets over 104 matches.

Williams has had the chance to play with several others whose names appear in MSUB’s record books, including 2014 senior Monica Grimsrud who ranks No. 3 in career kills at MSUB (1,361), and Chelsey Walter who is No. 5 in career hitting percentage (.239).

“Setters don’t get a lot of the praise, but that doesn’t bother me,” Williams commented. “If you have three hitters in double-digit kills then you know you did your job. If two or three of them had a really good night, then I am completely satisfied.”

Arriving at MSUB at the same time as fourth-year head coach Lisa Axel, it was apparent that Williams was ready to start at the collegiate level immediately. “I knew from the first day of practice Kyndal’s freshman year that she was going to be someone I could rely on to run our offense for four years,” Axel said. “She is a very hard worker and an extremely competitive person on and off the court, which are two main qualities that you look for in a setter. She worked extremely hard to master the tempo of the sets and found ways to connect with middles who ran different tempos.”

After Williams’s sophomore season of high school, she stepped away from basketball to make volleyball her sole focus. Though she was confidant in her decision to attend MSUB and compete at the NCAA Division II level, she admits that the transition had its challenges. Between being entrusted with running MSUB’s offense at 18 years old and taking a full course load of 17 credits, Williams had to quickly learn how to budget her time accordingly.

“I had seen a high level of play through club volleyball, but coming in here and starting as a freshman was a lot to take on,” Williams said. “I was kind of on overload, but it was really fun learning new things and playing at a high level right away. My teammates and coaches expected a lot from me and they put pressure on me, but it was good pressure. It really helped me become a better player that year.”

Williams credits two teammates who she wound up playing three seasons with in helping her adjust to the college game, as Krista Norris and Walter were each sophomores when Williams first suited up in 2012. “Krista is someone I have always looked up to, and I always admired her spirit,” Williams said. “She has a contagious attitude of happiness, and is always exuding positivity.

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“Going into my junior year is when Chels and I got close, and I learned a lot from her,” Williams continued. “She was really competitive and it was fun to play with her.”

As she began to gel with Walter, Norris, and Grimsrud during her junior year, Williams recalled a home match against No. 11 Western Washington University that stands out as one of her proudest moments on the court. Battling the Vikings into a fifth set, Williams and the ‘Jackets held on for a dramatic 15-13 win in the decisive frame, as MSUB had upset one of the top teams in the nation.

“Beating Western Washington last year was probably the top moment,” said Williams, who led all players with 55 assists in the match. “Other than some big wins, I’ll just remember all of the good times I had with the team. I have been fortunate in being able to travel so much in my career, and there have been a lot of laughs.”

Performances such as Williams’s effort against the top-ranked Vikings did not go unnoticed across the conference, as she was selected as an honorable mention allGNAC pick as a junior. Her swift rise to prominence within the league has led her to being one of the GNAC’s top setters, as she ranks No. 5 this season in assists per set with 9.84.

“Coming in as a freshman I didn’t know what kind of impact I would have on the team and on the program,” Williams said. “Looking back, it is cool that I have gotten to be part of every single match and that I got to play college volleyball. It means a lot to me.”

BAG OF TRICKS “As a setter you are not always noticed on the court when you are doing a great job.

Everybody talks about the amazing kills or great digs during the match, and a lot of times the setter goes unnoticed. On nights where we might be off a bit on our passing or defense, she will run down balls and still put up a ball that our hitters can terminate. It is no surprise that she has moved into second place for career assists.” – MSUB head coach Lisa Axel on senior setter Kyndal Williams.

Williams striking with one of her signature 'dump' kills.

While Williams has served primarily as floor general during her time at MSUB, the diversity of her skillset ranges far beyond her ability to set to different parts of the court. Time and time-again, Williams has utilized her trademark ‘dump’ kill, catching opponents by surprise and letting her instincts take over like she did most recently against the Saints.

“We touched on it in high school a little bit, but it was never really a huge thing,” Williams commented on the dump kill. “When it came to college, I immediately started working on it as a freshman. Coach (Axel) took me under her wing and really emphasized it, because she thought it could be a big part of our offense. It is really fun to get a kill like that, especially in a big moment in a game when the other team isn’t expecting it.”

Williams prides herself on being an offensive threat even when she is not hitting the ball, as her ability to keep teams on their toes helps free up space for her hitters as well. She averages almost two kills per match (205 in 104 matches), saving her secret weapon for moments when she can expose an unsuspecting defense and steal a point.

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The biggest factor in her dump kill is the deception involved, as Williams may spend the majority of the match faking an attack and setting instead to set up the move one time. “If teams key on you more they will be looking for it so I try to fake them out by setting to hitters,” Williams said. “A good time to do it is during a long rally or a free ball, or on a serve-receive when they are struggling to get back to their positions. That’s when I like to do it.”

Williams needed no long rally to achieve the feat one last time at home last weekend, as she already had her mind made up before the ball crossed over the net. “That last point I wanted the ball,” Williams said. “That was my intention from the moment they served the ball. Luckily the pass was perfect, and it was just a really fun, sweet way to go out.”

ASSISTING THOSE IN NEED Considering Williams’s career has been built around serving others, it seems a natural fit that she plans to utilize her undergraduate degree in psychiatric rehabilitation in the same manner. Williams is intrigued by the mental health field, with the possibility of becoming a counselor and continuing her involvement with volleyball through coaching striking a chord. She was selected to the academic all-GNAC team as a sophomore and junior, and figures to be a three-time selection as her grades remain high this season.

“It would be fun to be a graduate assistant, and coach and go to school at the same time,” Williams commented on her prospects for the next year of her life. “My mom is determined to make me into a coach, and I’m sure that will happen at some point.”

A Montanan at heart, Williams hopes to travel and experience a new setting for the first time in her life before eventually returning to her home state. Even if Williams does stray from home momentarily, her contributions to the Yellowjacket program will not soon be forgotten.

“Kyndal has been a huge part of laying the foundation for where this program wants to go in the next couple of years,” Axel said. “She has set the bar pretty high for the next setter to step on the court as a Yellowjacket. She will be remembered for her hustle and grit that she has brought to this program, and it will be hard not having her on the court next fall.”

Sheila will keep doing her best to extend the Williams family coaching tradition for another generation through her daughter. When asked to reflect on the career she has witnessed Kyndal put together, Sheila is proud of the way it has shaped her daughter in all aspects of her life.

“Her ability to play when she is hurting, and not wanting to let people or the team down just speaks a lot for her character,” Sheila said. “That is kind of what we have tried to stress to her over the years, and the fact that she’s been able to do what she has done is amazing.”

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New Faces: MSUB men’s basketball freshman Preston Beverly Monday, December 28, 2015 In his first season with the Yellowjackets, freshman Preston Beverly is beginning to emerge as a rising star on MSUB’s men’s basketball team.

MSUB SPORTS – As the Montana State University Billings men’s basketball team prepares to make the turn into the new year and the start of 18 straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference games, no player has begun to find his stride quite like Yellowjacket freshman forward Preston Beverly.

Over his last six games, Beverly is averaging 13.0 points and 8.2 rebounds, while also contributing eight assists, seven blocks, and four steals.

“I have shown myself that I have the ability to play at this level, and it makes me want to strive for more,” Beverly commented on his early success on the court. “I just want to give it my all every night, and my goal is to stay close to averaging a double-double.”

Beverly is coming off his most impressive performance to date – a 26-point, 13-rebound effort in MSUB’s 85-83 victory over Northwest University in the team’s final game before the holiday break on Dec. 12. Although it was Beverly’s second double-double in the last three games, the start to the season had been a slow one.

Scoring just 11 total points in his first four collegiate games, it appeared Beverly had some major adjustments to make transitioning from the high-school level. His first true breakout performance came in the form of 16 points and eight rebounds in an 85-82 win over Rocky Mountain College on Nov. 18, but the numbers didn’t count towards his season ledger as the game was an exhibition contest.

A 12-point game against Dominican University on Nov. 27 helped Beverly break out of a scoring slump, and kicked off his red-hot six-game stretch.

“With any freshman, the number one thing is the adjustment to the speed and level of play,” commented MSUB head coach Jamie Stevens.

“Preston is still in that adjustment period, but he already does so many things well.”

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Beverly first surfaced on MSUB’s recruiting radar prior to the 2014-15 season, when assistant coach Brad Schmit contacted the Wildomar, Calif., native the summer before his senior season at Elsinore High School. After visiting MSUB in the fall of 2014, Beverly made up his mind quickly and committed to becoming a Yellowjacket verbally before leaving campus.

“What really got me was how welcoming and nice all of the people were, and I also felt like I clicked automatically with the coaches,” Beverly said.

“It felt like a family relationship, and my family and I really thought Coach Stevens and Coach Schmit could help me through the process of playing in college.”

Experiencing growth spurts throughout high school, Beverly currently stands at 6-foot-7 and has a unique, instinctual ability to rebound. “What we didn’t realize was how good of a rebounder he was,” Stevens said on Beverly’s breakout play as of late. “He really has a nose for the ball. Add the fact that he is six-foot-seven and long, and he always seems to be around the basketball.”

Entering high school at 6-foot, Beverly added a consistent clip of two inches per year as he filled into his frame and developed into a college-level player.

In the final Sunbelt League game of his sophomore season, 22 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks from the 16-year-old gave him the first hint that his talent on the court could pave the way for his future beyond high school.

“That was my first start on varsity, and it sort of woke me up,” Beverly said.

“It helped me realize that I could be efficient at a young age in high school, but also that I had a chance to produce in college.”

A far cry from his fitting birthplace of Beverly Hills and his grandmother’s Nerf-ball hoop in the living room he honed his skill on as a four-yearold, the Californian is beginning to find his home in Billings. Easing the transition has been the leadership of the Yellowjackets’ upperclassmen, as Beverly commented on the positive role models he has surrounding him in MSUB’s program.

“Jace (Anderson) and Kendall (Denham) have been big leaders,” Beverly said. “They want to win just as bad as anybody, and you can tell that by the effort level they give.

A big part of why I play so hard is that I see how hard they work.”

While Beverly has received guidance from MSUB’s more seasoned players, he is not the lone freshman on the roster who hails from California. Cade Alcorn, a 6-foot-6 forward from Fresno, Calif., has had a major impact starting all but two games and averaging 20.2 minutes.

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Both Alcorn and Beverly had a chance to start their first two games of the season in their home state, as the ‘Jackets opened the year in a tournament hosted by Cal State East Bay in Hayward, Calif.

“I had seen Cade play at tournaments in high school, but I didn’t really know who he was until I signed,” Beverly said. “It was exciting to play in California, and we just felt at home. My family went down to the game and that put a little bit of pressure on me to perform, but I wasn’t too nervous.”

Off to a 4-6 record and a 1-1 start in GNAC play, the Yellowjackets are well on pace to improve upon last season’s 5-23 mark. Beverly is determined to capitalize on the potential to have a turn-around season this year. Among his goals are to have a record above .500 and help the Yellowjackets earn a berth into the GNAC Championships by virtue of a top-six finish during the regular season.

“We have already won four games, and that opens up a lot of guys’ eyes to show we have the ability to do better than last year,” Beverly said.

“Especially for Emmanuel (Johnson) being our only senior, we want to have a good year as a team for him. He has helped bring us to a different level so we have to keep working our way up.”

MSUB is next in action on New Year’s Eve, as the ‘Jackets kick off their trek towards the GNAC tournament with a home game against Simon Fraser University on Beverly’s 19th birthday. His goal to average in the neighborhood of a double-double in conference games is supported by a 19-point, 13-rebound evening on the road against undefeated and nationally-ranked No. 4 Western Oregon University on Dec. 5 in Monmouth, Ore. “It is a long season, and Preston has yet to go through the rigors of a GNAC schedule,” Stevens said. “He just needs to continue to play harder every day in practice and games, and realize that he can play at this level and have success.”

Beverly’s standout game against Northwest University came on the heels of a nine-point, five-rebound performance against Azusa Pacific University at the Oak Harbor Freight Lines Classic hosted by Seattle Pacific University. He was the lone underclassman picked to the all-tournament team, as he joined three seniors and a junior who highlighted themselves at the four-team event.

“I just want to try to keep my numbers up, and one of my personal goals is to be a defensive presence,” Beverly said. “I want to lead the team a bit on defense, and try my hardest to be the best freshman in the conference.”

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New Faces: MSUB women’s basketball freshman Taylor Edwards Tuesday, January 5, 2016 Growing up in Great Falls, Mont., Yellowjacket women’s basketball freshman Taylor Edwards bringing fresh, competitive energy to program in first season at MSUB. MSUB SPORTS – Taylor Edwards still has the first basketball she ever held, a gift from her grandfather Reid Edwards as a present on her third birthday.

One of the toughest things the Montana State University Billings women’s basketball freshman has had to endure was the passing of Reid when she was in high school, but the now worn-down Wilson basketball carries more significance than ever. “It has meant a lot to me,” Edwards commented on the ball. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without him and without that ball.”

Coming from a sports-oriented family, where friendly competition sprouted up around every corner, Edwards credits her siblings, older brothers Reid and Royce in particular, with shaping her competitive spirit. Being the second-youngest of seven total children of Jim and Lisa Edwards never discouraged Taylor on the platform of the playing field, whether it was volleyball, softball, track and field or the hardwood.

The skills Edwards began naturally developing through her upbringing have shone through as some of her most valuable traits today as a collegiate player. “Two of Taylor’s greatest assets are her versatility and her competitiveness,” commented MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin. “She played primarily a 2 guard in high school, but she has been asked to play both point and shooting guard this year. She plays with great intensity and is a great teammate and person.”

Edwards has played in all 12 of MSUB’s games this season, and is averaging 7.6 minutes off of the bench in her first season at the Division II level.

The concept of living away from her home 3.5 hours away, where she spent time watching women’s college basketball on TV and dreaming about her chance to play one day, was overwhelming at first. But a semester into her time studying health and human performance and competing for the ‘Jackets has helped reassure Edwards that she picked the perfect university.

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“It was hard at first because I love being at home and my family so much, but so far it has grown me as a person and I have gotten used to being a lot more independent,” said Edwards. “I love it here. I am figuring out who I am and what I want to do, and am making big life decisions on my own.”

Edwards has grown so accustomed to her new surroundings at MSUB, that when the team split ways for the mandatory seven-day winter break, she suddenly struggled with putting her college experience on hold. “Going home for break was actually hard, because I knew I would miss my family back here,” Edwards said referring to her teammates. “We have a great bond that sports creates within a team, and I would do anything for any one of them.”

A hint of brilliance from Edwards during her prep career caught Woodin’s eye while he was recruiting, as she scored 30 points in a playoff game as a senior against Skyview High School in Billings. The standout effort in a pressure situation is what captivated Woodin the most, and prompted him to continue the theme of filling his roster with Montanans.

Beyond her proven abilities on the court however, Woodin cited that her personality and character were two more key reasons he thought she would fit in well with the Yellowjackets. “Her positive attitude is contagious, she is very coachable and plays extremely hard,” Woodin said. “It is easy for me to tell that she believes in her team first, and is committed to doing whatever it takes to make her team win.”

As Edwards began distributing highlight videos her senior season at Charles M. Russell High School, her only true consideration was that attending college in Montana and remaining close to home was something she valued greatly. While MSUB was not originally on her radar, Edwards remembers pulling out an old Yellowjacket Basketball t-shirt that she acquired along the way at a camp as a child as sparking interest.

“It hadn’t really crossed my mind at the time, but I put MSUB on my list and started thinking about coming here,” Edwards commented on the rediscovery of the old shirt. “I just love it here (in Montana) and knew that I didn’t want to leave.”

Edwards got her first taste of the level of competition in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the NCAA Division II, as she has played in all four of MSUB’s conference games in the team’s early 3-1 start to GNAC play. Unsure of what to expect, Edwards had to get caught up to speed quickly as the ‘Jackets played a difficult preseason schedule including two games against teams ranked in the top-25.

Last week, Edwards made the journey to Alaska where the ‘Jackets split with a loss at No. 5 Alaska Anchorage and a victory in Fairbanks against UAF. “The preseason was definitely hard and when we finally hit conference games it was great,” Edwards said. “I love how hard we work together as a team.”

Keeping up with school work while adhering to her demanding schedule as a student-athlete has not overwhelmed Edwards, and she hopes to one day use her degree from MSUB to become a teacher and a coach after her playing days. In terms of her goals for the season, Edwards has shown maturity by tackling the year with a daily routine focused on continually getting better.

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“You never know what to expect until you go in and start competing every day, and I have just tried to get better as a teammate and as an individual,” Edwards said. “I have listened to what Coach Woodin has said and tried to apply it to my game every day. My focus is on taking it day-byday and getting better individually.”

As Edwards’ journey as a Yellowjacket is just beginning, Woodin is optimistic about the freshman’s potential to thrive within MSUB’s system as well. Her work ethic in practice is a big part of why she has a strong upside, as Woodin has noticed her relentless attitude towards growing as a young player.

“I am confident that Taylor will put in the extra time needed to improve as a player,” Woodin said. “We need Taylor to continue to improve and be ready when she is called upon this season. In regard to her future, offseason improvement will be critical, and then performing at a confident level in games will be a must.”

For now, Edwards will cherish her opportunity to carry on her family’s competitive spirit on the court for the Yellowjackets. She never could have guessed what her grandfather’s gift would come to represent, but today it holds strong as a symbol of a promising young career for the Yellowjackets.

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Prevost family legacy lives on within Yellowjacket women’s basketball Tuesday, January 26, 2016 Thirty years after her distant cousin Deb Prevost wrapped up a Hall of Fame career as a Yellowjacket, sophomore guard Lexi Prevost carries on her family’s legacy through MSUB hoops.

MSUB SPORTS – Each time sophomore guard Lexi Prevost suits up and takes to the court in Alterowitz Gymnasium, she carries on a legacy at Montana State University Billings representing the type of basketball player that her hometown of Sidney, Mont., yields.

Prevost prides herself not on a single aspect of her game, but rather on her will to contribute in whatever way her team needs her most. Some games, that involves providing quality minutes at the point guard position. Others, it is her stubborn defense and tireless effort working against opponents that her team needs most.

With the Yellowjackets in first place through the first half of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule with a record of 9-1, the team has played too well for there to be any evidence of a drop-off between starters and key role players like Prevost.

While she has yet to lead the team in scoring or have a break-out shooting performance in a single game, the style of play Prevost has brought to the team in her second full season is one that evokes memory of one of the Yellowjackets’ all-time greats.

Deb Prevost was inducted into the MSUB Hall of Fame and Distinction a year before Lexi was born, and is quick to recall the adjustment she had to make from playing just one year of high-school basketball in Sidney to competing in college. “The hardest part was to balance everything, because you had to worry about school work and the demands of basketball,” said Deb. “I don’t think there was as big of a jump (to college) when I played as there is now, and I felt I was able to make the transition well.”

The numbers Deb recorded from 1975-78 support her claim of a smooth transition, as she stands today as the fifth-leading scorer in MSUB/Eastern Montana College history with 1,540 points. “Deb was a great player and I look up to her a lot because of how well she did here,” said Lexi. “She set a standard for all of the other players to come at MSUB.”

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Soon after becoming just the third women’s basketball player inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994, Deb lent a hand towards developing one of the players for her alma mater’s next generation. Spending time doing individual skill work with her distant cousin, Deb saw the prospects of playing college basketball within Lexi as a younger player.

“One thing I liked about her was she was a sponge, and she was willing to listen and learn,” Deb recalled. “She was also very athletic and had a lot of good speed for a high-school player. I knew that if she worked hard, she would become a good player.”

Lexi and Deb each credit the former’s attention to detail and persistence in learning the game to her mother, Leigh Merritt, who better remembers what led to the connection of the two relatives. “Lexi’s great grandfather and Deb’s grandfather were brothers, and were two of the three Prevost brothers who came from Quebec and settled in Lambert, Montana,” Merritt explained, simultaneously providing an explanation of the silent ‘T’ in the last name stemming from its roots in a French Canadian territory. “Deb took the time to work with Lexi during the summer on some basketball skills, and it’s nice to see that family connection.”

Deb Prevost (left) wearing No. 21 three decades before her cousin Lexi (right) inherited the number for the 'Jackets.

While Deb had an impact on Lexi developing into a collegiate player, it was Merritt who she worked more closely with as a high-school coach in Sidney. “I coached Lexi’s mom and aunt at Sidney so I have more memories of them, but I have always admired Lexi and we have had a good relationship,” Deb said. “The will to win was very strong in Lexi’s mom, and her willingness to work hard has definitely translat-

ed over to Lexi. It runs in the family.”

Now wearing No. 21 for the ‘Jackets – just as Deb did three decades ago – Lexi cites her confidence on the court as being most important when facing the tough competition in the GNAC. With her next appearance, Lexi will already match her 18 games played as a freshman a season ago, as she has progressed into a more integral player within MSUB’s lineup this season. “It is nice to see that I am improving, but I still have a lot to work on so I just want to keep working hard,” said Lexi. “The three captains have been really helpful, especially with Monica (Grimsrud) stepping her game up and improving a ton this year. Alisha (Breen) is my roommate and we have a good connection, and having Janiel (Olson) back brings us a lot of experience.”

