Holding court
by Joel Carlson, UM Sports Information |
Head coach Robin Selvig |
When Grizzly Times wanted to get an opinion on topics ranging from George Mason to UM athletic director Jim O'Day and from North Carolina’s attendance difficulties to the Griz volleyball program, we could think of no one better than Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig. On a quiet Friday morning during Spring Break, Selvig sat down and gave the following 10 questions his best shot.
GT: From your 28 years of being in the coaching profession, rate Larry Krystkowiak's job of turning around the Griz basketball program over the last two seasons.
RS: Larry’s done a great job. It’s impressive to me because Larry has a great knowledge and a great philosophy in terms of putting together a program and he’s stuck to his guns and has been doing it the way he thinks it should be done, and he’s been very successful. And that’s not just in the way that they’re playing, but the way they’re running their program. He’s not only made believers out of his players, but I think the community has now figured it out and are believers as well.
GT: You’ve seen a lot of athletic directors come and go. What is current UM athletic director Jim O’Day’s greatest strength as a leader?
RS: I think he is very talented athletic director. I think the biggest strength he brings to us is his love for this university and his genuine desire to make it better and make our programs better. He’s a tireless worker, he’s sincere and he has great enthusiasm. He was a great addition to the department, and he’ll work endlessly to make it even better.
GT: How do you see the women’s Final Four playing out?
RS: It’s totally up for grabs. I don’t think there’s a favorite. It’s a very balanced field. I don’t see anyone having an edge. All the teams have had to play difficult games to get there.
GT