At the center of it all is Yellowjacket head coach Kevin Woodin, who, thanks to his career as a high-school coach, familiarized himself with the Prevost name long before Lexi became proficient at dribbling a basketball. “I met Deb through summer coaching early on after I got to Montana,” Woodin commented. “She would bring her Sidney team to our tournaments at West High in the summer and we crossed paths a lot outside of the season.”

Woodin wasn’t initially aware he was collaborating with one of MSUB’s legendary athletes, but as he became more familiar with the university he began to understand the significance of Deb’s career as a Yellowjacket. “I remember seeing her name around the gym and in the record books so I put together that she had been a pretty good player,” Woodin said. “She is a well-respected coach in Montana and had a lot to offer Lexi growing up from a player standpoint as well as the mental side of the game.”

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When Lexi made her decision to attend MSUB and Deb learned she would be playing for Woodin, she knew right away that Lexi’s growth at a player had only just begun. “I have always respected Kevin as a coach, and he does a great job of bringing out the potential in players,” said Deb. “I felt like Lexi was going to a place that was going to help her develop her skills not only on the court, but as a person too.”

These days, Deb works as a grief recovery specialist and though she has removed herself from active participation in the basketball community, she makes sure to keep tabs on all of her former players including Lexi. “I definitely still watch the papers and see how the Yellowjackets are doing,” Deb said.

She doesn’t get to as many games as she used to, but Deb doesn’t need to be an everyday fan to recognize the vast strides her sport has taken since her days pioneering the Title IX movement as a brave, young, female athlete. “To watch the game grow and become its own identity at each level has been fun to see,” Deb said. “Back when I played, we didn’t have leagues separated like they are now, and the improvement in general has been great.”

Merritt is still a regular at Alterowitz Gym to watch her daughter compete, and when she can’t make the four-hour drive from the northeast corner of the Big Sky State she tunes into the live broadcasts of the games on MSUB’s Stretch Internet portal.

Whether she absorbs the cheers and in-game dialogue from the court-side perspective of one of Alterowitz Gym’s blue seats, or from the comfort of her home, Merritt recognizes that her daughter’s career – as a player and student at MSUB – has been in good hands along the way.

For Lexi, in a journey that is still in its opening stages, the opportunity she has now to become the best player she can be is one that reassures her she’s been guided well. “It has taken awhile, but I can definitely see a lot of improvement from last year to this year,” Lexi said. “We are just taking things one game at a time and I just want to help the team out however I can.”

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New Faces: MSUB men’s basketball freshman Cade Alcorn Wednesday, February 3, 2016 BILLINGS, Mont. – Early on in Montana State University Billings’ season, head men’s basketball coach Jamie Stevens dedicated an entire section of a practice to developing his players’ ability to take a charge.

Citing it as the single play that can shift momentum in a game more than any other, Stevens stressed to his returning veterans and newcomers alike that taking charges would be an essential part of each game.

While the concept of standing pat while the opposing player – often times the other team’s heftiest big man – plowed through as if the defender were a crash-test dummy hardly sounds appealing, there was one player who Stevens never had to worry about.

Fast forward 20 games into the regular season and freshman Cade Alcorn has made creating new possessions for his team through taking charges a habit. There is no official ‘charges taken’ statistic, but in the eyes of Stevens the freshman’s most valuable contribution to the team is something he noticed before Alcorn ever suited up for the ‘Jackets.

“We loved his toughness,” Stevens commented on what stood out when he and assistant coach Brad Schmit placed Alcorn onto their recruiting map. “You don’t see many guys taking charges in AAU ball, and those are huge defensive plays. Cade is a charismatic kid who will eventually be a captain here for us. He has already assumed several leadership roles as a true freshman.”

Alcorn quickly brushes off the elbow-to-chest contact often associated with taking a charge, and by the time his teammates help him back onto his feet he can’t help but reveal his distinct smile as he hustles down to the offensive end.

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Considering Alcorn’s family history and upbringing, his natural basketball instincts are far from surprising.

His grandfather, Gary Alcorn, played two seasons in the NBA and was a teammate of Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West on the 1960-61 L.A. Lakers.

His father, Brad, is a retired SWAT Team sniper and 33-year veteran of the Fresno Police Department.

And his mother Jenifer?

A retired, undefeated WIBA, IWBF, and IBA world champion professional boxer.

“I grew up in a family filled with athletes, and competitiveness and the will to compete have been there for me since a young age,” Alcorn said. “I started playing basketball in kindergarten and around sixth grade I decided I wanted to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps.”

Alcorn always had a goal of playing basketball at the collegiate level, and his parents preached to him that playing ball could open doors for him.

When his grandfather Gary retired from basketball, he dedicated himself to the great outdoors and even opened his own sporting goods store.

Though he passed away before Cade had a chance to spend time partaking in Gary’s favorite activities of hunting and fishing, the younger Alcorn remembers his grandfather speaking fondly of Montana’s boundless terrain. “The summer going into my senior season, I got a call from MSUB and my eyes lit up,” Alcorn said. “It was definitely an attention grabber that the school was from Montana, and I felt like it is a path my grandfather would have wanted me to follow.”

After opening his freshman season in his home state of California – the Yellowjackets’ first road trip of the year was in Hayward at Cal State East Bay – Alcorn has settled into being a key role player on the team. In his first-ever Great Northwest Athletic Conference game on Dec. 3 in Portland, Ore., Alcorn had his best game of the season to date with a 12-point, 13-rebound double-double against Concordia University.

The standout performance is something Alcorn claims is just part of his overall goal of improving as a player and being a young leader within the team. “I just want to keep getting experience on the court and impact the culture of the program,” Alcorn said. “Also, maintaining a 3.0 GPA is a big deal to me, as I have never had anything below that.”

Unlike many players coming out of high school, it had been more than a year since Alcorn had toed the court when he played his first college game. Spending his senior season recovering from a torn ACL, Alcorn had to find alternatives from real games to prepare himself for the level of play in the GNAC. Part of his ability to successfully compete directly after missing a full year is Alcorn’s commitment to his Yellowjacket teammates and coaches.

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“Cade is completely bought in and he wants the program to be successful,” Stevens said. “If you think about the adjustment he has had to make not playing his senior (high school) season, he has had a pretty solid freshman season.”

Alcorn has played in all but one of MSUB’s 20 games this season, and is averaging 3.3 points and 3.2 rebounds in 15.3 minutes per game. Being mature for his age has helped Alcorn acclimate himself to the still-new climate of Billings, and he cited the support of fellow freshman Sven Jeuschede as being crucial to his level of comfort as he begins his college career.

“I have become close with Sven, and we have learned a lot about each other’s cultures,” Alcorn said referring to Jeuschede’s background as a German international.

“He was raised in a similar way that I was, and the different culture he grew up with meshes well with my mentality.”

To this point, Alcorn’s travel with the team has taken him everywhere from Fairbanks, Alaska to Seattle, and numerous other stops between the West Coast and Billings. In a pair of early season road games at Black Hills State and the University of Mary, Alcorn and the ‘Jackets were exposed to pressure situations. Emerging with wins in both games – including an overtime victory against Mary – helped the team establish confidence and prepare to tackle its conference schedule.

“Just the bond you get from pulling through and getting wins in those games is why we play the game,” Alcorn said. “Even when you lose close games like that you come together and work on finding ways to win. It is a big deal to have a basketball family here being far away from home.”

Stevens sees a bright future for Alcorn within MSUB’s program, and a player already possessing such a firm foundation has limitless potential in the eyes of the Yellowjackets’ head coach. “Cade already does the little things very well,” Stevens said. “He needs to work on his baby hook game and using his body and the rim to be crafty Alcorn (44) looks on as Jeuschede carries the ball towards around the basket to score. He is already solid defensively and in rebounding, and the the basket at Alterowitz Gym during a home game. more he plays the better he will get.”

As the ‘Jackets prepare to host GNAC opponents Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene this weekend, choruses of long, drawn out, “Yeahhhh!” ring out from Alterowitz Gym during practice. One doesn’t need to be within sight of the team working out to hear the simple yet encouraging call, but the fact that it is the bellow of one of MSUB’s youngest players is not realized until Alcorn is seen in action.

Standing 6-foot-6 and sporting a full-grown beard worthy of his middle name – Hunter – Alcorn holds his parents’ role in raising him as important above all else. “One of the biggest things my parents preached to me was just to be a good person,” said Alcorn. “Karma is talked about a lot in my family, and that if you do good things then good things will happen to you. Discipline is another big thing in my family, and the will to compete was instilled in me growing up.”

The moment Alcorn takes his next charge is simply a matter of time. It may come during an offensive run by MSUB’s opponent, spurring his teammates off the bench and wrestling momentum back into the Yellowjackets’ hands. It may come late in the second half with his team needing to find an extra possession in a close game.

One certainty is that when Cade Hunter Alcorn’s frame is slammed to the hardwood, he will rise again a better man than when he was struck down. Call it his grandfather’s basketball roots, his father’s lifelong dedication to defending the lives of others, or simply his mother’s refusal to lose as a fighter.

Taking one for the team is in Alcorn’s genes. Don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

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Inside athletic training: Meet MSUB’s miracle workers Thursday, February 4, 2016 Working hard every day behind the scenes to ensure MSUB’s student-athletes are primed for competition are athletic trainers Tom Ebel, Lindsay Sullivan, and Patrick Behre.

MSUB SPORTS – Every athletic team at Montana State University Billings – and for that matter just about every college sports team in the country – has members who don’t contribute a single statistic or see a minute of action on the field during the course of a season.

These members don’t have jersey numbers, batting gloves, or soft-ground cleats for when pitches in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference become almost too muddy to navigate.

They don’t have a chance to win an end-of-the-year award or advance to the postseason if they perform well enough. They don’t have a won-lost record.

Yet they are at every practice, game, and oftentimes road trip of the season. Their daily duties begin well before the ball is hoisted at center court and carry on well after the final kill is slammed down into the hardwood.

They serve as part-time therapist, and whether they are qualified or not, hearing the problems, struggles, and uncertainties of young, exceptionally-talented adults may as well be stitched into their job descriptions.

In some ways, the referee’s signal to kick off with her whistle simultaneously calls for what can be the calmest part of the day. For these team members, the less action during the game, the better for everyone involved.

Sometimes however, the heat of competition is when they are called upon to perform at their finest. To be the first on the scene when a player whom they have helped develop is suddenly helpless and in need of immediate support. To be there with ability and knowledge that no one else in a jam-packed gym has, and that will be counted on in the most crucial moments directly after an injury.

Sometimes, the life of an athletic trainer is pure chaos.

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HANG LOOSE, MAN Walk into MSUB’s athletic training center on a Friday afternoon and chances are you won’t recognize Tom Ebel as the head athletic trainer. He’ll be sporting the latest in what seems to be an endless supply of Hawaiian shirts, and throw up the ‘hang-loose’ sign upon acknowledging your presence.

Whether it’s Hawaiian Shirt Friday or Gameday Saturday, Ebel is tasked with captaining MSUB’s athletic training program, now in his fifth year in charge of sports medicine for the Yellowjackets along with assistant athletic trainer Lindsay Sullivan and graduate assistant athletic trainer Patrick Behre. Don’t be duped by his tendency to put his trademark dance moves on display on the blue, gold, and white-checked floor; when it comes down to business Ebel is knowledgeable and efficient beyond most.

A man who has traveled to all 50 United States, Ebel completed his master’s degree in 2004 from Eastern New Mexico University after graduating from Concordia University Nebraska in his hometown of Seward with a stop in Australia along the way.

His initial interest in athletic training – and perhaps beginning of his tropical t-shirt collection – was spurned while attending Campbell High School in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. “I was studying computers, and the second or third week of 2-a-days in football I broke my leg,” Ebel remembered. “I was unable to get to my computer class after that. I began chatting with my physical therapist and she is the one who got me thinking about something like athletic training or physical therapy as a career.”

Though Concordia didn’t have an athletic trainer on staff by the time Ebel was enrolled in classes, he learned how to tape ankles and other fundamental skills from one of the school’s equipment managers. Eventually passing his certification exam at the University of Nebraska in 1996, Ebel was thrown into the mix as the head athletic trainer at his alma mater in Seward. “Was I in over my head? Yes, absolutely,” Ebel said. “We had 14 major knee injuries in my first year.”

Ebel recalls guidance and support he received from physical therapists in town as helping him grow, and insisted that he never second-guessed himself during his six-plus years in charge. “I was really in-tune to learning and getting better as an athletic trainer,” Ebel said. “When you’re in over your head, you learn to catch up, and I believe that I rehab an ACL really well now because of that first year. Our physician was patient with me and did a lot of teaching.”

IT’S ALL IN THE KIT As Ebel shifted his career and took charge at Clovis High School in New Mexico, Sullivan finished up her undergraduate requirements as a student at MSU Billings. Though the option to sit for the athletic training certification was available to her directly after earning her bachelor’s degree, the Belgrade, Mont., native chose to head east to Brookings, S.D., and tackle a master’s degree at South Dakota State University.

After Ebel was hired at MSUB to start the 2011-12 year, the stars aligned for Sullivan as she picked up her certificate and master’s degree, and the assistant athletic trainer job for the Yellowjackets opened all at once in the spring of 2012. “I was more excited to apply for this job than I was for any others,” Sullivan remembered. “Knowing the university and the type of people who are here gave me a great sense of camaraderie.”

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Just as Ebel had been thrown into the first with his first head athletic training job at Concordia, Sullivan was tested within her first two weeks on the clock at MSUB. With fall sports underway and Ebel and MSUB’s graduate assistant on the road with fall sports teams, Sullivan was the only certified athletic trainer on campus when disaster struck during a fall softball tournament.

“I got a call saying that one of the players from Great Falls ran into the outfield fence and may have broken her leg,” Sullivan said. “When I got up there, I got her splinted and tried to calm her down while we waited for the ambulance to arrive.”

Sullivan later received an email from the Great Falls coach thanking her for her expert assistance on the field. The player ended up requiring surgery, and her doctor commented that whatever was done on the field immediately after the injury wound up saving her from significant issues with her leg later on in life.

“That really gave me confidence to know that what I had done was right,” Sullivan said. “As a practicing athletic trainer, I was reacting and trying to treat the injury Sullivan attending to a runner during the 2014 NCAA West Region Cross Country Championships, hosted by MSU Billings at the right way. As a student, you have someone there telling you how to do it, so just having that initial emergency and handling it well helped reassure me that I Amend Park last year. was meant to be doing this.”

Though athletic trainers hope they never have to deal with serious injuries, they have to be constantly prepared and ready to react at any moment. In the winter of 2013-14, that moment came not once, but twice for Sullivan. With the Yellowjacket women’s basketball team vying for a GNAC title, junior Annie DePuydt collapsed to the floor in a road game at Central Washington, her ACL giving way and effectively ending her season. Just more than one month later at Western Oregon, Sullivan heard the unmistakable pop again, this time with junior Janiel Olson falling to the floor with less than one second remaining in the game.

“When Janiel tore her ACL it was the third one of the year, and I knew what I was in for,” Sullivan said. “It was emotionally overwhelming, and I was probably just as mentally down as the rest of the team was when that happened.”

Sullivan’s job quickly turned from taping ankles and preparing athletes for action, to a long-term, emotionally and physically grueling recovery program for players who had ambitions of returning for their senior seasons. “I had to do a lot of research on rehab and therapeutic exercises for ACLs, and it definitely made me better as an athletic trainer as far as knowledge,” Sullivan said. “It showed me the difficulty athletes face with long-term or season-ending injuries. It takes away the things that have been a mental stress release for them, and being sensitive and supportive towards that was something I learned in that situation.”

DePuydt returned the following season to put a final touch on a stand-out four-year career, and Olson is currently in pursuit of MSUB’s career rebounding record while the ‘Jackets fight for a return to the top of the GNAC this season.

“I have been very impressed with Lindsay’s skills as an athletic trainer,” commented MSUB head women’s basketball coach Kevin Woodin. “She is a good athletic trainer, sports psychologist, and counselor, and she wears a lot of other hats for our team too. After our players leave our program, I can’t tell you how thankful they are that they’ve had her caring for them over the years.”

Now a seasoned veteran when it comes to handling serious injuries, Sullivan has had her well-maintained kit by her side the entire way. “My scissors and fanny pack were given to me by my program at SDSU and I have kept them ever since,” said Sullivan, now in her fourth year at MSUB. “I am very protective of those scissors.”

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THE A(T) TEAM “One thing about Tom – he questions the norms of the profession. There are lots of things athletic trainers do because that’s how it has always been done. Tom is more of an evidence-based guy and provides a different perspective. He has helped me think about things that I never would have thought to question.” – MSUB G.A. Patrick Behre on Tom Ebel.

The newest face within MSUB’s athletic training department, Behre is among the tail end of athletic trainers who became certified before earning a master’s degree. Having spent two year’s post-University of Idaho practicing at Missouri Southern State University, Behre is halfway through his first year at MSUB and has already noticed significant growth within himself through working directly with Yellowjacket teams.

“Tom and Lindsay are a lot of fun to be around,” said Behre, who has ambitions of becoming a head athletic trainer at a university in the future. “I am going to have to know everything that is going on, including the administrative things like insurance. I feel like I’m getting there.”

Quick to joke about the common mispronunciation of his last name (it’s ‘bear’ not ‘beery’) and hometown of Moscow, Idaho (it’s ‘mosco’ not ‘moss-cow’) the appeal of Montana’s terrain and mountainous surroundings helped draw Behre closer to his home state. A novice mountaineer and hockey enthusiast, Behre has naturally fit into his new surroundings. “I wanted to go back closer to home when I was working in Missouri, and I thought Montana would be cool when I saw this job open up,” Behre said. “I really like being outdoors and being on top of a mountain just gives you this rush.”

Of the six peaks Behre has summited in his 26 years of life, the first was the Warren Peak in Montana’s Beartooth Mountains when he was in high school. Months before assuming his post inside MSUB’s athletic training room, Behre stood atop Mount Rainier, his grandest accomplishment to date.

Behre’s adventurous side and curiosity have added a fresh dynamic to the athletic training team, and entering the program with experience is something that has eased the burden on Ebel and Sullivan. “When Patrick came in we were able to show him how things worked here, but he already had his own style when it came to things like taping and rehab,” Sullivan said. “He had it figured out already and we didn’t really have to coach him on that. He brings a good sense of humor to our athletic training room, and has done an amazing job with women’s soccer this year.”

While Behre has turned to Ebel and Sullivan to broaden his acumen in his desired career field, the two MSUB veterans are in agreement that he has what it takes to become a successful head athletic trainer in the future. “Since Pat had a little bit of experience coming out of school, he has come in with more confidence which has made my job easier,” Ebel said. “I want him to have freedom in the way he learns things, and he is asking lots of good questions about insurance and the things he’ll need to know as a head athletic trainer.”

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PUTTING THE ATHLETIC IN TRAINER While MSUB’s athletic training staff is dedicated to the well-being of Yellowjacket athletes, the scope of its work stretches to the furthest corners of the conference. With Ebel’s parents being missionaries, his childhood was filled with traveling throughout the U.S. and touching down in almost every state.

One state had eluded Ebel throughout his journey across the U.S. however, and it was the opportunity through his job at MSUB that finally brought him to Alaska during last year’s men’s basketball season. “Tom usually wants to go on our trips, and we love having him,” said MSUB men’s basketball head coach Jamie Stevens. “Last year we had a seat open on our trip to Alaska, and Tom always said it was a trip he wanted to go on since he had never been there.”

While Ebel was able to make the journey to the Final Frontier and complete his nation-wide trek, it is not necessarily a given that every team will travel with an athletic trainer on every trip. In this sense, communication and collaboration among colleagues across the GNAC becomes a crucial part of MSUB’s athletic trainers’ jobs.

Beyond caring for athletes physically and in the moment of competition, athletic trainers are tasked with maintaining paperwork on every athlete in their program, recording rehabilitation notes, and working with insurance companies. When teams are on the road and will require assistance from the host school’s athletic trainer, it is crucial that Ebel, Sullivan, or Behre contact their counterparts and are well-versed on the modalities that will be required.

“If we can’t travel with a team, we will email schools’ athletic trainers with the information they’ll need,” Ebel said. “We need to be specific so that the host school’s athletic trainer has the ability to help our student-athletes.”

The same expectation holds true for when the ‘Jackets host conference opponents and Ebel and company prepare to attend not just to their own athletes, but to those on the visiting team as well. In a given week, Sullivan’s email inbox may have the names Lonnie Lyon (Western Washington), Charity McCright (Central Washington), or Ken Becker (Northwest Nazarene) sprinkled throughout. A taped ankle here, ultrasound there; it’s all part of the universal understanding across the industry of serving all athletes.

Sullivan particularly looks up to Laurie Freebairn, who recently retired after a career spanning nearly three decades in charge of physiotherapy at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. “I really enjoy going different places because of the different athletic trainers I get to talk to,” Sullivan said. “Laurie was just amazing, and I talked to her quite a bit at the GNAC basketball tournament last year. She had really good insight into the profession.”

While Sullivan has counted on mentors and resources throughout the conference for enhancing her own skills, she and Ebel are also on the senior end of that spectrum when it comes to MSUB’s athletic training graduate program. While the trio are the only three certified athletic trainers at MSUB, at any given time the athletic training room is buzzing with graduate students eager to tape as many ankles as possible and perfect their ice-bag spinning technique.

“Ever since we have had the athletic training major, our teams have benefitted,” Woodin said. “I feel thankful for the program because the student athletic trainers here are so much more experienced and are highly capable of helping our athletes.”

Ebel accompanies MSUB men’s soccer star Ricardo Palomino off the pitch in a home game last fall.

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ATHLETIC TRAINING BY THE NUMBERS Task/Supply Item Amount Fastest Ankle Taped (Seconds) 52 Ice Bags Made in One Minute 5 Times (Per Month) Athlete Names are Re-written on Water Bottles 2 Ice Bags Used Per Softball Practice 20-40 Rolls of Tape Used in a Men’s Basketball Game 12 Rolls of Tape Used in a Basketball Season ~500 Minutes Per Day Administering Ultra Sound 56 ATHLETIC TRAINER, FATHER, COACH “One of the biggest challenges is finding time for yourself. It’s easy for me to want to give our athletes everything and make sure they’re in the MSUB’s athletic trainersasarewell.” responsible for Sullivan ensuringon their remain wellbest condition possible, but it can be easy to lose a sense of needing to take care of yourself – Lindsay thesupplies whirlwind life of an stocked at all times. athletic trainer.

“Run it again!” bellows Ebel after calling motion to a stop with his whistle. It’s somewhere around 7 p.m. on a Sunday and Ebel is less than an hour removed from an Alaska Airlines return flight to Billings. “We’ll practice four times this week since we only had one last week,” Ebel says. “Sunday. Tuesday.

Wednesday. Friday.”

As unrecognizable as he is with the flowered Hawaiian shirt draped over him on Fridays, now Ebel has ditched the khakis and tucked-in navy blue polo for shorts, tennis shoes, and a t-shirt whose sleeves, from the looks of it, wound up on the losing end of a one-way battle with Sullivan’s scissors.

The ‘Jackets are finally done for the day and now it’s Ebel’s turn to run his own practice. His oldest son Ben and teammates gather around Ebel on the hardwood inside Alterowitz Gym, awaiting instructions before the next ball-handling drill.

“I’ve coached soccer, tennis, basketball, and football,” Ebel said. “Coaching has always been something that interests me and with my kids growing up it is a good way to connect with them.”

Ebel treasures the time he gets to spend with his family and is thankful that his wife and four children have been able to adapt to his often unpredictable work schedule.

“Angie has been great, and she is a great mom,” Ebel commented on his wife. “We have been blessed in that we’ve been able to allow her to raise our kids, and she has made my job and travel easier. She always jokes that when the school year ends we become a two-parent family again.”

At times the athletic training room appears to have a revolving door, a nonstop flood of ailing young men and women needing everything from pre-wrap to ice baths to 20 minutes wrapped up in a NormaTec Game Ready Unit. While the reward for MSUB’s athletic trainers may not be instant, when the final buzzer sounds and their athletes have left every ounce of energy on the court, they know they have done their job well.

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“When they recognize that something you did helped them to do what they enjoy doing most, it is a good feeling,” Sullivan said. “To realize that they’re competitive because of something I helped them with is fulfilling.”

Ebel agrees. “The satisfaction in my job comes from helping somebody through a rehab situation and getting them back onto the field playing,” Ebel said. “I enjoy helping take somebody from the point where they’re injured and unable to compete to where they are performing in their sport again.”

In MSUB’s home men’s basketball game on Jan. 2, Ebel did not have the luxury or fortune of his hardest work coming in the form of preparation before the game and recovery after it. With less than a minute remaining, Yellowjacket star guard Jace Anderson tore his ACL and opened a new chapter in Ebel’s book of rehab.

Anderson will undoubtedly return to the hardwood and resume where he left off as a top scorer for the Yellowjackets. While the points he scores as a senior will be credited to his ledger only, they are statistics that will have been made possible thanks in large part to Ebel.

In a way, MSUB’s athletic training staff is responsible for every statistic in a team’s season, from points scored, to ankles taped and ice bags twisted, to lives changed through the care and dedication to helping athletes thrive.

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Sternhagen swinging strong in final season with ‘Jackets Thursday, February 25, 2016 One of MSUB’s key seniors from the state of Montana, second baseman Colter Sternhagen returns for his final year with the ‘Jackets after battling through arm injuries and helping the team to a GNAC title in 2015.

MSUB SPORTS – Colter Sternhagen was present for all 27 of Montana State University Billings’ baseball team’s victories last season, a win total that hadn’t been reached by the Yellowjackets in the 10 years since it had been reinstated in 2006.

Splitting time at third base and designated hitter, Sternhagen got to experience the first-ever GNAC title for the ‘Jackets as he and his teammates leapt into a dogpile at Saint Martin’s University after clinching the championship on the final day of the regular season. He was a contributor offensively, driving in 24 runs and finishing second only to All-American Brody Miller in doubles with 14 on the season.

Still, something seemed to be missing for the Helena, Mont., native. Fresh off of a recovery from a torn labrum in his right (throwing) arm, Sternhagen still played with the vice of his surgically-repaired shoulder holding him back. His body knew he could take a big swing or make a long throw from behind the third-base bag, but convincing his mind that his arm would stay secure in place was another story.

“It was really hard to get into a groove defensively,” Sternhagen said. “I felt like I could use my arm, but like it was just really weak.”

The 2015 season was Sternhagen’s fourth playing college baseball, and third with the Yellowjackets, but since he sat out with a medical redshirt in 2014 he knew he had the 2016 season to look forward to as his senior year. “I had to realize that the recovery time of nine to twelve months was just to get back on the field, but that I wasn’t going to be at one hundred percent,” Sternhagen said. “I didn’t understand that at the time, and it was really hard, but it was a good learning experience. I never thought about quitting, but I had to go through that pain and recovery for so long.”

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Working with MSUB athletic trainer Tom Ebel through physical therapy, Sternhagen entered the 2015 season in good enough shape to play in 44 of MSUB’s 50 games. He received 161 at bats during the season, but the 162nd eluded him and was in many ways the one he wanted most.

With the Yellowjackets trailing 4-3 in the 10th inning of a GNAC Championship game against Western Oregon, their season dwindled in the balance. After losing the first game in the tournament at Dehler Park, MSUB needed a victory to avoid elimination from the championship and ultimately a bitter end to an otherwise remarkable season.

Two outs, the tying run on second base, and a scenario every hitter dreams of crept closer to becoming a reality for Sternhagen. Sporting a beard worthy of a cameo on Duck Dynasty, Sternhagen hopped up the dugout steps into the on-deck circle. But the sport that had created so many opportunities for him, some of his fondest memories from his childhood and the bonds he had with his current teammates, left him hanging. He watched as a groundout ended his team’s season, and was left to ponder what could have been if he had the chance for at-bat No. 162.

THE GREAT HOME RUN CHASE Though Sternhagen didn’t get the chance for a memorable at bat at Dehler Park last May, it wouldn’t have been the first special hit at the premier ballpark in Billings. Playing American Legion baseball through high school, Dehler Park was a frequent stop for Sternhagen as he traveled with the Helena Senators in the summer to play the likes of the Billings Scarlets and Billings Royals.

With the absence of high school baseball in Montana, legion ball after school got out was the lone chance for players to develop their skills. “In eighth grade when I started with the Helena Reps you went from playing around 20 games to all of a sudden playing 55, and that was really cool,” Sternhagen remembered.

“You started to get the feel of what college baseball was like, with the traveling and spending time with teammates.”

Making the Double A Senators as a sophomore, Sternhagen put together what Sternhagen (8) is congratulated by teammates as he crosses home was his best season at the plate with 10 home runs, and began realizing he was plate at Dehler Park after his record-breaking 21st home run his one step closer to competing at the next level. By his senior season in 2011, senior year with the Helena Senators. hitting home runs had become a normal occurrence for the right-handed hitter, and he and another eventual Yellowjacket superstar, Miller, embarked on a power display unseen before at the high school level in Montana.

Sternhagen tied the Billings Legion single-season home run record in a late-season tournament in Bozeman, Mont., launching his 20th long ball of the year. “I had no idea what the record was before that tournament, and I didn’t really think about it,” Sternhagen said. “Brody was hitting them too, and we were both having fun with that. We were friends so we talked about it a bit.”

Miller and Sternhagen went back-and-forth in pursuit of the record, the clash of power changing hands all the way until the final weekend of the season. With five games left to play, the reality of breaking the record crept into Sternhagen’s mind. “Once I tied the record, everyone was talking to me about it and I think I started to put pressure on myself,” Sternhagen said. “We had five games left, but I just couldn’t hit one out the first four games.”

The last games of the season were set as a doubleheader against the Royals at Dehler Park, and Sternhagen came just short of the record with a long double in Game 1. In his final chance of the season in the nightcap, Sternhagen ripped a deep drive over the fence in left-center, circling the bases towards his teammates awaiting at home plate with ‘21’ held up on their hands.

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“I had an awesome team who was really behind me, and one of the best memories I have is of them holding up 21 while I was rounding the bases,” said Sternhagen. “That was a big moment.”

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? “When Coach Bishop let me come back, he gave me tons of opportunities to play and be successful. He is a very good guy to look up to, a good mentor to follow, and handles himself very well. As a player looking at a coach, he has been very impactful.” – Colter Sternhagen on MSUB head coach Rob Bishop.

Though MSUB was on Sternhagen’s map from the beginning of his college search, the concept of using the junior college route as a chance to get drafted ultimately led him to South Mountain Community College in Phoenix, Ariz. The climate in the southern United States lends itself more kindly to budding baseball stars, but Sternhagen quickly felt that the fit wasn’t right for him and contemplated a return to his home state.

“One of the things we deal with in recruiting local kids is that many of them feel that they want to go out and try something different out of high school,” commented MSUB head coach Rob Bishop. “A lot of the time, they realize what our state and program can provide, and they come back with a great attitude. We will never close the door to guys in the future, and they are always fired up to be here. That’s how it was with Colter.”

Sternhagen immediately felt comfortable being back in Montana, and he was reunited with many of the familiar faces he competed against in legion ball, Miller included. In his first season with the ‘Jackets, he helped the team reach the GNAC tournament as MSUB took a big step towards a winning season.

Though his sophomore season in Billings was much more comfortable than his first year in Arizona, lingering effects from overusing his shoulder began to wear on Sternhagen as he prepared for his junior season. Diving back into first base on a pickoff attempt in his second game of the 2014 season, Sternhagen’s right shoulder dislocated and he immediately knew he had suffered a serious injury.

“It was so painful that I didn’t realize what had happened,” said Sternhagen, who wound up staying on base and eventually scoring. “When I got back into the dugout, someone stood about 20 feet away and told me to throw them the ball. I think I threw it 10 feet, and in my head I knew I had done something really bad.”

Though it was the last throw Sternhagen made that season, the year away from the game gave him a new perspective that he had never experienced. “It was probably good in the long run, because it gave me more time to think about my playing,” Sternhagen said. “It helped me think about a lot of things, seeing the game from the dugout.”

CHAMPION BALLPLAYER, CREATIVE MIND “Helping to win our first title and be successful was something I was super happy to be a part of. Getting to dogpile with the kids I grew up with was one of the best feelings ever.” – Colter Sternhagen on the Yellowjackets’ 2015 GNAC title run.

Working diligently to return to the diamond in 2015, Sternhagen recovered well enough to work his name into the starting lineup for 41 games.

As the ‘Jackets won 20 of their final 25 games to clinch the regular-season title, Sternhagen was able to focus on the ride of a lifetime with his teammates rather than worry about the lingering pain in his shoulder.

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As soon as the season ended however, Sternhagen knew that in order to have a fully healthy senior season his preparation had to start immediately. Winning the conference’s regular season title was just the first notch in the belt for Sternhagen and his teammates, as the overall goal of sustained success has driven him to have the best season he can as a senior.

“I just have a lot more drive, and all of the guys just really want to win,” Sternhagen said. “The group we have this year is awesome, and our goal is definitely to get first place again this year and do better in the tournament when we get there. The next step is to get some wins in the conference tournament and try to get into a regional.”

Watching Sternhagen since his days playing tee-ball at age four have been his parents Joe Sternhagen and Jami Davis, whom the senior credits with providing him with unending support throughout his career. “I always appreciated my dad for going out and working with me so much, and he gave me the tools and work ethic to become a good player,” Sternhagen said. “My mom was always supportive of me with what I was doing, and she always helped me get to camps and did whatever she could to help me succeed.”

Beyond Sternhagen’s successful return to the diamond, he is wrapping up his bachelor’s degree with an emphasis on writing and music. The idea of composing music, books, and movie scripts plays into Sternhagen’s drive to do something with his career that makes him happy.

GIVE IT A RIDE, COLT Family support has been crucial to Sternhagen’s success as a ballplayer, and the chorus of cheers for No. 8 is one that extends into multiple generations. “Both sets of grandparents are always calling me or attending my games, and express how proud of me they are for what I was doing,” said Sternhagen. “That was huge for me, and I’m very close with all of them.”

One of Sternhagen’s biggest fans was his grandfather Bill, who recently passed away. Among his advice for Colter was to always keep his eye on the ball, along with a special yell of encouragement that was undeniably unique. “He’d come to my games and in that silent moment right before the pitch, he’d yell, ‘give it a ride, Colt!’” said Sternhagen. “It was the only thing I’d ever hear right when the pitch was thrown.”

Sternhagen ended last season disappointed in the on-deck circle, an unavoidable reality and a reminder that he’d have to wait an entire offseason before his next chance.

When that chance came, Sternhagen wasted no time jumping on it.

One out, top of the sixth inning. MSUB is knotted up with Holy Names University 0-0 in the 2016 season opener, and Sternhagen steps to the plate with the go-ahead run in scoring position on second base.

“Give it a ride, Colt!”

As his grandfather’s words echoed through his mind, Sternhagen unleashed a triple to right-center to drive in MSUB’s Sternhagen (center) celebrates in a dogpile with teammates after the ‘Jackets won first run of the season. the 2015 GNAC Championship at Saint Martin’s University on May 2, 2015.

A fitting reprieve after last year’s tough ending, the senior proved a point in his first game of the season. Sternhagen is back, and better than ever.

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Olson overcomes odds, owns one-of-a-kind career for ‘Jackets Tuesday, March 1, 2016 Five years into her career with MSUB, senior Janiel Olson overcomes an ACL and does it all from setting the school’s rebounding record, to earning GNAC Defensive Player of the Year, to being a one-of-a-kind leader for the ‘Jackets.

MSUB SPORTS – The first time Mary and Hal Olson set foot inside a college basketball gymnasium, a high-school-age Janiel Olson was by their side, eyes least wide of the three as she gathered in her surroundings at Alterowitz Gym on the Montana State University Billings campus.

Billings natives, Mary and Hal had never considered themselves sports fans, let alone athletes. Neither had played any sports competitively, and the territory they had entered seemed much more foreign to the owner of a local body shop and a 30-year banking industry veteran than it did to their daughter.

“We never had a connection to MSUB, but we came here when she was a junior or senior in high school to watch a game,” Hal remembered. “It was such a big change, the way that the team worked together. It was the first eye-opener that college was going to be a big step.”

Olson had offers at numerous other schools by her senior year, and freshly printed letters of intent begged for her signature. She even considered giving the United States Military Academy at West Point a shot, but Hal feared that if she strayed to New York, completed school and the mandatory five years of service afterwards, he would never see his daughter again.

When Olson walked through the blue doors to Alterowitz Gym with her parents that evening, she carried an impressive resume from Billings West High School along with her. She was a four-year letterwinner in basketball, and played her way to first-team all-league and all-state honors in her prep career.

Although she never could have realized it at the time, that first evening at Alterowitz was an introduction to the place she would spend the most time over the next five years.

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The place where she would learn what it meant to be part of a team and play for the people closest to you. The place where she’d grow into the best defensive player in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and help a team of unlikely heroes overcome unimaginable adversity and compete in one of the most memorable postseason runs in school history.

The place where she felt more alone and helpless than she could have possibly imagined, the game she loved taking away her livelihood as she knew it in an instant.

The place where she’d hold a clipboard on the bench for an entire season, gaining perspective and battling through the toughest year and a half of her life.

The place where the 5-foot-9 forward would defy odds and bring down more rebounds than any other woman in MSUB history.

The place that has her parents’ seats on permanent lease, Row D, Seats 17-20 on the far side diagonal from the Yellowjackets’ bench.

It is there that Mary and Hal have witnessed the growth of one of the best basketball players in MSUB history before their very eyes.

PLAYING PIG TO HOOPS ON THE WEST COAST

Mary and Hal Olson in attendance at Alterowitz Gym during a game in their daughter’s senior season with the ‘Jackets.

Olson remembers being in second grade, the thump of a leather basketball on the ground drawing her attention to the backyard where her father and older brother James were engaged in a rousing game of PIG. It wasn’t long before seven-year-old Janiel forced her way into the games, but the tears came quickly upon her inevitable defeat to her vertical superiors.

“They never took it easy on me,” Olson said with a smile. “When I was older in fifth grade, I got to practice with my brother’s team. I enjoyed playing against boys.”

By the time Olson reached middle school, her parents recognized the need for more formal instruction and entrusted her development to coaches Katie and Mike Smart with a local traveling basketball team. “Katie is one of the best coaches I have ever had, and is one of the first who figured out how to motivate me and get me to play hard,” Olson said. “Mike was the same way. I wouldn’t be half the player I am now if I didn’t get put on that team.”

Under the guidance of the Smarts, Olson developed into a versatile player who was ready for any position on the floor by the time she reached West High. As a senior, Olson helped the Bears to a Class AA state title and had developed a knack for rebounding through her persistent, diligent work ethic. “I never had one position that I was completely focused on excelling at,” Olson commented on shifting from 1-through-5 during her prep career. “Each year I worked on something different, and my position kept changing.”

While Olson’s high-school career prepared her well for college, nothing could substitute for the experience she had spending a summer with an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball team in California. During a trip to Arizona with her grandmother Jean, Olson was introduced to AAU coach Brian Crichlow during a camp at the University of Arizona. When he offered Olson a spot on his team, she couldn’t wait to call her parents and inform them of her plans for the summer.

Mary and Hal were a bit slower to convince.

“She called us and said she was going to California to play,” said Mary. “We were pretty hesitant at first. I don’t care how old your kid is, you don’t want to let her go for three months in a place where she doesn’t know anybody.”

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Hal agreed to travel to California with Janiel to scout the scene, and was quickly convinced upon arriving that his daughter would be in good hands. “Brian was just a first-class guy,” Hal said. “In a weekend’s time, she met a coach she would live with and nine new girls she had never played with before who she had to be on a team with. For her development and lifelong lessons, it was the best thing that could have happened to her.”

Landing in the middle of Los Angeles, Olson quickly adopted the nickname ‘Montana’ and was thrown into the fire in one of the most competitive leagues along the West Coast. The old-school, hard-nosed style of basketball quickly grew on Olson, who worked on sinking her jumper through hoops with metal chain-nets and battling for boards against players who showed no mercy.

“The first few weeks I was just getting worked on and beat up, and those girls were so tough,” Olson said. “But that’s a huge reason why I came back my senior year as a better rebounder and the ability to play serious defense.”

With newfound confidence that she could take on the toughest players on her opponents’ teams, Olson returned to Billings for her final year before college having taken her game to the next level.

Olson with West Coast Premier teammates Rachel Williams (left) and Brianna Johnson.

MSUB = HOME “She was aggressive even back then when I was at West High and she was in middle school. I was looking forward to her getting older and playing for me one day. She had been on my radar for years.” – MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin on his first encounters with Janiel Olson at youth basketball camps.

As Olson’s fondness for basketball grew, she began attending girls’ basketball games at West High and idolizing the players under the guidance of then-head coach Kevin Woodin. Now in his 12th year at MSUB and a four-time conference coach of the year, Woodin still freshly remembers characteristics Olson possessed that signaled she could excel at the NCAA Division II level with the ‘Jackets.

“I remember seeing Janiel break her nose as a sophomore and then watching her play in the state tournament with a mask on,” Woodin said.

“I was impressed with how hard she continued to compete despite that injury. I started formally recruiting her during her junior year of high school.”

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Though Woodin was unsure if he would lose Olson to the lure of a new adventure away from home at West Point, she ultimately committed to the ‘Jackets and became part of one of the top recruiting classes the veteran coach has ever had. Along with Olson, eventual All-American Kayleen Goggins, Quinn Peoples, Annie DePuydt, and Monica Grimsrud all committed to enter the program as freshmen together in the fall of 2011.

“I had played against Kayleen and Monica before, and the summer before freshman year I played against Annie in the Treasure State Games,” Olson remembered with a smile. “I had this really annoying defender guarding me all game, and I had no idea that it was Annie.

After the game Coach Woodin introduced us and that was the first time we had met.”

Immediately slotting in as a starter in MSUB’s lineup, Olson averaged 8.2 rebounds over 25.9 minutes in her first season while also contributing 6.0 points per game. She never looked back after that, earning honorable mention all-GNAC honors as a sophomore with 9.0 rebounds per game, and then developing into the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year and garnering first-team honors by leading the league with 9.7 rebounds per game as a junior.

“That court out there reveals a totally different person than who I am outside of it,” said Olson. “Getting rebounds requires hard work, and they are something you have to earn. It can be a dirty grind under the hoop, but I love to battle it out down there. I got so tired of being Olson and head coach Kevin Woodin embrace after she exits her final career game at Alterowitz Gym kicked down and told I wasn’t tall enough that I wanted to go in there and prove people on Feb. 13, 2016. wrong.”

INTO THE DARKNESS AND BACK “I didn’t see it happen, I just heard her go down and start screaming. There was no doubt in my mind I needed to be running out onto the court, and I knew what I’d find when I got out there,” – MSUB athletic trainer Lindsay Sullivan on the moment Janiel Olson tore her ACL. On Feb. 20, 2014, Mary and Hal gathered around a computer at their home in Billings to watch the ‘Jackets take on Western Oregon University in an evening GNAC game just as they had done numerous times before.

With the GNAC-leading ‘Jackets well on their way to victory, time wound down in the second half and the teams got set to shake hands at center court.

MSUB athletic trainer Lindsay Sullivan began to pack up her medical kit, assistant coach Jenny Heringer collected the team’s white board and checked her surroundings on the team bench, and Western Oregon’s broadcasters began wrapping up the evening’s game.

Then Mary heard something she’d never heard before. She’d been there for every tear of frustration her daughter had shed as she came back into the house on the losing side of a game of PIG. She’d been there for plenty of screams from the yard when her dad and brother refused to let her win.

But this was different.

“It was the last seconds, and the camera started buffering, and then we heard the scream,” Mary recalled. “I said to Hal, ‘that was Janiel.’”

The game clock read 0.4 seconds for more than 10 minutes, as Sullivan knelt over Olson and tried to breathe some sort of solace into a situation she knew couldn’t be much worse. The Anterior Cruciate Ligament in Olson’s left knee was gone, ripped away in one fell swoop as her season was effectively over.

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The toughest months of Olson’s life awaited her, a time where she would find out what she was truly made of. The ‘Jackets returned home and closed the season with two wins, clinching the GNAC title and cutting down the nets on their home floor at Alterowitz Gym. “I told myself I was going to climb up the ladder and cut my own piece of the net,” Olson said. “I looked down and there were seven people standing around me to make sure I wouldn’t fall. That was really hard because I was at the point where I couldn’t take care of myself at all.”

It was Olson’s first moment of realization that she no longer had the independence that had come to define her as a person. But with the season far from over, Olson was determined to do what she had always done and defy the doubt.

Earning a berth into the NCAA West Region Championships hosted at Cal Poly Pomona, Olson was adamant that she could contribute on the court in the transition phase between her injury and surgery. Inserted into the team’s first game to make a long-court pass in the dying seconds of a victory, Olson tasted accomplishment and for the first time since being hurt felt like she contributed something to the team.

Olson and DePuydt pose with their left-leg knee braces during their recovery from torn ACLs.

In her second appearance however, a bad landing on a rebound attempt worsened her injury as her previously-intact Medial Collateral Ligament had given way leaving her with no ligamentous support in her knee. “Everyone knew that I was playing on an injured knee, and when it happened I tried to scoot myself off the court because I didn’t want people staring at me,” Olson said. “Lindsay and I had a deal that no matter what happened, I would walk off that court.”

Olson’s first week after surgery was a blur. The most basic life skills evaded Olson, and her routine CrossFit workouts and extra shooting sessions couldn’t have felt further out of reach. She knew that if she didn’t handle her recovery the right way, she might never have the chance to play basketball again.

Alterowitz Gym became Olson’s safe haven and prison cell all at the same time. In a world of uncertainty, the only guarantee was that Sullivan, DePuydt – who had also torn her ACL that season – and countless band exercises awaited her on a daily basis.

“As far as meeting expectations, Janiel was here every day for several hours a day,” Sullivan said. “I cannot imagine either her or Annie going through rehab and recovery without one another.”

“Lindsay would come in on holidays, and she was there for me every day,” Olson said. “Half the time I know I wasn’t the prettiest person to be around, but Lindsay was the one person who treated me like I was still the athlete I was before tearing my ACL. She didn’t let me make any excuses or feel bad for myself, even when I was crying or mad.”

While Olson cites the rehabilitation and exhausting exercises as the toughest thing she’s ever had to endure, she was confident that her hard work would result in her returning to the court the following season. When she found out that her body was not going to be ready for the full-on contact in a basketball game, Olson felt her world sucked out from under her once again.

“In September I found out I was going to have to redshirt that season, and it really brought me down,” said Olson. “It became real when the team left for its first road trip of the season and they left me behind. In December I hit rock bottom.”

Never had Olson felt as purposeless as she did while missing her first season ever since she began playing. The full magnitude of her life-changing setback didn’t hit until the Yellowjackets took to the court with No. 22 absent from their lineup.

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“It was actually a sense of relief because deep down I knew she wasn’t ready,” Sullivan commented on the decision for Olson to sit out for the 2014-15 season. “It wasn’t because we didn’t think she could go out and play, but she had spent the last eight months rehabbing, not getting ready to play a basketball game. You can only do so much to prepare for the rigors of what an actual game is going to be like.”

UN-BRACE YOURSELF Nineteen months after picking herself up off of the court at Kellogg Gym in Pomona, Olson played what felt like her first-ever basketball game. Hosting the No. 3 team in the country in Cal Baptist, Olson started and scored one point with seven rebounds in 23 minutes on Nov. 13, 2015 at Alterowitz Gym. There was No. 22, back in the lineup where she was supposed to be, but it was no secret that it wasn’t Janiel Olson. Both legs fully wrapped in neoprene, the sense of hesitation lingered around her every move on the court. “I made it through all of the hard preseason workouts, but when I started playing games, I wasn’t playing like I used to,” said Olson.

Gone was the fearless warrior who laid out for every ball, willing herself to be better than her opponent through sheer toughness. She had done everything Sullivan had prescribed and more, but there was something Olson couldn’t shake that was holding her back.

Olson poses with Sullivan in her first full game in the summer before “After one her senior season. game she sat there in the locker room crying, telling me she needed to do her entire workout routine and more of all her exercises,” Sullivan said. “She said I’m not the same. I told her, ‘Jan, it’s not your leg or body, it’s your head. You need to play your style of game.’”

As the ‘Jackets prepared to host Saint Martin’s University in the first home game of 2016, Olson had a rendezvous with her old coach Katie Smart, who offered up the most simple yet important advice she had received since returning to the court: Lose the brace.

Having been cleared by her doctor and Sullivan to play without the brace, it took an extra push from the latter to force Olson to leave it down in the locker room on game day against the Saints. That night, Olson brought down a career-high 18 rebounds, and averaged a dozen over her next seven games. Janiel was back.

“It was the last thing I needed to do to be as close as I could to the normal player I was before I got hurt,” Olson said regarding removing her brace. “The edge and ferocity came back. I started playing free and things started to change.”

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GO AND GET IT “That’s just the way Janiel is. If you tell her she can’t, she’ll show you she can.” – Hal Olson on his daughter Janiel.

In the time Olson spent recovering from her injury, she managed to complete her bachelor’s degree and has started on MSUB’s master’s program in healthcare administration. Even on the days she felt most vulnerable, she forced herself to go to class and never lost sight of her goals.

On Wednesday Olson will head to Lacey, Wash., for the fourth GNAC Championship tournament of her life. This time, Mary and Hal will be there to watch the last part of their daughter’s career first hand. “It is really neat to see her back playing at the level she’s at now,” Hal said. “The physical part healed up quicker, but the mental side of it was the real issue. For her to come back and now set the school record for rebounding is just a testament to how hard she has worked year-in and year-out.”

Both parents agreed that when they see Olson hit the floor fighting hard for a rebound under the hoop, they can’t help but worry. But every elbow she absorbs and body she collides with is a reminder that there is no obstacle Janiel Olson cannot overcome.

Hal will undoubtedly reminisce this week back to the days of PIG, when Janiel refused to give up and ultimately started beating her dad and brother. “We always told them, if you want something, go and get it,” Hal said proudly. “Both of our kids have been determined to get what they want, and have worked hard to do so.”

Nine hundred and sixty-one times Olson has taken her father’s advice, gone out and gotten the ball after a missed shot. The record-breaking number doesn’t even begin to tell her story.

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Sparks shining bright as Yellowjacket softball pipeline Tuesday, March 8, 2016 With six players on its roster from Sparks, Nev., MSUB’s softball team finds a niche of talent that figures to sustain itself for years to come.

MSUB SPORTS – Take a trip down to the desert in western Nevada and you’ll find one of the unknown softball hotbeds, ridden with college-ready talent.

The fifth-most populated city in the state at 90,000 inhabitants, Sparks is located roughly 15 miles from the border of California, and lies just west of Reno with the Interstate 80 highway cutting right through its center.

It is here that the Montana State University Billings softball team has created a self-sustaining network of athletes who have become fixtures among the Yellowjackets’ roster.

Now serving as interim head coach, Rebekah Gasner has been there since Day 1, assisting in planting the recruiting seeds in an area that has come to yield some of MSUB’s best players. “We are very fortunate to have developed such a strong recruiting base from Nevada,” Gasner said. “It just seems like the young players from that area are prepared for the commitment it takes to play competitive softball at the college level. They understand the importance of buying into the program and the goals we have in front of us.”

Gasner alluded to the six players on MSUB’s roster who call Sparks their hometown, and who have brought a unique culture and diverse skillset into the Yellowjackets’ program.

When now-senior Cori Gammon signed her letter of intent in 2011, she could never have realized that she was beginning a movement that would last for the duration of her collegiate career and beyond. Soon to follow her was Bella Rovens, the two growing from best friends in high school to inseparable now in their final year playing together in college.

The wave continued with MSUB’s 2014 signing class, as Amanda Barham, Myrissa Prince, and Megan Dettling elected to continue their run as teammates by joining the Yellowjackets. Most recently, freshman Vanessa Almario committed to MSUB as the Sparks connection extended to its third class.

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Rovens and Gammon are the team’s soft-spoken leaders, covering ground in center and left field, respectively, as well as any tandem in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Now a sophomore, Barham rotates into the lineup as well and when she’s in right field the sparks literally fly across the outfield grass and around the bases at Avitus Group Stadium.

Entering the program as a freshman under 2015 senior Aubrey Conceicao is arguably the best thing that could have happened to Prince, as she has inherited the role of starting second baseman and will be a fixture there over the next three seasons.

In the circle, Dettling is MSUB’s ace, her reliable right arm holding opposing hitters to an average of just .202 so far this season.

Waiting in the wings is Almario, who is enjoying her first year and figures to be a frontrunner to fill into the outfield during her career.

When any combination of the Sparks stars is on the field together, the unspoken connection they share is apparent. Though they are each excelling now for the Yellowjackets, their journey together began long before suiting up in the navy and gold.

SPANISH-REED WAR

Standing divided: MSUB’s Spanish Springs players (left) stare down their old high school rivals from Edward C. Reed.

“It’s pretty cool and I hope that it continues. I never really thought that Sparks girls were seen that much unless they played over the hill. Now that they have found this pool in Sparks I hope we keep going back to it to give players who aren’t seen as much a chance.” – Bella Rovens on the unlikely discovery of the softball talent pool in Sparks.

Though Rovens and Gammon had different backgrounds for their letter of intent signings – the former at Spanish Springs High School and the latter at Edward C. Reed High – they had developed a close connection by their senior years through playing together on travel ball teams.

As teammates on the Nevada Lightning, Gammon and Rovens quickly discovered the chemistry they had not only as outfielders together, but batting consecutively at the top of their team’s lineup. While Rovens’ job was to get on base for Gammon behind her, the teamwork quickly shifted to animosity when the two began playing against each other in high school.

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“Team and school wise we hated each other, but on the field there were times when Cori would get a hit and I’d have to tell her, ‘good job,’” Rovens commented on the long-standing rivalry between Spanish Springs and Reed. “Our schools went back and forth winning games, but I remember them beating us twice on championship day at regionals to go to the state tournament.”

Gammon only shared the outfield with Rovens during travel ball, but her connection to Prince and Dettling runs much deeper into their childhood days. “My very first travel team was with Megan and Rissa, and all of our dads coached together,” Gammon said. “Megan and I went to the same school, but all the other girls went to our big rival high school.”

Gammon and Dettling as teammates at Reed High (left) and currently with the Yellowjackets (right).

While Dettling and Gammon held the upper hand in the head-to-head series between the schools, Rovens was setting an early example in high school for the players she would call teammates into her college career.

“I always looked up to Bella in high school, and we have both always been outfielders together,” commented Barham. “She is a well-respected player who carries herself well, and I look up to her in that aspect. I hope to become a great leader like she is.”

Setting their high-school loyalty differences aside when it came time to commit to playing in college, Rovens and Gammon were interested in MSUB through the unique opportunity of both being recruited despite playing similar positions. Both entering the program as slap hitters, they couldn’t have predicted that it was just the tip of the iceberg and that many of their high-school and travel-ball teammates would follow suit in coming years.

“It is weird that it has come full circle now, especially since I have known Megan and Rissa since they were nine,” Gammon said. “That’s who I started out with, and when I heard they could be coming here it was kind of surreal. Everyone’s ultimate goal is to end up playing college softball, but it’s amazing we all ended up here in Montana.”

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All of MSUB’s young stars cited the influence of their older teammates on their decision to commit to MSUB, knowing that the transition to life in college would be eased significantly by having familiar faces as teammates. “I remember Bella texting and calling me saying that MSUB was interested,” said Prince. “She was definitely trying to get me to come here. Amanda and I signed together, and it was really nice coming up here knowing my roommate already.”

Almario is the first from Sparks to venture to MSUB without a companion in her graduating class, but agreed with Prince that the connection to the older players has helped dramatically in her adjustment to life away from home as a true freshman. “I just wanted to go to college where I knew some people,” Almario said. “I remember my freshman year of high school I definitely looked up to Bella, because she was the senior center fielder. I knew Myrissa and Amanda coming in and they were a big influence on me too.”

A HOMECOMING, OF SORTS For the past seven seasons MSUB’s schedule has started with the Desert Stinger Classic softball tournament at Majestic Park in Las Vegas. Bringing together the top teams from across the west region, the tournament has become a fixture within Division II softball and provides the chance for the Sparks squad to open the year in front of their families.

“The fact that we host the Stinger is really cool, and it keeps us near home with our parents and family friends,” Rovens said. “Having all of them there and being able to watch us at the beginning of the year is something we are really fortunate to have.”

The eight-hour drive southeast from Sparks to Sin City is no jog in the park, but for many parents it is the best chance to watch their daughters compete. Gasner is quick to point out that the Sparks families have been some of the Yellowjackets’ biggest supporters since the connection began, a promising sign that there’s more where this quality group of athletes came from.

This year’s Stinger is where Gammon and Rovens kicked off their final season together, and have since been one of just two tandems in the GNAC to start all of their team’s games batting in the first two spots in the order (Western Oregon’s Kelsie Gardner and Ryanne Huffman being the other duo).

Through 17 games, Rovens leads the team with 10 runs scored and is second with a .390 on-base percentage. Gammon meanwhile has the most hits on the team with 17, and is batting .321 with nine runs and a perfect 3-for-3 mark in stolen bases.

Sophomore Megan Dettling has developed into MSUB’s key arm in the circle while also being effective as a hitter in the lineup this year.

Prince has taken on her role at second base in stride, ranking second on the team in RBIs (7) and playing perfect defense so far in 51 chances without an error.

Now the team’s most dominant pitcher, Dettling credits Gammon’s family with getting her interested in MSUB’s program. “It all started with Cori’s dad bringing up that their team here needed a pitcher,” Dettling remembered. “That got me interested in MSUB, and coming here knowing people I could trust and have played with since I was nine made the transition easier than it would have been otherwise.”

“Several of our young Sparks players had already seen significant playing time last year as freshmen and were able to experience the postseason atmosphere,” Gasner commented with reference to last year’s run to the Division II west region championship game. “Across the board, I am excited to watch all of our young players excel and I hope to continue recruiting from the Sparks area.”

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BEE THE LEGACY “Every time we go home and people ask us about playing in Montana, we only have positive things to say. They hear and see how much fun we are having up here and it is what they want. People keep coming so they must know we have something good going on up here.” – Myrissa Prince on the Sparks-Billings connection.

In MSUB’s game against Dixie State on Feb. 13, the team’s lineup card featured Rovens, Gammon, Prince, and Dettling batting 1-through-4, with Barham batting ninth to create a series of five consecutive hitters from Sparks. Never before had all five been on the diamond together for the same team, and learning as a unit within the Yellowjacket program has been crucial in their growth as players and people.

“A big thing for us is to make sure people keep having fun playing,” Rovens commented on her leadership role on the team. “Cori is done after this year and I only have one more year, and it just goes by fast. No matter what, we need to make sure we enjoy every second of it and make sure all of us are helping each other enjoy the experience.”

Filling roles today with the ‘Jackets that haven’t changed over the last decade, Rovens bats leadoff and Gammon follows in a one-two punch of speed. Their communication is largely unspoken, often times eye contact on the bases or a Gammon (above) and Rovens were the first two from Sparks to discreet nod of the head signaling exactly what one’s next move will be to the commit to the MSUB program more than four years ago. other.

“We don’t even need to talk,” Gammon said. “I just know the balls she can get to and she knows the ones I can get. I don’t think we have ever had a collision.”

“Bella and Cori have made a significant impact on our program, not only as players but as strong advocates for MSUB softball,” said Gasner. “They truly bought into the program as freshmen, and opened up several avenues of positive communication between us and their younger teammates.”

One of the team’s mantras for the 2015 season is to ‘Bee The Legacy’, a play on words encouraging players to dictate their own futures and take it upon themselves to leave the program in good hands. As a senior leader, this is a concept that Gammon has bought into and focused her energy on achieving. Her scope of influence expands even further than her own team, as other Yellowjacket programs are starting to pick up on the goldmine that Gammon and Rovens introduced four years ago. Alec Leighton and Dakota Tompkins are both Reed High graduates who are freshmen on MSUB’s baseball team, and Zack Lessinger is a freshman in the Yellowjacket men’s basketball program after a four-year prep career at Galena High School in nearby Reno, Nev. “The coolest thing was coming in with my best friend Bella, and we have lived together here all four years,” Gammon said. “We are like family and it is cool that we have been able to have this experience together.”

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Robert runs road rarely reached in career with ‘Jackets Wednesday, March 9, 2016 Putting the finishing touches on a legendary career with the Yellowjackets, senior Robert Peterson owns eight school records and represents his hometown as a star for MSUB. MSUB SPORTS – Robert Peterson entered the 2016 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships with somewhat of a chip on his shoulder.

The Montana State University Billings senior was back at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa, Idaho for the final time in his career, and he wanted to go out with a bang. Two seasons earlier, as a sophomore, Peterson shocked the field and sped to the title in the mile with a school-record time of 4:10.76 on his 21st birthday.

It wasn’t the first hint of brilliance Peterson had displayed in his career, as he was the 2012 GNAC Freshman of the Year during his first-ever cross country season. But when he returned to the banked, blue track as a junior in 2015, the mile title evaded him by less than a second as he finished as the runner up.

“I went into it this year really wanting to win it again, but I also knew there was a lot of good competition,” Peterson commented on this year’s mile championship race. “I think I had a bit of an advantage being the underdog, because I hadn’t run the mile or three-k until the conference meet this year.”

Among the good competition across the conference, Peterson’s top opponent turned out to be David Ribich of Western Oregon, who engaged Peterson in a step-for-step battle into the final straightaway. In an ultimate burst of energy that would make Michael Phelps proud, Peterson leaned across the line and edged his opponent by one one-hundredth of a second.

“My heart was just pounding so fast, and I really didn’t know he was that close to me until the final few steps,” Peterson remembered. “I crossed the line and thought I might have got him, but I wasn’t sure until I saw the scores posted by the clock.”

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When the dust settled Peterson had reclaimed his crown as GNAC Mile Champion, and had broken his own school record in doing so with a time of 4:10.13.

Peterson wasn’t finished there, as he demolished the record once again a week later in Seattle, storming to a berth in the NCAA Division II National Championships with a time of 4:07.67.

It’s the second straight year Peterson will represent MSUB in the national meet, where he claimed United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association second-team All-America honors by finishing 10th in the mile a year ago.

“Physically at this point, there’s not much more I can do, and right now I am mentally strong,” said Peterson. “I am really confident.”

MSUB head cross country and track and field coach Dave Coppock commented last week that Peterson is peaking at the perfect time in the season, improving with each race and setting himself up to be in top form when he competes as the No. 12 seed at the national meet Friday evening in Pittsburg, Kan. The Billings Skyview High School alumnus has ambitions to repeat as an All-American, but hopes to break into the top-8 this season to earn first-team honors. Though Peterson still has the outdoor season to look forward to in the spring, Friday will be the final indoor meet of his collegiate career.

A champion through and through, Peterson has lived through running, letting it take him to his highest points and enduring the dark stretches when it has sucked away his last ounces of energy.

LEG 1 – 1,000 MILES “There was just something about it. It hurt, but I really liked the pain and the atmosphere around it.” – Robert Peterson on falling in love with running as a kid.

Peterson’s competitive year technically starts in mid-August, when the Yellowjackets officially report for fall training for the cross country season.

As a junior in 2014, Peterson raced to a 13th-place finish at the NCAA Division II West Region Championships, as he earned a spot in the national meet which was another program first.

Perhaps the friendly confines of Amend Park in Billings aided Peterson’s finish in the race, as 2014 also marked the first time the Yellowjackets hosted a regional cross country meet. “It was definitely exciting, but I think I was about the last person on the team to find out we were hosting,” Peterson said with a smile. “I hung with the leaders for about five miles, but the last mile I was just in so much pain. I knew I had to hold on, and if I had been 10 seconds slower I wouldn’t have made it (to nationals).”

As a fifth-grader enrolled in his local YMCA track program, Peterson never could have imagined that he would one day represent his hometown university in a national collegiate meet. Striving to reach All-American status with a top-40 finish, Peterson was among the middle of the pack two-thirds of the way through the national meet at Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. But several inches of rain in preceding days had created mud-filled patches throughout the course, and Peterson faded to finish No. 100 in the field of 245 runners.

“Knowing what I know now, I would have changed a few things like how I went out in that race,” Peterson said.

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Shifting his focus to a return appearance at the nationals in the fall of 2015, Peterson ramped up his training to an unprecedented level in the eyes of Coach Coppock. “I could see him start to move up to a national scale after his second year,” Coppock said. “The first indication he could run at a national level was when he won the mile at the GNAC indoor meet in 2014. I knew the next couple of seasons that the focus was going to be on getting him to nationals, whether that was in cross country or track.”

Peterson tore through Billings in the fall, covering more ground than any of the other 100,000-plus human beings inhabiting Montana’s largest city.

Single runs could extend to as much as 20 miles, and Peterson strived to break 100 miles in a week for his workouts. “There is just something about triple digits,” Peterson said. “I was hitting 90-mile weeks last year, but I just had to go for 100 this year.”

Averaging 14-15 miles per day, Peterson had covered 1,000 miles in workouts alone leading up to the GNAC Championships hosted by Western Washington University on Oct. 24. Peterson was in the best shape of his life, but warning signs emerged that he was pushing himself to the limit of what his body could handle.

Despite running a school-record time of 30:15.08 in the 10-kilometer west region championship meet at Ash Creek Preserve on the campus of Western Oregon University, Peterson finished in 13th place and narrowly missed a return berth to the national meet last fall.

The disappointment was difficult to handle at first, as Peterson had been determined to have a better showing at the national meet. He settled for a USTFCCCA All-Region medal for the second year in-a-row, and shifted his focus towards the indoor track and field season that lay ahead.

LEG 2 – FROM GRASS AND HILLS TO TRACK MEET THRILLS Peterson’s reclamation of the GNAC mile title on Feb. 20 was the latest reminder that his ramped-up training regimen this year was still effective, although it was his leg in the Yellowjackets’ distance medley relay race that was perhaps the most exciting of the weekend.

In the most unique race at the meet, the DMR features legs of 1,200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters, and 1,600 meters layered in that order. Naturally slotted in to anchor the race with the longest distance, Peterson awaited his turn to receive the baton after Josh Panasuk, Landon Polkow, and Liam McKay made their way through their respective distances.

Entering the race with the goal of a top-3 finish, Peterson knew he could achieve that feat as he picked up the baton and saw the backs of Simon Fraser University and Alaska Anchorage with a generous head start. “I wasn’t anticipating winning, but I was still going to do the best I could and try to get a school record,” Peterson said.

Then it got interesting.

The one advantage Peterson had running the longest leg of the race laid within the significant amount of time he had to make up the gap between him and his opponents. With three laps to go Peterson could read the school names printed on the backs of his opponents’ jerseys. As the bell ringing signaled the final lap, Peterson could hear the rustle of his opponents’ numbers as they battled the four safety pins holding them into place on the front of their jerseys.

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Flying around the final corner, Peterson knew he was the strongest of the three and took the race into his own hands. He strode across the finish line, simultaneously helping the ‘Jackets capture the team title and break a school record. “That was really cool because it was MSUB’s first time winning that race at the conference meet,” Peterson said. “Everyone on the team did what they needed to do, and everyone pushed through and fought for it.”

The record-breaking time of 10:06.41 by MSUB’s DMR team was unique in that it was one of the few races that truly involved direct teamwork rather than individual achievement. While each individual athlete in a meet has the chance to contribute points to his or her team, it took a combination of the four to claim the top prize and all-conference honors in one of the highlights of the season for the ‘Jackets.

MSUB’s 2016 GNAC Champion Distance Medley Relay Team (from left) Josh Panasuk, Landon Polkow, Liam McKay, and Robert Peterson.

THREE SPORT ATHLETE While most sports feature distinct seasons and off-seasons, the practice and preparation doesn’t vary greatly depending on the time of year.

In baseball, teams work on hitting in the off-season, and hitting during the season in the week of a game. Basketball players put shots up all summer in preparation for the season, and then put up even more shots after practice in the fall.

Exercises and workouts vary throughout the year, but no athletes, with the exception of runners, quite experience the rigors of being in season for the entirety of an academic year and having to shift the focus of training constantly throughout. For Peterson, there is no off-season. Cross country hands off to indoor track and field, and by the time he returns from the indoor championships he’ll have less than two weeks until MSUB’s first outdoor meet.

Additionally, Peterson’s currency of 100-mile weeks is not accepted by the banking institution of track and field, which requires more focused and intense, shorter-interval training.

“Now that it is track season I am running faster, but I am only putting in 65-70 miles per week,” Peterson said. “I went from long runs up to 20 miles to now maybe going one mile at the most.”

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Peterson’s training varies from day-to-day, as Coppock guides him through a sequence of hard starts out of the gate to a more measured pace to achieve. “The success he saw starting his sophomore year really motivated him to keep training hard, and he has bought into what I wanted him to do,” Coppock said. “He trains constantly all year long, moving his mileage up and putting in big training even in the summer. He has gotten stronger every year as a result of that.”

On top of his school records in cross country in the 8k and 10k, and in indoor track in the mile and 3,000 meter races, Peterson also holds MSUB’s records in the outdoor 1,500 meter and 5,000 meter races. While his current focus is on performing well at the indoor championships this weekend, Peterson is also looking ahead to the outdoor season with ambitions to continue to turn heads.

“For outdoor I just hope we can come together as a team, and do what we always do at the conference meet – surprise everyone,” said Peterson.

“We are kind of at the back of peoples’ minds and then we get there and show them what we are made of.”

RUN BOB, RUN “He has lifted our program to a higher level and set a much higher standard for us.

Instead of looking at making it to a conference championship, we are now looking to qualify people for nationals. The team can see now that it’s possible to move up to that next level, and Robert has paved the way for that.” MSUB head coach Dave Coppock on senior Robert Peterson.

Coppock had known about Peterson by the time he reached his senior year at Skyview, but wasn’t convinced he had the potential to develop into much more than a strong runner in MSUB’s program. When he graduated high school, Peterson’s best mile was around 4:30, and Coppock knew that it would take determination and a high-octane work ethic for him to cut his time down to a competitive level.

Peterson came through with flying colors.

“By his sophomore year he started to emerge as a leader, and the rest of the team saw what they could do and bought into that level of dedication,” Coppock said. “Now, he’s not only going to nationals, but wants to compete well and go beyond just making the cut.”

Take a drive down Rimrock Road on any given afternoon and chances are you’ll catch a glimpse of Peterson striding through another lengthy workout. While it’s impossible to say what he’s thinking during that run, it would be safe to guess the memory of his six-mile run on the first day of practice in high school that brought him to his knees flashes through his mind.

The remnants of stress fractures and shin splints that forced him to redshirt in his freshman season at MSUB still linger, and the motivation to return to the team after sitting out is a chip he still carries.

The look of calmness on his face as he clips along at a pace unmatched by any other Yellowjacket past or present, eyes almost closed and head tilted slightly back as his body shifts to auto-pilot.

The sense of accomplishment after overcoming initial doubt that he wasn’t good enough to compete in college or at MSUB. The sense that he has become one of the greatest athletes in the school’s history, and the path his sneakers carve will remain boundless as his legacy lives on permanently.

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At third, Durbin is invaluable leader for Yellowjackets Thursday, March 10, 2016 Entering MSUB’s program last season as a transfer, senior third baseman Kyle Durbin has a profound impact on the Yellowjackets through his soft-spoken, lead-by-example mentality.

MSUB SPORTS – The first time Kyle Durbin ever spiked the dirt at the hot corner was in February of 2015, as he occupied the leadoff spot in the batting order for the Montana State University Billings baseball team in a road game at Dixie State University.

Having played shortstop his whole life – including his first seven games of the year for the Yellowjackets – Durbin was being asked to make yet another adjustment. In his first year with the ‘Jackets, Durbin had transferred in as a junior from the College of Eastern Utah and was being called upon by MSUB head coach Rob Bishop to slot in as a leader immediately.

“Any time we recruit a transfer student we expect them to contribute right away,” Bishop said. “Kyle was no exception to this rule. I felt like he was a guy who would give us good at bats and be solid defensively, and he has definitely lived up to both of those expectations.”

Having bonded with fellow junior transfer Corey Morris throughout the fall, the switch of positions for Durbin was made easier by Morris slotting in next to him at shortstop. “It was nice because Corey is my best friend and we had that communication on the left side of the infield,” Durbin commented on the switch. “It wasn’t a hard transition, and the coaches did a really good job helping me with it.”

Jump ahead to his senior year, and Durbin is playing as well as he ever has for the ‘Jackets through 11 games. He has had multiple fielding chances in nine of MSUB’s games, and has handled all 29 total without making an error so far this season. On top of that, Durbin is batting .429 over his last six games and has struck out just twice in that time span.

He is one of four senior infielders, holding down the left side with Morris while Colter Sternhagen and Kevin Toon are around the horn at second base and first base, respectively. “We still chatter, but for the most part everything goes without being said,” Morris commented on the seniors.

“Kyle doesn’t say much, but he knows when to say the important things. All of the younger players look up to him.”

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Though his time at MSUB has been short, Durbin has already established himself as a leader, and has experienced previously unreached achievements such as the ‘Jackets winning last season’s Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season title.

The decision to cut out of football and basketball as a junior at Skyline High School in Idaho Falls, Idaho was arguably the best thing Durbin could have done to excel as a baseball player, and now he’s enjoying the best years of his life as a standout at MSUB. COLLEGE BASEBALL? “Kyle Durbin grabs it, steps on second, throws to first, and that’s one, two, three outs,” – ESPN SportsCenter anchor John Buccigross describing Kyle Durbin’s triple play to the wide world of sports on Feb. 8, 2015.

Mention early February to most baseball fans and they’ll think little more than a time when pitchers and catchers are beginning to rise from hibernation and get set to report to Spring Training.

But by the first week of the month, college baseball teams across the country are already into action, a notion that caught ESPN anchor John Buccigross by surprise as he navigated through the SportsCenter Top-10 plays of the day on Feb. 8, 2015.

“College baseball?” Buccigross started play No. 9 with, his voice inflection rising as he questioned the fact that games were already starting.

Durbin didn’t witness Buccigross’s call live, his phone’s battery depleted on the long bus ride back from MSUB’s four-game series at Colorado State University – Pueblo. It wasn’t until the ‘Jackets came to a stop back in Billings and Durbin plugged his phone into his car charger that he quickly found out he had been featured on the most famous sports program in the world after turning a triple play in that day’s game.

Baseball has a habit of turning goats into heroes and vice versa in the blink of an eye, as Durbin commented that he failed to fully grasp the triple play in the moment it happened because he was still thinking about striking out with the bases loaded four innings earlier.

“At about 3 a.m. our assistant coach Austin Rue came back to me on the bus and told me that I had just been on SportsCenter,” said Durbin. “I had forgotten about the play and I didn’t believe him at first. When I plugged my phone in later I had messages from all these people I hadn’t talked to in forever. It was definitely cool, it’s every athlete’s dream to make it onto SportsCenter.”

The ever-rare triple play itself happened in the sixth inning, as runners stood on first and second and then-shortstop Durbin crept forward in anticipation of the pitch. By the time the low line drive to his left reached him, baseball second-nature kicked in. The flight of the ball carried Durbin directly to the bag at second base, upon which touching he threw on to Toon at first. One, fluid motion, an act of art that happened so quickly and effortlessly that had Toon not reacted as if he’d just caught the final out of the World Series, Durbin may not have realized his achievement.

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BUILDING A CHAMPION “It was huge in that he had never seen me play and he put that kind of trust in me by offering me this spot. One of his strengths is that he doesn’t expect guys to change when they get here. That’s why we are as successful as we are.” – Senior Kyle Durbin on MSUB head coach Rob Bishop.

Upon finishing his high-school career, Durbin elected to navigate the junior college route and focus on skill development for the next two years. Although he had visited with Bishop before making his decision to go to Utah, he knew that after two seasons he’d have to decide on a college to relocate to.

When the phone call from Bishop came, Durbin was in the midst of moving home from school. The opportunity to become a Yellowjacket was one he had been waiting for, and it was an easy decision to commit. “All of my relatives live here in Billings, and when Coach Bishop called me it was pretty exciting,” Durbin said. “I don’t think he knows this, but I had a couple of other schools looking at me too, but they never had a chance. When he called it was a done deal.”

Bishop knew his 2015 squad could be competitive, but to fight for a shot at a GNAC title he needed to hit the jackpot with players who combined experience and the maturity required to be immediate contributors in a new setting. With the commitment of Durbin, Morris, and right-handed pitcher Tanner Johnson, Bishop felt he had the pieces he needed to complement his already-talented roster led by the likes of Miller, Luke Reinschmidt, and Toon.

“You can say anything you want about leadership and leaders in general, but rule number one is that you must lead by example,” Bishop said.

“Kyle is great in this area. At the end of the day, you want to have great people in your program, and Kyle is a great example of what a student-athlete should be at this level.”

Durbin’s ability to pick up with the ‘Jackets in stride is a function of how he was raised and the coaching he received in his career leading up to MSUB. In high school, Brian Moses spent one season with the Grizzlies and Durbin credits him with taking his defensive game to the next level.

Joldy Watts, one of Durbin’s coaches while playing American Legion baseball, not only helped him develop and fine-tune his game, but led Durbin to his own alma mater at Eastern Utah. Durbin credits Watts with making his dreams of playing college baseball turn into a reality, as the former Texas Rangers minor leaguer provided a boost in confidence that pushed Durbin to pursue a college career.

Upon reaching the Yellowjackets, Durbin was reunited with fellow Idahoan Casey Merritt, and Belgrade, Mont., native Johnson who he had played against during his prep career.

Little did he know that the ‘Jackets were destined for their first-ever GNAC title and first winning season since baseball had been restored prior to the 2006 season. After last year’s taste of success Durbin is confident MSUB is bound for a repeat this season.

“If we can come together and all handle our business, we feel like we have a chance to be better than we were last year,” Durbin said. “We want to win the regular season and the conference tournament, and we would like to get a regional bid. We have already competed against Dixie State and teams of that nature, and if we continue to roll towards the end of the season we feel like we can make some serious noise.”

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RETURN TO NAMPA “I’ve tried to shadow him and his leadership capabilities since I was young. I’ve watched Kyle a lot, and he’s the type of teammate and person I want to be. When people think of Kyle, they’ll think of how good of a leader he is.” – Freshman Scott Allison on long-time teammate Kyle Durbin.

As the Yellowjackets head to Durbin’s home state this weekend to take on Northwest Nazarene University in a four-game GNAC series, the senior will have plenty to be excited about.

Vail Baseball Field is the site where the ‘Jackets swept the Crusaders in four games a season ago, kicking off a remarkable run of 20 wins in their final 25 games that ultimately led to the conference crown.

Durbin was huge in last season’s series, as he had game-winning, two-run doubles in each of the first two victories. Representing more than just wins on MSUB’s schedule, Durbin’s hits helped Bishop capture the 500th win of his career, a figurative tip of the cap from Durbin to his skipper signifying the latter had struck gold with his recruiting.

In the final game at NNU last year, Durbin hit the first home run of his life, a two-run shot that put an exclamation point on an 8-0 win.

The circumstances couldn’t be better for Durbin to continue his current hot streak at the plate, and younger players like freshman catcher Scott Allison will look up to him as an example to model their careers after. “My first thought was that he never did anything flashy, but he has been the glue of every team that he’s been on,” Allison said on being teammates with Durbin since their days together at Skyline High. “I think that’s why he has had a lot of success in his career. He has been a good teammate his whole life.”

“I’m not a very vocal guy, but I just like to think I handle my business the right way,” Durbin said. “I always put in effort and get extra work in, and I hope Scott sees that.”

Beyond competing in four big conference games this weekend, Durbin will get to play in front of his family as Nampa is the closest stop to his home town the ‘Jackets are in all season. Though he may not say it, the chance to compete close to his roots may be Durbin’s favorite part of the road trip to NNU. He’ll remember the days of playing two basketball games during the week, football on Friday nights, and heading down to Utah for four baseball games on Saturday and Sunday. Durbin’s father, Bob, will be in attendance, recalling his son naturally gripping the bat left handed and throwing the ball right handed as a kid – a baseball parent’s dream. From coaching Kyle in travel ball and the time when his son almost gave up the game at age 13, Bob has always been there with words of encouragement and advice.

“We talk all the time, and he has been at every series this year,” Durbin commented on his father. “He’s competitive the same way that I am, and it is just our nature. I have to give thanks to him, because he has always made time to make sure I got extra swings in. He’s still got that effect on me, and has a presence to help me get out of my own head. If it wasn’t for him, I definitely wouldn’t be in the place I am now.”

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Fine Toon-ed approach: Yellowjacket senior a rock at first base, in lineup Thursday, March 17, 2016 Holding one of the most disciplined approaches in the entire conference, Yellowjacket senior first baseman Kevin Toon has become an anchor in MSUB’s lineup and defensively at first base.

MSUB SPORTS – The first start that Kevin Toon earned as a field player for the Montana State University Billings baseball team, he took the field as the Yellowjackets’ shortstop on March 3, 2014 in a game against Concordia University in Portland, Ore. Fresh into the program after transferring from Walla Walla Community College, Toon had the familiarity of former Yellowjackets Jake Campeau and Conner Holbrook on the mound and catching respectively. The three had been playing ball together since their little league days in Walla Walla, Wash., and all had elected to transfer to MSUB along with twin brothers Brett Christina and Drew Christina after two years at their hometown college.

In the fourth inning, Toon fed a ground ball to second baseman Brody Miller for the second out, and ultimately fielded the ball for the final time in his collegiate career as a shortstop. Shoulder surgery to repair an arm injury after Toon’s senior year of high school not only forced him to redshirt his freshman year at WWCC, but it compromised his strength and ability to play the position he had grown up through his whole life.

It soon became clear that MSUB head coach Rob Bishop needed to have Toon in the lineup, meaning that a defensive position change was inevitable. Toon played the next handful of games at second base, before sliding over as the team’s first baseman in the final stretch of the 2014 season.

Toon wound up batting .348 as a sophomore, with 10 doubles and 28 RBIs, and he was picked as a first-team all-Great Northwest Athletic Conference selection. He hasn’t played any position but first base since, and the transition has worked out better than the ‘Jackets or Toon could have hoped for.

As a junior Toon set an MSUB record for putouts in a season with 327, and made just two errors for a fielding percentage of .994. Now as a senior, Toon has picked up where he left off, having handled 115 chances at first base without an error and pushing his career fielding percentage to .993. On top of that, Toon is a career .312 hitter and has become an integral part of MSUB’s lineup.

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Standing at 6-foot-2, Toon had the natural size to excel as a ballplayer. His path to becoming one of the key figures on the defending GNAC Champion Yellowjackets started long before he towered above his peers however, as his gift of athleticism runs deeper within his family roots.

IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY The common thread bringing Tim and Beth Toon together was a passion for volleyball, the sport each excelled at in college. Both played at the Division I level, with Beth playing at Rice University in Texas and Tim at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo.

“That was one of the best experiences of my life, getting to compete at that level,” Beth said. “I had played sports my entire life, and volleyball was the sport I could see myself continuing with at the collegiate level.”

Tim was introduced to Beth while the latter was finishing up her career as a player, as he began taking the first steps towards what would be a 30-year Toon triumphantly holding his first-ever baseball bat, a gift from his career as a collegiate coach. The recent decision to step away and retire from grandmother Pat on his third birthday. coaching has given Tim perspective as his son’s baseball career winds down, as he can now fully appreciate Kevin’s passion for the game of baseball.

“I had difficulty being a dad sometimes, because I would treat him more like a college athlete,” Tim recalled. “I also think there were some benefits, and Kevin was just a gym rat. He got to hang out with a lot of college athletes growing up and my players were always good to him.”

Toon’s love for baseball was sparked well before he began attending his father’s college volleyball practices, as he recalls a gift from his grandmother Pat Shirk on his third birthday that wound up being the first hint of his destiny on the diamond. “She gave me this baseball bat,” Toon said with a smile. “You could tell I was in love with (the game) from the start.”

From there, Toon spent countless hours wrestling Tim’s custom-thrown ground balls into control and signaling to his father he enjoyed it by stinging his palm with a return throw. By the time Toon reached high school, he was a dual sport athlete as he stood out in basketball and baseball. “I played basketball as well but baseball was always my focus,” Toon said. “Whenever I could, I was picking up a baseball and working on that.”

With his father coaching at Walla Walla CC, Toon knew he would fit in well and transition naturally into the college game if he stayed close to home. He had also fostered a relationship with Warriors baseball head coach Dave Meliah, who had spent time in the minor leagues in the Texas Rangers’ organization. “When I was about 10 Dave gave me one of his minor league gloves,” Toon remembered. “That really helped fuel my passion for the game.”

Tim recalls summer days when Meliah would lend his arm to Kevin, the two playing catch as yet another positive influence made his mark on Toon’s development as a player. Though Toon had to sit out for a year when he finally got to play under Meliah, his father recognized that the time away from the game helped him gain perspective.

“We thought Walla Walla was a great place for Kevin to start, and it turned out to be a great time for him to mature,” Tim said. “It’s also an awesome bonus that he got to play three years at MSUB instead of two.”

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IN TOON WITH HIS APPROACH “Kevin is one of the guys who has bought in one-hundred percent to our offensive philosophy. He sees more pitches than any guy in our lineup, and because of that he gets the maximum out of each at bat.” – MSUB head coach Rob Bishop on Kevin Toon’s approach at the plate.

Through the first 16 games of his senior season, Toon is batting .321 and has adopted the crucial role of cleanup hitter as he protects Yellowjacket three-hitter Luke Reinschmidt. Toon possesses a patience at the plate that is envied by most, and a confidence and trust in his ability as a hitter that is matched by few.

Digging into the batter’s box further away from the plate than most other Yellowjackets, Toon believes in his opposite-field approach and ability to cover any part of the plate in any count. When Toon faces a count with two strikes, he reaches base at an absurd clip of .370 (10-for-27), which is more than 100 points higher than the average mark for the Yellowjackets (.258). “I look forward to hitting with two strikes, and I’m just trying to do what’s best for the team,” Toon said. “There are certain counts you should be aggressive in, but a lot of time you just need to be patient and wait until you get a good pitch. I just try to get on base for the guys behind me.”

Not only does Toon excel when hitting with two strikes, but when he manages to work a count to three balls (which he has done in 42 percent of his plate appearances this year), there’s a 66.7 percent chance he’ll reach base (18-for-27). Toon’s on-base percentage of .473 leads the GNAC this season, and he’s on pace to challenge the GNAC single-season walks record of 52 (Andrew Elke, Saint Martin’s, 2010).

In MSUB’s first game of the season, Toon had a two-out, two-run double in the ninth inning that helped seal a 3-0 victory over Holy Names University. He set the tone with the first RBI in a 10-5 win on Feb. 14, and kept MSUB alive with an RBI-double in the seventh inning of a 6-5, extra inning win on Feb. 20.

“Kevin leads by example, and he is a guy that everyone on our team wants at the plate in a big spot,” Bishop said. “Transitioning to first base after his injuries, he has made a big impact on our defense as well. He is a very instinctual player and gets the most out of his talent.”

When Toon went 0-for-4 in the Yellowjackets’ first game against the Crusaders last weekend, he snapped an 18-game hitting streak that dated back to the end of last season. It was the third-longest streak in MSUB history, and tied for the ninth-longest in GNAC history.

Reflecting on his son’s accomplishments, Tim is quick to recognize the decision to move Toon to first base as being crucial in getting the most out of him. “I really appreciate Coach Bishop’s vision to move him to first base, because he is just way too good a player to throw away because of arm issues,” Tim said. “I’ve seen a lot of coaches in my day, and I love his gentle demeanor, confidence in his players, and I really appreciate his approach to the game.”

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TRIPLE PLAYS, DOG PILES, UNFINISHED BUSINESS “I’ve won championships before, but this was the most special. Considering where the program was before that and how we had to fight to come back made it unique.”

– Kevin Toon on last season’s run to the Yellowjackets’ first-ever GNAC title.

When MSUB boarded its bus to Nampa, Idaho last season for a four-game series at Northwest Nazarene University, the team held a record of 7-16 and was coming off back-to-back losing series that put their conference mark at 2-5. The ‘Jackets needed a defining event to alter the course of their season quickly, something to bring the team together.

Halfway to Idaho, the team bus broke down and MSUB was re-routed on a yellow school bus. The seemingly-crammed regular team bus quickly felt like a lost luxury, as players jammed together two to a seat. “That really helped our team chemistry,” Toon said. “We were miserable together squished on a bus, but when we got there we played as a team.”

In some ways, what happened next makes it surprising that Bishop didn’t arrange for yellow bus travel for the remainder of the season. The ‘Jackets swept the Crusaders in four games, kicking off a run of 20 wins in their final 25 games that led to the GNAC title. It was an unlikely finish to a year that started off with a 1-9 record, as MSUB captured its first winning season (27-23) since baseball had been restored in the 2006 season. “It was definitely a rough start to the year, but we knew deep down we had a team with the ability to go on a run,” Toon said. “We never lost confidence in our coaches, players, or the team we were all together.”

Another defining moment came later on in the year against the Crusaders, with the ‘Jackets leading 16-8 in the ninth inning with the bases loaded and no outs. As Toon watched Miller snag a line drive, he knew there was a chance to double off the runner on first. “As soon as Brody caught it, I was screaming for him to throw it to me,” Toon remembered.

But Miller turned to his right, firing a quick release to shortstop Corey Morris at second base. The instant the ball landed in Toon’s glove on the return throw, the game was over. He had just caught the final out of a triple play for the second time that season, as he was also on the receiving end of Kyle Durbin’s throw to complete the rare feat the first weekend of the year. “I was holding my breath when Brody threw it to second, and for me that one was more exciting,” Toon said. “When someone showed the first one to me on the bus later, it was cool to hear, ‘Montana State Billings’ on ESPN. That definitely got us on the map.”

Toon is one of four seniors around MSUB’s infield this season, as he is on the receiving end of almost every assist out of the hands of Durbin at third, Morris at shortstop, and Colter Sternhagen at second. Five hundred and six putouts into his career, Toon is third in MSUB history and is well on pace to top the school record of 623 held by Blake Loran.

In Toon’s eyes, what he’s accomplished individually in just two-plus years with the ‘Jackets is a result of putting his best foot forward for the team.

“I don’t really have any individual goals this year, we just want to win another GNAC title,” Toon said. “We want to put ourselves into a position to go to a regional, and there is no better feeling than dogpiling at the end of the year.”

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DEPUTY IN THE MAKING “He has always been a goal setter. From the time he was little he’d set some sort of goal that he wanted to achieve. I was always amazed that he’d achieve it.” – Beth Toon on her son Kevin’s remarkable drive and determination.

Toon will graduate on Saturday May 7, the day after the final regular-season game on MSUB’s schedule. As he receives his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, Toon is convinced that he and his teammates will have more baseball to play, with the GNAC tournament scheduled for the following weekend at the site of the regular season champion.

Regardless of when he plays his final career game with the ‘Jackets, Toon is already ahead of the game in solidifying his career path. With ambitions of becoming a sheriff’s deputy, Toon plans to move back to the West Coast and begin his career in Oregon. “I knew baseball would end someday, so I had to find a passion for something else,” Toon said. “I had an internship with the Walla Walla Police Department, and Captain Chris Buttice really helped me find that passion and develop it.”

What stood out most as Kevin’s mother Beth reflected on her son’s life as a ballplayer was his undeniable determination to maximize his potential and use his natural tools to succeed. “His senior year in high school, he said to me one day, ‘I really want our Toon batted .552 win an on-base percentage of .619 as a team to go to the state tournament, and I’m going to hit .500, and I’m going to be the player of the year in the conference,” Beth said. “And then he did it, and I couldn’t senior at WWHS, and was named the Big Nine Player of the Year. believe it. He has always done that.”

From his first bat his grandmother gifted him, to his remarkable senior year of high school, to his first – and last – game at shortstop for the ‘Jackets, Toon has matured into a staple in MSUB’s lineup. The Yellowjackets open their 2016 home schedule at Dehler Park this weekend, fittingly for Toon, against Concordia. He’ll be at a new position and has 100 more hits than he had the last time the Cavaliers saw him, but he’s still the same determined, dynamic, even-keeled Kevin Toon.

That’s how he’s always been.

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Haley Rowe catches on quickly as beloved backstop for ‘Jackets Friday, March 18, 2016 In just her second season, Yellowjacket softball senior Haley Rowe has grown into a universally-respected leader as the team’s starting catcher.

MSUB SPORTS – There’s something Montana State University Billings softball senior Haley Rowe has always enjoyed about catching.

The command entrusted to the catcher as the field general, and ability to handle a team’s pitching staff stick out as the obvious necessities for the position. “It has always felt like an important role to me,” Rowe said. “I’m happy that I stuck with it and it’s what I really get to focus on here.”

Rowe is in her second season with the Yellowjackets after transferring from Williston State College in North Dakota, and has been handed crucial responsibility as the team’s senior leader behind the plate. Being one of just three seniors on the team this season has necessitated Rowe breaking out of her shell and becoming a leader, and she has carried the task of guiding the pitching staff and younger players well.

Now as Rowe and the ‘Jackets prepare to open their 2016 home season on Saturday at Avitus Group Stadium against Saint Martin’s University, her family’s presence will remind her she’s happy with her decision to transfer to MSUB. A Great Falls, Mont., native, Rowe’s parents Rhonda and Paul Rowe are Eastern Montana College alumni and have since relocated to Billings in time for their daughter’s final year of college softball.

“It’s amazing to be a Montana player at MSUB, because it shows people that you can go on to play college softball if you’re from Montana,” Rowe said. “It’s just great to be a part of the town I grew up in, and on a team that I watched play in the past.”

From calling pitches to cutting down potential base stealers, Rowe has lived through catching throughout her career and has set the stage for the next generation of Yellowjacket backstops for years to come.

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BACK TO BILLINGS Originally growing up in Billings, Rowe became acquainted with the athletic programs at a young age through her exposure to Yellowjacket volleyball and basketball camps from her parents. Learning the ropes in everything from hockey, football, and basketball, Rowe was determined to keep up with her older brother Logan’s exploration of different sports.

“I started playing teeball and then after little league I got into ASA softball around age 12,” Rowe remembered referring to her first Amateur Softball Association club travel ball team. “ASA really got me started into being more competitive with it.”

Rowe’s father urged her to stick with catching, despite her desire to try pitching and playing shortstop. Paul recognized from a young age that his daughter had a strong arm and was quick with the ball. Most importantly, he knew that she was tough enough to handle the most physically grueling defensive position on the diamond.

“His confidence in me really narrowed it down and made me feel like I was good enough to be a catcher,” Rowe said. “When I got to high school and lettered my freshman year, I started to think, ‘hey I’m pretty good at this.’”

By her junior season, Rowe was apprehensive in continuing her softball career after high school, when Charles M. Russell High School brought in a new head softball coach in Lindsey Graham. The North Dakota State University alum immediately began shifting the culture of the program, and turned players like Rowe into certified college prospects.

“She took me aside and told me I could do bigger, greater things if I continued with softball,” Rowe said on Graham. “She told all of us that this could be a future and that if we kept working hard good things could happen. She really believed in me that I could keep playing and that was very influential in my choice to continue playing softball.”

Rowe soon garnered an offer to play at Williston State, where she put Graham’s advice into practice and gained two years of valuable college experience. By the time MSUB came calling after her sophomore season, Rowe was ready to get back to her roots and step up to the NCAA Division II level with the Yellowjackets.

ROWE’S THROWS “Softball taught me to be strong and confident in my abilities, and to be very disciplined. It taught me to treat others with respect, and has made me an outgoing, confident, and allaround good person.” – Haley Rowe on how softball has shaped her.

Though she was limited in playing time behind 2015 senior Brittney Sanders, Rowe has inherited the starting role as a senior this season. Rowe’s patience and understanding of last year’s situation with Sanders as the regular starter stood out to MSUB head coach Rebekah Gasner, who recognized that Rowe had the maturity and mindset to one day make the position her own. “Although Haley didn’t see as much playing time as she would have liked, she played a crucial role in our success last season,” Gasner said. “She knew and accepted her role at that time and never once complained. At the end of last season, I knew she was more than ready to take over as a senior catcher and leave her stamp on our program.”

Not surprisingly, Rowe has adapted quickly and handled the task of becoming a leader well, explaining that her competitive drive pushed her to make the role as a starter hers.

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Playing 17 games behind the plate this season, only one player in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference has thrown out more runners than Rowe’s number of five (Simon Fraser’s Katherine Murnaghan, 8). Coach Gasner credits Rowe’s quick transfer and ability to throw from her knees as key skills that have led to her success in cutting down baserunners.

Not many defensive situations have the potential to shift a game’s momentum, and a catcher throwing out a runner ranks towards the top among double plays or an outfielder nailing a speedster trying to advance. It is one of the moments Rowe longs for and plans her entire approach around. “In my mind, I’m just thinking that I have to catch everything, release, and throw if I see her going,” Rowe said regarding situations with a fast runner on base. “You just have to believe in your mind that you can throw out anyone who tries to steal. It is a great feeling when you get that speedy runner out, and you can tell it creates an excitement among your teammates.”

Rowe’s leadership characteristics began developing in her time at Williston State, as she was called upon quickly to step up as a freshman on the squad. Being tested right away has helped her naturally fit in with the ‘Jackets, and her teammates have come to fully trust Rowe with calling the shots behind the plate. “Being with this group of girls is nice, and they are a great support system,” Rowe said. “When one of my teammates makes an amazing play I get pretty pumped. It makes me happy that I continued playing softball.”

COACHING THE CATCHING CORE “Haley is extremely personable, so our younger catchers are very comfortable seeking her advice. With any young player, they are looking for someone to show them the ropes, and I think Haley is a positive influence on them.” – MSUB head coach Rebekah Gasner on senior catcher Haley Rowe.

Catch a glimpse of one of MSUB’s practices and you’d never guess Rowe is not even two years into her MSUB career. As the players separate into their positional groups to work on defensive exercises, the senior confidently corrals the catching contingency and calls commands out to the group.

One of four catchers on the team this season, Rowe is the lone returner as freshmen Madison Kelly and Jackie Preciado, and junior transfer Katie Jackson have looked to Rowe for advice and leadership. “I like having someone older to look up to, and to learn new catching skills that I can use in the future,” Kelly said. “Haley is a really hard worker, and I know I need to work that hard to potentially be a starting catcher.”

Rowe’s approach to leading the younger catchers hinges on her open, calm attitude, displaying her commitment to ensuring the program is left in good hands upon her departure at the end of the season. From catching-specific advice to treating all her teammates with respect, Rowe believes she is displaying the traits that her successors will need to possess during their careers as Yellowjackets.

While Rowe has gained the trust of her fellow catchers, the fate of MSUB’s pitching staff is often times in her hands as well. No player or coach has quite the impact that Rowe can have in terms of influencing a pitcher’s mindset when she’s in the circle.

Particularly, the bond Rowe has fostered with fellow senior and right-handed pitcher Amanda Roark extends well beyond the pitches Rowe calls.

“It’s awesome having her there because she knows my pitches so well and she’s very good at helping me fix things,” Roark said. “I love pitching to her because we mesh well. Haley is very down to earth and cares about everyone. She does her best to help the team and support them, and she always stands up for all of her teammates.”

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Having been a Yellowjacket pitcher herself, Gasner understands the importance of having a reliable catcher who can adapt to a variety of different pitchers. “Haley is a very calm, laid back person and has done a great job building strong relationships with our pitching staff,” Gasner said.

“Having a close pitcher-catcher relationship is vital to the success of the pitcher and our team as a whole.”

In addition to holding one of the top fielding percentages on the team at .963, Rowe has shown flashes of potential at the plate as well. On Feb. 12 against Cal Baptist, Rowe launched her first career home run with MSUB. SERVING A BIGGER PURPOSE Known to her teammates as ‘Hay Row’, Rowe is determined to help lead the squad towards a return to the GNAC Championships this season. She often reflects on the memory of last season’s tournament title, a run that taught her and her teammates alike volumes about camaraderie and working towards a collective goal.

Rowe’s leadership within softball extends beyond her current Yellowjacket teammates, as her younger sisters Kylie and Kendall couldn’t have a better role model. Kendall is 11 and is exploring a variety of sports just as Haley did, while Kylie is a senior softball stud at Billings Senior High School and gets to watch her sister play up the street at MSUB. While Rowe’s short-term focus is on helping the team play to its highest potential, she has already created a strong vision for her career path in life after softball. Rowe will receive her bachelor’s degree in human services this spring, and will enroll into MSUB’s graduate studies program with hopes of pursuing a career as an elementary school counselor.

If Rowe has learned anything through her career as a softball player, it’s to dream big and never limit her potential to grow. It is with this mindset that Rowe carries her ambition of one day opening her own adoption agency, her passion for helping others extending far beyond her role as a mentor on the diamond.

“My dad was adopted so that really opened my eyes to it,” Rowe said. “I think kids should have the best opportunities possible available to them, and this would be a great way to provide that for them. I would like to give kids a chance to live with great parents and live good lives.”

Roark is one teammate who recognizes that the manner in which Rowe carries herself extends into her personal life and is consistent whether she has the catching gear strapped on or is studying for one of her classes. “She’s very selfless, and she always puts other people first, not just in softball,” Roark said. “She just works hard, and is very nurturing and supportive.”

Roark and her fellow teammates and coaches alike recognize they are in good hands with Rowe as their senior catcher, as countless others will soon be, in the impactful life she is destined to lead serving others.

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‘Jackets ride Johnson’s electric right arm as pitching staff staple Friday, April 1, 2016 Possessing one of the most effective weapons in the GNAC, Yellowjacket right-handed pitcher Tanner Johnson continues to baffle his opposition with his electric slider and off-kilter delivery as an ace for the ‘Jackets.

MSUB SPORTS – Tanner Johnson’s slider has a personality of its own.

The 6-foot-3 senior right-handed pitcher for the Montana State University Billings baseball team relies on his greatest asset in any count, using it to get ahead of unsuspecting leadoff hitters early equally as effectively as to break down the swings of powerful cleanup men in full counts.

“Sometimes when he is warming up, he’ll really be finishing his slider out in front,” commented sophomore catcher Landon Peterson. “When he’s doing that, I know I can use that pitch throughout the day and that it will be extremely effective.”

When Johnson’s slider is locked in, it’s the best single pitch among the entire Yellowjacket pitching staff. Starting out behind the back of a right-handed hitter, the pitch out of Johnson’s hand around 85 miles per hour shows no sign it’s headed anywhere for the plate.

But with the force generated from his deceptive windup, the red seams scream out of his fingertips and the ball comes to life as it begins its split-second charge towards Peterson’s target. By the time Johnson releases the pitch, his body is a full stride’s length in front of the rubber, narrowing the already microscopic time his opponent has to react in the batter’s box.

Johnson coaxes wild swing-and-misses as he lures batters to reach for the outside pitch, before backing up his slider with a dancing, low-90s, two-seam fastball that tails far enough into the hands of righties to make cutter-throwing left-handed pitchers jealous.

His quick, fidgety windup is packed with power, his knee threatening to knock into his chin and his cap on the brink of flying off upon his release.

It’s Juan Marichal meets Heath Bell.

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Transferring to the Yellowjackets last season after two years at Salt Lake Community College, Johnson immediately fit into the role as Game 1 starter and pitched his way to first-team all-Great Northwest Athletic Conference honors as a junior.

Less than a year and a half into his career at MSUB, Johnson is already making an assault on the program’s record books, as his 87 career strikeouts are sixth-most in Yellowjacket history.

More important than the pitches he throws, returning home to help build a championship program at MSUB was the leading factor in becoming a Yellowjacket in the eyes of the Belgrade, Mont., native.

MONTANAN AT HEART Spending his early childhood years in California, Johnson grew up in a world of competitive baseball. By age two he was wearing down the plastic balls in his Little Tikes 3-in-1 baseball trainer his mother provided him with, and by five he had the ability to grasp the concept that then-Major League Baseball superstar center fielder Jim Edmonds was his second cousin.

Johnson’s hat flirts with taking off in harmony with his signature Playing primarily first and third base early on in high school, Johnson’s family slider. relocated to the Bozeman area when he turned 16. Suddenly, the familiar concept of high-school baseball was absent from Johnson’s life, and the anticipation of American Legion ball starting in May wore on a player who was used to year-round action. “Coming from a place where high-school baseball was huge to a place where it didn’t exist was a big deal,” Johnson said. “It was a weird transition.”

Having rarely toed the pitching rubber entering the legion season after his junior year of high school, it was under the tutelage of Duwayne Scott on the Gallatin Valley Outlaws that Johnson came to life on the mound. “Coach Scott pushed me and made me believe I could do something with baseball and play in college,” Johnson said. “I ended up deciding to go the junior college route, knowing I could progress there and move on to a four-year school.”

When his two years at SLCC were up and it came time to find a new home to extend his career, Johnson thought back to the initial contact he had made with Yellowjacket head coach Rob Bishop at the end of his prep career. Though Johnson admittedly had no idea what MSUB’s interest in him would be, what started out as an inquiring email to Coach Bishop turned into a signed letter of intent in the span of one week.

The biggest draw to MSUB in the mind of Johnson was a return to familiarity, both within his home state and to rejoin many of the familiar faces he had played with and against in legion ball. Upon arriving on campus in the fall of 2014, Johnson was quickly reminded of his connection on the Bozeman Bucks with fellow right-hander Cody Cooper, and with the ultra-competitive Luke Reinschmidt whom he’d spent a fall season playing with. Johnson fondly recalled the time he spoiled the bleached-white uniform of Myles Berkram, firing a handful of blackberries minislider-style to settle a friendly argument between the two during a fall ball game.

Before long, Johnson was helping lead the 2015 Yellowjackets to their first-ever GNAC title, and first winning season since baseball had been restored prior to the 2006 season. “That title definitely meant more last year with a lot of us being from Montana,” Johnson commented. “It was just a really quality group of guys who brought it together and had a lot of success. Winning a title is always a cool experience, and we are back in it for this season.”

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BRINGING OUT THE BEST “When he’s able to run his fastball in on righties, and have a slider that runs away, both from the exact same horizontal plane, it’s hard for guys to sit on either pitch. If they’re looking slider, he’ll jam them with the fastball, and if they’re looking fastball he’ll make them swing and miss.” – MSUB catcher Landon Peterson on senior right-hander Tanner Johnson.

When Peterson, a Boise, Idaho native strapped on his catching gear for the first time as a Yellowjacket, he didn’t quite know what he was getting into. His very first task on Day 1 of fall ball was to catch a bullpen session for Johnson, and his analytical mind quickly started strategizing how he was going to handle a fastball that ran five inches one way and a slider that broke two feet the other. “I was a little worried at first,” Peterson admitted.

Since their opening salvo, Peterson and Johnson have developed a chemistry as the former has shown he possesses the talent it takes to manage one of Johnson’s starts. “Tanner wants to have a good tempo going, and he trusts me to make sure I’m analyzing the game,” Peterson said. “We both rely on each other, and I don’t call the same game for Tanner as I might with other pitchers. He’s got that stuff to attack (hitters) early in the count with the fastball or slider.”

Part of Johnson’s success in getting ahead of hitters lies within his deception, as his three-quarters arm slot presents a challenging angle for opposing hitters to pick up the ball. The unique release point hasn’t always been there for the right-hander however, who started out with the more standard over-the-top delivery that yielded a straightforward 12-6 curveball. “I decided to stop being so orthodox, and when I dropped my arm angle down it gave my ball more run,” Johnson commented on an adjustment he made with Coach Scott during his legion ball career.

Johnson’s delivery features a quick leg kick that drives his momentum into his low, three-quarters arm slot, where he generates a violent release throwing across his body.

Even with his newly-refined arm slot, Johnson still had no intention of turning his curveball into a slider. The adjustment occurred while experimenting with different grips, and is ultimately a derivative of Johnson’s well-established two-seamer. “It’s just something I have one hundred percent confidence in every time I throw it,” Johnson commented on his slider. “I still don’t know how it moves as much as it does, and sometimes it has a mind of its own.”

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Toiling with his pitching mechanics while in junior college had ill effects on Johnson, as he never felt that he was throwing with full confidence as he began his collegiate career. Instead, his attention was turned towards adjustments that sometimes felt unnatural and impacted the effectiveness of his pitches.

The moment he set foot on campus at MSUB, all of that changed. “Coach Bishop let me pitch, and do what I needed to do to be successful,” Johnson said on his coach’s encouragement to work with the mechanics that felt most natural. “It has been a really great experience coming back, and I almost wish I would’ve played four years here.”

Though Peterson has known no other set of mechanics than those Johnson currently employs, he can attest as a hitter, as well as a catcher, that when Johnson is locked in he’s nearly untouchable. “As a lefty, I’m kind of lucky because he’s not able to run his fastball in on me,” Peterson said regarding the occasional chance he gets to face Johnson at the plate during intra-squad scrimmages. “I think I’ve hit off of him three times, and I have one hit to left field and two strikeouts, so I’m one-for-three. I’ll take it.”

TANNER’S TOUGHNESS “To me, a quality starter is a guy who, when he’s good he dominates, and when he’s Johnson shakes hands with 2015 senior catcher Conner not so good he still gives your team a chance to win. That exemplifies Tanner. Even on an off-day, he usually goes deep into the game and we have a chance to win.” – MSUB Holbrook - while Kyle Durbin (16) and Blake Loran celebrate in the background - after authoring a 3-hit shutout in a 16-0 head coach Rob Bishop on senior right-hander Tanner Johnson. win over Northwest Nazarene.

When the final out in Game 1 was recorded at Dehler Park last Saturday, the Yellowjackets looked to a scoreboard that read 10-0 in favor of Western Oregon University. The team hadn’t played particularly poorly, in fact its offensive approach against one of the top pitchers in the league in the Wolves’ Brady Miller had been right on par as they ousted him with 140 pitches into the sixth inning.

But the team had been beat, badly, and was in danger of slipping in the conference standings with a record of 5-8. Johnson had witnessed his team get shut out for the first time of the season from the third base dugout, sweatshirt covering his white No. 25 jersey and keeping his right arm warm as afternoon shifted to evening.

He knew he had a job to do.

Coming off perhaps the worst three-start stretch of his brief career with the ‘Jackets, Johnson was looking to right his own ship, not to mention give his team the kind of boost it was in desperate need of. In the midst of the tough string of outings for Johnson was a start at Northwest Nazarene University on March 11, where things appeared to be rolling as he put up zeroes through five innings. Then the Crusaders’ Tyler Davis did something to Johnson that no player had achieved since his legion ball days, as he led off the frame with a solo home run. “I was aware of it, and not giving up a bomb in five years was something I prided myself on,” Johnson said with a smile. “But it had to happen sometime. I get guys to put the ball in play, but I usually keep the ball down and people don’t hit the long ball off of me.”

Having recorded just seven strikeouts total and not lasting past the fifth inning in his three previous starts, Johnson was determined that things would be different in the nightcap against the Wolves.

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When WOU’s Cody Sullivan waved at a 1-2 slider to end the first inning, not only had Johnson struck out the side, but he’d reestablished his confidence. Johnson battled through six innings, and started the seventh by carving the outside corner on a 2-2 pitch to WOU leadoff man Forrest Garcia for his 10th strikeout of the game.

Handing the ball off to closer Adam Cox, Johnson again watched from the dugout as the ‘Jackets nearly let the win slip away, but showed resilience and stormed third baseman Kyle Durbin after his walkoff walk in the bottom of the seventh. MSUB went on to win the series behind the best start of the year from Cooper on Sunday, and now as the ‘Jackets head to Lacey, Wash., to challenge Saint Martin’s University in a four-game conference series, Johnson will take the mound with his confidence restored.

‘JACKETS BACK JOHNSON “Once you let go of that baseball, you can’t control anything after that. It’s all up to the guys behind you, and I can attribute most of my success to them.” – MSUB senior Tanner Johnson on his confidence in the senior defensive unit playing behind him.

Though Johnson was dominant for the majority of his start against the Wolves, the Yellowjacket defense turned inning-ending double plays for three consecutive frames to back their senior. “Those double plays to end three innings was a great confidence booster,” Johnson said. “It takes the entire team to make something happen, and without all of those guys we would be nothing.”

Johnson has twice earned GNAC Pitcher of the Week honors, baffling NNU in a complete-game, three-hit shutout last year in a 16-0 home win, and shutting out Holy Names University in the team’s 2016 debut for a 3-0 win in early February.

While Johnson has shown his capability of pitching the ‘Jackets to victory, he is quick to note that with the efforts of the rest of the staff headed

by Cooper that the team is in good hands for years to come. “Cody is an absolutely phenomenal pitcher,” Johnson said. “Him being successful has given our guys something to strive for and to be like. Next year’s guys are going to look at him and want to be as good as him.”

As for the pitch that Peterson trusts Johnson to throw in any count, in any game, against any hitter, the slider is a perfect representation of Johnson as a whole.

Wild but effective, unpredictable but accurate, and the signature of Johnson’s legacy.

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Sidearm view: Lee Busto a constant for ‘Jackets in career as pitcher Wednesday, May 4, 2016 Undergoing a transformation in pitching mechanics, senior Lee Busto’s presence has been one of the constants within MSUB’s baseball program over the past five years.

MSUB SPORTS – It was spring in the early 2000s and Julie Reuther had a conundrum.

The bruises on her upper palm were purpling to the point that it was affecting her work as a nurse, her lack of owning a catcher’s glove partially to blame. She didn’t like the thought of abandoning her regular front-yard game of catch with her son, but by the time Lee Busto was nine his right arm had grown too powerful and Reuther gave way to a Pitchback net.

Since then, Reuther has watched her son grow into an NCAA Division II pitcher as Busto is now a senior on the Montana State University Billings baseball team. Known for his trademark, sidearm delivery, Busto has represented the Yellowjackets on the field with the sixth-most appearances (70) in Great Northwest Athletic Conference history, and off it as a three-time academic all-GNAC selection while completing a business degree.

With graduation set for Saturday, Busto is guaranteed one final home series as the Yellowjackets compete for a conference tournament berth at Dehler Park Thursday and Friday against Saint Martin’s. Reuther is making the eight-hour trip from her hometown of Littleton, Colo., to attend her son’s Senior Day ceremony on Friday, and to watch him play for a final time.

As Busto takes to the mound this weekend, he’ll reflect back on his five years at MSUB and consider the turnaround he has witnessed within the program. From a 21-27 record his first year to MSUB’s first-ever winning record and championship a season ago, with two different arm angles and thousands of pitches in between, myriad navy and gold memories will flash through his mind.

He’ll recall experimenting with different pitch grips and his mother bravely holding up a target for as long as she could. The teammates he has met have turned into his closest friends, a connection built between them through the game’s brightest – and darkest – moments. He’ll always play with Kaiser Carlile in his heart, ‘KC’ permanently etched into his cap to remind him of the fragility of life.

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Busto will be remembered for his willingness to take the ball in any game, no matter what the situation or what task head coach Rob Bishop requested of him. “Lee can literally pitch in any role in the bullpen,” Bishop commented. “It is really unusual for a guy to be able to adjust so quickly to whatever the team needs that day. He is resilient and mentally tough in addition to being in exceptional physical condition.”

GROWING INTO THE GAME At an age where the position of pitchers hadn’t yet factored into the game, Busto already had a nose for the mound. Playing in a machine-pitch league as a kid, Busto’s coaches had to talk him out of playing pitcher and guide him into an actual position on the field at first base.

“I always wanted to pitch, and I imagined doing it in my front yard,” Busto recalled. “By my senior year of high school I decided to pitch full time, and that’s when it became clear that was where I was going to excel.”

Sporting one of the most unique deliveries for a pitcher, Busto sinks low to the round before bouncing up and slinging the ball towards home from a rarely-seen Busto made the diamond his own personal landscape, explorarm angle. ing virtually every position growing up and into high school.

Everywhere from second base to outfield was home in Busto’s first prep years, but he kept pitching in the back of his mind and came into his own on the mound as a senior.

Busto naturally turned his attention to a variety of Colorado schools, before Bishop contacted Busto’s high-school coach after watching his recruiting video. “I will never forget coming on a visit, and it snowed the whole way,” Busto said. “It turned an eight-hour drive into a 12-hour drive.”

Busto weathered the storm and made his way onto MSUB’s campus for the first time, quickly deciding to sign with the Yellowjackets in November of his senior season.

BUSTO’S BIG BREAK Injuries kept Busto off the diamond as a true freshman, but he was able to gain perspective and bond with new teammate and fellow pitcher Brady Muller in his first year in the program. “Brady and I had a math class together, and we just became really good friends,” Busto said. “Then sophomore year Trevor (Nix) and Luke (Reinschmidt) came in, and I really bonded with those guys too.”

Enduring his first year without competing, Busto was given his first-ever college start on March 7, 2013 in a road game at Concordia University (Ore.). Throwing seven solid innings, Busto had two strikeouts and gave up just one earned run on six hits to earn the win in a 6-4 victory for the ‘Jackets.

Busto finished the year with 22 1/3 innings pitched over 11 appearances, but it wasn’t until the fall of his sophomore season that he took on a mechanical adjustment that would change the way he threw entirely.

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Coming off the mound to field a ball during pitchers’ fielding practice, Busto cut loose a sidearm throw to home plate with then-assistant coach Chris Martin looking on. “Coach Martin saw the run on the ball and called me into his office,” Busto recalled. “Earlier that summer I had watched David Berg pitch sidearm in the College World Series, but I never really thought that I could do that.”

Busto spent the following offseason watching hours of video of Berg, a right-hander for UCLA, and taking mental notes on the unorthodox mechanics of his deceptive delivery. “I just noticed how he jumped off the mound, and I told my summer ball coach that year I was going to try it,” Busto said. “The first time I went out in the last inning of a game, I faced two guys and struck them both out.”

Busto never looked back after that, adopting the low, sidearm release point full time. “In order to give Lee an edge and carve out a role for him, we asked him to try a lower arm slot,” Bishop said. “He made a quick transition and immediately began making an impact for us.”

After making the transition, Bishop had a weapon out of the bullpen he knew could be used in any situation, whether it be to face a single batter and get an out in a jam, or cover multiple innings in relief. Busto’s 27 appearances in the 2015 season were the third-most in all of the NCAA Division II, and he broke an MSUB single-season record.

With 21 more so far this season, he has well surpassed the previous MSUB career mark of 56 held by Brian Howe, and has moved into the top-10 in GNAC history with 70 total.

GNAC Career Pitching Appearance Leaders Rk. Name School Appearances Years 1.

Kalen Hruza Northwest Nazarene 85 2008-11 2.

Tip Wonhoff Saint Martin’s 80 2004-07 3.

Kaleb Wilson Saint Martin’s 77 2008-12 4.

Nick Patee Northwest Nazarene 74 2003-06 5.

Chase Decoito Saint Martin’s 71 2012-15 6.

Lee Busto MSU Billings 70 2013-16 7.

Anthony LaDue Saint Martin’s 69 2010, 2012-14 8.

Aaron Stuvland Northwest Nazarene 67 2002-05 9.

Ryan Brown Northwest Nazarene 66 2009-12 Brad Banker Saint Martin’s 66 2012-15 In addition to Busto’s adjustment to a new arm slot, he had to transition his mindset from preparing to start and pitch multiple innings to being ready to step into the spotlight with the bases loaded and no outs. “As a reliever you have to be ready to potentially pitch in every game,” Busto said. “Whether it’s the first or ninth inning, you have to have your mind right and be able to do whatever the team needs you to do.”

Busto has twice pitched in all four games in a series this season, and has totaled 17 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings pitched in relief. The grind of playing doubleheaders on consecutive days in a weekend hasn’t worn on Busto, whose mother noted his competitive nature and will to succeed. “He has always been very driven, especially when he has a passion and focus for something like he does for baseball,” Reuther said. “He just loves the sport and it has made him who he is today. He has just done so well in college and we are very proud of him.”

KC “He told me he was the shortest kid on the team, but he wasn’t the shortstop, and he didn’t understand why. I remember him standing on the top step of the dugout, telling us to play hard and have fun.” – Lee Busto on the late Kaiser Carlile.

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Busto ventured to Liberal, Kan., last summer to keep his mechanics sharp and contribute innings to the Liberal Bee Jays in the Jayhawk Baseball League. Joined by Muller, Reinschmidt, Brody Miller, and Matt Hape, Busto and the Yellowjacket contingency fostered camaraderie throughout the off-season.

The group was also exposed to tragedy, when nine-year-old team bat boy Kaiser Carlile was struck in the head by a practice swing and later died. Immediately, the game that Busto and his teammates had grown to love was put on hold as the unthinkable accident struck memory of his own days playing ball as a boy.

“It just put things into perspective and shows you how valuable life is,” Busto said solemnly. “He was just a kid who had fun being out there, and it made you appreciate what you got to do every day.”

Busto urged his Bee Jays teammates that they needed to play their game that night in Kaiser’s honor, and they willed themselves to an emotional, 13-inning victory. Kaiser has been there with Busto in every game he has pitched in since, the initials ‘KC’ inked into his game hat. “I try to feel like he takes the field with me every time I go out,” Busto said. “He makes me remember that you have to give it your all and have fun with what you’re doing, because he was always having fun.”

A CHAMPIONSHIP STANDARD “Lee is an absolute 10 in our program. He works hard, is a great teammate, and is an exceptional student. I am proud of the man he has become and what he brings to the field is a bonus. I will definitely miss having him around next year.” – MSUB head coach Rob Bishop on senior Lee Busto.

In a season filled with ups – winning 20 of 25 games to end the season – and downs – starting the year 1-9 – Busto was a constant in 2015 all the way through the team’s run to its first-ever GNAC regular-season title. On the day that MSUB clinched its title, Busto tossed two scoreless innings with two strikeouts against the Saints in Game 1, and raced out behind the mound to dogpile with his teammates after the final out had been recorded in Game 2.

“Just to be picked to finish last and then win the league showed the character of our team,” Busto commented on last season’s squad. “Coach Bishop has done a great job of getting guys who want to be here, and who want to win. It is great to see the kind of people he has brought in, and how a winning culture at MSUB has been instilled into them.”

Now in the hunt to defend last season’s title and repeat as conference champions, Busto and the ‘Jackets will play the final regular-season series of their season at home this weekend as Reuther watches her son live. Busto will earn a business management degree, but plans to return to Kansas this summer for one final season of baseball. “I have just been focusing on baseball, because I know that I’m not going to be able to do it anymore after this,” Busto said.

Most of all, Busto will treasure the chance to play with his mother in attendance for a final series. “She has always inspired me to do my best,” Busto said. “She knows what baseball has meant to me and has always been so supportive of it. She’s been willing to go the extra mile to help me, and I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

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Shortstop Corey Morris brings competitive edge to diamond for Yellowjackets Tuesday, May 10, 2016 Wrapping up a stellar two-year career for the ‘Jackets, senior shortstop Corey Morris brings an unmatched competitive edge to the diamond.

MSUB SPORTS – With two outs in the top of the ninth inning and the go-ahead run on third base, Western Oregon University’s Marcus Hinkle ripped a sharp line drive on the infield at Dehler Park that threatened to put the lead into the Wolves’ hands midway through the 2015 baseball season.

Montana State University Billings shortstop Corey Morris knew the ball was headed right at him, his body bracing for an unavoidable short hop. As the ball kicked off the dirt just a few feet in front of him, Morris tucked his arms close to his body, creating a human shield like a catcher squaring up to knock down a breaking ball in the dirt.

Morris knew he had no chance to catch the ball cleanly, but he also knew that if he didn’t keep it close that his team would enter the bottom of the ninth down a run instead of tied at 4-4. Morris’s expert form in wrestling one of the trickiest plays an infielder can get allowed him to quickly scoop up the ball and sling a sidearm strike over to Kevin Toon at first base.

Beating the runner by half a step, Morris kept the score tied and promptly ripped a one-out double into right field in the bottom of the inning.

An ensuing base hit by senior Conner Holbrook brought the game’s hero across home plate, as the ‘Jackets completed the second of three straight wins over the Wolves.

The defensive excellence followed by a clutch performance at the plate was just one example of the season Morris put together as a junior in 2015, as he played his way to first-team all-Great Northwest Athletic Conference honors and helped the ‘Jackets to their first-ever conference title in his first year in the program.

Yellowjacket head coach Rob Bishop had brought Morris in to fill a key vacancy at the toughest infield position, and by the time Morris finished the year he had handled 103 consecutive chances up the middle without an error. Bishop knew he was getting a solid defensive player in the transfer from Walla Walla Community College, but he couldn’t have imagined Morris would hit .353 and reach base at a clip of .406 to become a fixture in an already stacked lineup.

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Jump ahead to the end of Morris’s senior year and the way he has been engrained within the program suggests he’s a four-year veteran rather than a junior college transfer. Teammates and coaches alike cite his energetic personality and fierceness as a competitor as the character traits that differentiate the Richland, Wash., native from other players.

Growing up as a hockey player and catching through his high school baseball years explains his toughness on the diamond. His ability to take command of a crucial position and lead a group of seniors to back-to-back GNAC Championships is the legacy Morris will leave behind with the Yellowjackets.

TRADING SKATES FOR SPIKES The junior hockey circuit took Morris around the country as a middle-schooler, including a trip to nationals in Buffalo, N.Y., at the age of 14. The game came naturally to him, with the cul de sac he inhabited hosting regular neighborhood pick-up games throughout his childhood.

“In high school I decided size wasn’t on my side to keep playing hockey,” said Morris, who stands at 5-foot-9. “I used up all of my home runs in Little League.

I probably hit 60 by my 12-year-old year.”

Entering his sophomore year of high school, Morris headed to tryouts with brand new catcher’s gear when a coach suggested a new look for him on the diamond. “I ended up leading off and playing second base starting my sophomore year,” Morris said. “I kept catching in summer ball though, and my senior year our catcher got hurt so I caught for my high school team.”

Morris knew he had the ability to pursue a college baseball career, and the nearby Walla Walla Community College program presented itself as a realistic option for Morris to keep playing. When Morris found himself in the company of two freshman catchers who both towered over him, he realized that a transition to a middle infield spot would be necessary to keep him in the lineup.

Crediting WWCC head coach Dave Meliah with molding him into an infielder, Morris commented that his solid background blocking pitches set him up for success at a new position. “Dave was amazing and took a raw catcher and turned me into an infielder,” Morris said. “He loved how I wouldn’t back down in front of the ball, and as my footwork developed the position came to me.”

As Morris developed at the junior college ranks, several of the Walla Walla natives on the Yellowjackets’ roster began to take notice of his skills. “We were in need of a shortstop and I told Coach Bishop about Corey,” commented Toon. “I told coach that Corey would go out and compete at a high level, and he has done nothing but that since he’s been here.”

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Morris and Toon had played against each other since Little League, and grew into major rivals when Richland High clashed with Walla Walla High. Both starting as shortstops as senior prep players, Toon and Morris fought against one another for the title as their league’s top player. “I knew it was a toss-up because we played for the two best teams in the league,” said Toon, who eventually edged Morris as the player of the year.

“I definitely knew he was the one I was going against, and he pushed me all year. He was just as deserving to get that award as I was.”

“He got lucky and won it but our team went further in the playoffs,” Morris laughed jokingly as he recalled his final prep season.

BEARDS, DOUBLE PLAYS, CHAMPIONSHIPS “His toughness is contagious. Corey is one of those players who will do anything to make a play for his team. He is the backbone of what has been a solid defense for the past two years.” – MSUB head coach Rob Bishop on senior shortstop Corey Morris.

Shaving cream and a razor couldn’t find its way into Morris’s travel bag quickly enough during the Yellowjackets’ final road trip of the 2015 season to Saint Martin’s. The team still had a chance for a regular-season title, but one loss and Morris would rid himself of seven months-worth of beard that had in many ways come to identify him. “I was ready to shave that thing two months in, but then I started hitting well,” Morris said. “I decided to keep it just to mess around, but then the team started to play really well and I couldn’t shave it.”

What started as no-shave November turned into a rally beard that Morris wore through the final four-game road sweep to win the regular-season title. Picked to finish last in the preseason coaches’ poll, MSUB’s remarkable title run was as big a surprise to the rest of the league as Morris’s season-long maintenance of his beard.

“In the fall last year we could tell that we could really hit,” Morris said. “When we swept four games at NNU reality started to hit that we had a shot not just to make the tournament but win the league.”

Morris wasn’t the only Yellowjacket to sport, according to one umpiring crew, a ZZ Sternhagen (right) and Morris pose with their beards towards Top-worthy beard, as fellow infielder Colter Sternhagen matched Morris’s facial the end of the 2015 season. hair growth. This year as double play partners up the middle, the duo has turned 21 double plays and has been the core of a senior defensive unit that has carried the team.

Toon has been on the receiving end of the majority of the duo’s throws, handling everything that comes his way despite Morris’s tricky sidearm delivery from across the diamond. One of Morris’s best plays of the year came in a road game at Saint Martin’s to clinch a 3-1 series victory. With two outs in the ninth immediately after turning a double play in a 4-2 ball game, the Saints’ Brandon Witherspoon roped a sharp ground ball up the middle towards center field. Morris laid out and fully extended his arm to the left, and came up firing a two-seam strike to Toon at first to end the game. “On the ball up the middle his arm angle changes, and it’s a really tough play but he makes it look easy,” Toon commented on Morris. “He throws two-seamers over to me once in a while, and I’ll just laugh and throw one right back to him.”

Morris didn’t take long to insert himself among the upperclassman leaders on the team as a junior in 2015. He quickly formed a friendship with fellow transfer and third baseman Kyle Durbin, who hasn’t changed Morris’s contact name in his cell phone from ‘Walla Walla Shortstop’ since their initial encounter. While Durbin started the year at shortstop for the ‘Jackets, after the first few games he transitioned to third and gave way to Morris.

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“Us being infielders we just kind of hit it off,” Morris said on his now-roommate Durbin. “I’m Yin and he’s Yang; I’m hyper and wild and he’s more cool, calm, and collected.”

Now after winning their second straight regular-season title, Morris knows that he and the fellow seniors won’t be satisfied with simply making it back to the GNAC Championships.

“For us to host last year and not make it to the championship game makes you want to come back and get even further,” said Morris. “We have a great team up and down the lineup, and if we can put it all together I don’t think there’s a team out there that can stop us.”

ENDING WITH A BANG “Baseball is fun. You just need to stay relaxed out there and have fun with it.” – Corey Morris.

Morris and Durbin have grown into close friends while holding down the left side of the infield for the ‘Jackets.

Stepping into the batter’s box in the final home game of his career on Senior Day, Morris looked like the best cleanup hitter in the league. With the bases loaded in the second inning, Morris drove a deep fly ball off the wall in left field as he just missed his first career home run. His next time up he left no doubt,

as he turned around on a fastball and easily cleared the fence in left field.

Morris finished the game 4-for-4 and became just the fifth player in GNAC history with six RBIs in a game. Since the beginning of April, Morris is batting .370 with 23 of his 28 RBIs on the season. “I actually got a bit of advice from Kyle, who told me to move my hands back at Saint Martin’s,” Morris said. “Since then I have been putting the barrel on the ball.”

Morris has confidently handled his role as the No. 4 hitter in MSUB’s lineup as of late, reinforcing Bishop’s confidence that the senior can fill any role the team needs. “Corey’s competitiveness was apparent as soon as he got to this campus and that is still one of his biggest strengths as a player,” Bishop said. “He also brings a commitment to defense that will definitely make an impact on our younger players. I know that he would rather make a big play than get a big hit.”

Despite getting off to a slow start – Morris was batting just .189 through his first 23 games – he has recovered to the tune of a .270 batting average and has kept his two-year career average over .300 at .313. It’s only natural that the player with the feistiest personality on the team also leads the GNAC in being hit by pitches with 17 on the season.

Now as the ‘Jackets prepare to challenge No. 3 seed Western Oregon and No. 1 seed Northwest Nazarene on Day 1 of the GNAC tournament Thursday, Morris is above all else thankful for the opportunity to wrap up his career with the ‘Jackets.

“I have to give a big thanks to my parents, because they have been dedicated to me through everything,” Morris said on his father Bill and mother Kim. “Coach Bishop is the only Division Two coach who recruited me, and without him I wouldn’t be playing either. I’m thankful that he gave me a chance to play.”

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Hometown hero Reinschmidt carries Yellowjacket baseball to top of GNAC Wednesday, May 25, 2016 MSUB senior center fielder Luke Reinschmidt completed one of the greatest careers in program and GNAC history in 2016, as he led the Yellowjackets to their first-ever 30-win season.

MSUB SPORTS – Luke Reinschmidt only tried to hit a home run one time in his 545 career at bats with the Montana State University Billings baseball team. Normally, his smooth, focused right-handed swing effortlessly drove the ball into the power alley in right-center field, his natural power reflected in his 22 career home runs.

The one time the senior from Billings did try to swing for the fences, he crushed a ball off of the flag pole beyond the fence in right field at Dehler Park in a home series against Central Washington University his junior year in 2015.

After Game 2 in MSUB’s home series against the Wildcats this season, Reinschmidt couldn’t have felt further from the big swing of the bat almost exactly one year prior. His batting average had sunk to a season-low .305, and it had been seven games since his last extra-base hit – the longest streak without power since the beginning of his sophomore year.

Though anything above .300 is a mark most every hitter would gladly take without question, for a player who batted .370 as a junior in 2015 the hitting woes began to ware on the Billings Senior High School graduate and former Billings Royals American Legion star.

His one-of-a-kind swing, and knack for driving the ball the other way into right-center field for power was evading him, and the outlook for he and his MSUB teammates looked bleak. The Yellowjackets had lost four of their last six games, and with three weeks left to play in the 2016 Great Northwest Athletic Conference season MSUB stood on the outside looking in with a fourth-place record of 12-13 in league games.

The team had been in the same situation before, embarking on a remarkable run of 20 wins in its last 25 games to close the 2015 season and capture its first-ever regular-season GNAC title. But the prospects of repeating as champions felt out of reach for MSUB, and the storybook senior season Reinschmidt had in his plans didn’t appear to be materializing.

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A nine-game road trip to Oregon lay ahead on the schedule, and the ‘Jackets had eight days to figure out how they would emerge victorious at Concordia University and then down the road at 14-time reigning GNAC champion Western Oregon University.

The trend continued in the opener against the Cavaliers, as MSUB fell 4-2, and though the team salvaged the second game of the doubleheader, Reinschmidt had gone just 1-for-7 at the plate in his new position atop the lineup in the leadoff spot.

Luke’s father Keven Reinschmidt was the first to recognize his son’s struggles, and his phone call awaited Luke upon arriving at the hotel in Portland, Ore., after the game.

“What is the one thing I have always told you?” Keven said.

Reinschmidt swallowed his frustration and thought back to what his coach from Day 1 had embedded into his hitting philosophy. “That the first pitch is the best one to hit, and if it’s there, swing at it,” Luke replied.

The next day started the run that came to define MSUB’s season. The ‘Jackets won 11 of their final 12 games to climb all the way to the top of the conference standings and earn a share of the GNAC title, repeating as champions.

After the conversation with his father, Reinschmidt finished the year by hitting .364 with eight doubles and four home runs in his final 14 games. Overall on the year he hit .328 with 10 long balls, 11 stolen bases, and led all NCAA Division II west region outfielders with 44 RBIs. He was a first-team all-region selection for the second year in-a-row, and became just the seventh player in conference history to earn all-GNAC honors three times.

Perhaps the single-most important RBI of the year came directly after the call with his father. Standing in to leadoff MSUB’s doubleheader with the ‘Cavs on April 24, the cavernous alleys of Porter Park expanding into the soccer field-turned outfield before him, Reinschmidt did something he hadn’t done in any of his times up the day before: he swung at the first pitch.

“Concordia’s coach told me he had only ever seen one player hit a home run to straightaway right field at their park,” said MSUB head coach Rob Bishop, referring to the 6-foot-3, 220-pound left-handed power-hitting first baseman Seth Brown from NAIA national powerhouse Lewis-Clark State. “Nobody hits home runs to that part of the park, especially not right-handed batters.”

Reinschmidt knew off the bat he had gotten ahold of the first-pitch fastball, and Keven smiled as he saw his son’s 19th career home run sail out of the park from his home in Billings. “I pulled the gamecast up and saw that the score was 1-0 with (Kyle) Durbin up in the first,” Keven said regarding seeing MSUB’s second hitter in the lineup at the plate. “I figured Luke must have hit a home run, but didn’t know it was on the first pitch until the next time he came up when the announcer mentioned he hit the first pitch of the game out of the park.”

BILLINGS ROYALTY The ping pong table Keven brought home one day came to occupy him and his son for hours at a time. Luke was determined to win against his unrelenting father to the point where he folded up half the table to practice and learn how to put different kinds of spin on the ball.

“My dad instilled a lot of competitiveness in me, and taught me that if you want to be good at something you have to work hard for it,” Reinschmidt said. “I never liked to lose, but he would never let me win. I had to earn it.”

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Luke’s eventual triumph at the table is something he and his father can laugh about now, but the work ethic that has been instilled in the 22-year-old has stuck since his days as a little leaguer with Keven as a coach.

Spending many nights growing up watching the Billings Mustangs and the classic legion rivalry of the Scarlets and Royals at Cobb Field, Reinschmidt idolized the ballplayers under the lights and aspired to follow in their footsteps.

Naturally taking to the position of shortstop as an infielder, it wasn’t until Reinschmidt’s sophomore year at Senior High that his blistering speed pushed him to try his hand in the outfield. “I always wanted to be more of an infielder, and I thought that outfield was boring when I was younger,” the center fielder said with a smile. “It took me three years to really like outfield.”

By the time Reinschmidt manned center field for the Royals, Cobb Field had been transformed into Dehler Park, a place Reinschmidt would call home for the better part of the next eight seasons. Leading his team to a state championship as a senior, Reinschmidt claimed the legion batting title with an average of .458 and quickly became a top college prospect.

THE ROAD BACK “A lot of Montana kids want to get out and try something different. I understand because that’s what I wanted to do, but if you want to play competitive baseball, MSUB is a great place to do that.” – Luke Reinschmidt on returning to MSUB as a sophomore after one season at Wayland Baptist University.

When Bishop finished his third season in charge in 2013, there were hints the program was headed in the right direction with back-to-back 20win seasons for the first time since baseball returned to MSUB in 2006. The talent within the program had jumped up a level, namely built around Montana recruits like Miller and left-handed pitcher Brady Muller. The Yellowjackets had even made their first-ever GNAC tournament, losing the first two postseason games in program history to end the year.

Still, Bishop knew there was a glaring vacancy preventing his team from taking its next step, and he had to continue to be diligent in pursuing his team’s next superstar. “I knew that Luke was the kind of person who would do well here and who we would like to have in our program,” said Bishop, indicating he expected Reinschmidt could be an all-conference player for MSUB. “We would have loved to have gotten him out of high school, but when a guy comes back and transfers in it almost makes you appreciate the experience of having him here more.”

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Reinschmidt showed no signs of ill effects after transferring from Wayland Baptist University (Texas), slotting into the lineup and batting .359 in 42 starts to earn first-team all-league honors as a sophomore. Showing that he was a complete player, Reinschmidt also hit for power with a .569 slugging percentage and 27 RBIs, stole nine bases, and had 101 catches in center field.

The fleet-footed sophomore got away with his pure athleticism alone, but he and Coach Bishop knew that he needed to refine his swing and work on small details to take the next step. “My sophomore year I didn’t know how to hit, and Coach Bishop helped me make an adjustment,” Reinschmidt said. “He encouraged me to keep being aggressive, but made me realize that if I didn’t get something to drive then I shouldn’t waste an at bat.”

After countless hours spent in the hitting cages through the offseason, the transformation occurred before Bishop’s eyes leading into the 2015 season. “I saw it more in the fall of his junior year that he was much more disciplined at the plate,” Bishop said. “He was showing a lot of explosiveness in the way of power and being able to steal bases. He had turned into a really dynamic player overall.”

Bishop’s instinct was on the money, as Reinschmidt led the GNAC with 74 hits, and ranked second in the league in runs (47), triples (4), RBIs (56), stolen bases (11), and total bases (125). After hitting two home runs as a sophomore, the power numbers took off as well, as Reinschmidt was second only to Miller in home runs with 10 his junior season.

Most importantly, Reinschmidt was in the thick of a roster that willed itself to breaking the school record for wins in a season, finishing the year 27-23 and hosting the conference tournament for the first time ever. “That was a fun team to be a part of, because we just had the confidence that we were going to win games even when we were behind,” said Reinschmidt. “Being on the bottom of that dogpile is something I will remember for the rest of my life.”

LIFE CYCLE “Luke plays the game with no ego, and he is going to give one hundred percent all the time. He is a very good overall athlete, but he turned himself into a great baseball player through his commitment to the game and his hard work.” – MSUB head coach Rob Bishop on senior Luke Reinschmidt.

In Reinschmidt’s second career at bat with the ‘Jackets, he hit the first of 12 triples in his three seasons, tying him for fourth-most in GNAC history.

He was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle in that game, a feat he achieved later that season in a road game at Northwest Nazarene on March 28, 2014.

After doubling in the first inning, singling in the third, and homering in the fifth, Reinschmidt popped out in the seventh before earning one final plate appearance in the bottom of the ninth. By the time the dust settled after his slide into third base, the reality of Reinschmidt’s achievement began to sink in. “The triple was the last hit I needed, but I hadn’t thought much about it until it happened,” Reinschmidt remembered. “I just remember sliding into third and realizing along with Coach Bishop that I had done it.”

Reinschmidt’s five other games in which he has been one hit shy of hitting for the cycle further support his claim as one of the most dynamic players in school and conference history. Two of his near misses, as well as his cycle, came at Vail Baseball Field in Nampa, Idaho, which proved to be the slugger’s favorite park to hit in. In 13 career games at NNU, Reinschmidt batted .462 (24-for-52) with five home runs, 13 RBIs, four stolen bases, an on-base percentage of .491, and a slugging percentage of .904.

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Through just three seasons, Reinschmidt finished his career in the top-three in MSUB history in 10 major offensive categories, and in the top-10 in GNAC history in six of those categories.

Luke Reinschmidt Career Rankings (2014-16) Category Total MSUB Rank GNAC Rank Triples 12 1 4 RBIs 127 2 6 Doubles 44 2 7 Home Runs 22 2 8 Total Bases 326 2 10 Runs 129 2 10 Batting Average .352 2 20 Hits 192 3 13 Stolen Bases 31 3 16 At-Bats 545 3 16 While his abilities at the plate have defined his versatility as a player, his father notes that his stellar glove work in center field oftentimes goes unnoticed. “He has always taken a lot of pride in his defense, and I think that’s where he really shines,” Keven said. “His mother and I are just terribly proud of what he’s done, and most of all that he came back to MSUB. When he decided to return to Billings, he gave it his full attention and full effort, and I’m just proud of him for that.”

Reinschmidt amassed 306 putouts in center field, and holds a career fielding percentage of .975. In each season, Reinschmidt has progressively cut down on errors and increased his assists from the outfield, capping off his senior year with a career-best six assists and career-low one error.

“It makes me wish that I would have come here out of high school sometimes,” Reinschmidt reflected on his achievements in three seasons. “But I couldn’t be happier about my experience here. I have made a lot of friends and I just hope to leave the returning players with the work ethic it takes to have success at this level. The whole team this year and last put in the work it took to be a winning program.”

HOMETOWN HERO “So it’s gonna be forever, or it’s gonna go down in flames. You can tell me when it’s over, if the high was worth the pain.” – Lyrics from Taylor Swift’s ‘Blank Space,’ Reinschmidt’s walk-up song preceding each of his at bats at Dehler Park.

Baseballs scream through the air in the lower gym in the Physical Education building on MSUB’s campus, as Reinschmidt’s powerful swing threatens to rip the seams of the netting holding the batting cages together. Not even the most dynamic player in MSUB history knows how many hours he has spent hitting baseballs on the Teraflex floor surface.

This time his hitting partner is the lanky, 6-foot-3 sophomore Adam Cox, a year removed from surgery on his left shoulder that had prevented him from picking up a bat until the fall before the 2016 season. Every day, Reinschmidt commanded the respect of perhaps the only player on the team more athletically gifted than himself. The senior saw the talent in Cox more than anyone else, and was determined to instill his own work ethic into the budding star.

Reinschmidt had aspirations to be one of the statistical leaders in the conference in every offensive category, setting the bar higher than ever in an attempt to somehow further fuel his already undying competitive flame. If Reinschmidt were informed he’d finish the year second in the league in RBIs, he would have accepted it as a solid performance. He never could have imagined it would be Cox that he finished second to, and that it would take three home runs in the final stretch of the year to fight off Cox for the team lead in that category.

Cox homered in his first career at bat this season, and never looked back en route to second-team all-region honors as the team’s designated hitter and closer. “What a lot of people don’t know is that Adam was in there with Luke every day for extra hitting,” Bishop said. “If it weren’t for the work Luke pushed Adam to put in, he wouldn’t have had a chance to have the kind of season he did.”

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The dedication to his teammate and recognition of Cox’s potential is a tribute to what Reinschmidt has learned from Bishop as a coach, and it has inspired him to pursue the path when his playing career is over. “The influence Coach Bishop has had on me the last three years is something I will always remember,” Reinschmidt said. “The way he has influenced young men, been a part of their lives, and taught them about the game has made me want to become a coach myself.”

When Reinschmidt was 10 years old his little league team lost in the city championship, provoking tears of frustration from the eventual MSUB star. The fear of failure and unacceptability of losing became habits that Reinschmidt would never be able to shake.

On Friday, May 13, 2016, the Yellowjackets lost badly. The season ended with an 18-1 defeat at the hands of Western Oregon University in the GNAC Championships, a tournament the team had reached for the third time in the last four seasons.

The final pitch of the season was a called third strike, freezing Reinschmidt as his career and the best season in MSUB history concluded in one, breathtaking moment. Reality had not sunk in for the team, and especially not the 10 talented seniors, as the ‘Jackets gathered around Bishop outside the dugout after the game.

Emotion washed over the faces of the group, the team’s skipper fighting back tears as he addressed the best baseball team he had ever coached for a final time. The tears Reinschmidt shed as a little leaguer returned, but this time they represented a greater meaning.

They represented the close of the career of a Yellowjacket legend. They represented the drive of a player who, at 5-foot-11 had no business having the eighth-most home runs in GNAC history but did it anyway. They represented the bruised ribs he carried with him all year long after being drilled by a pitch in the second week of the season, and finishing the year on a 21-game reached base streak despite a pulled groin.

They represented Reinschmidt giving the entirety of his heart to the game of baseball, and leading the transformation into a winning culture at MSUB.

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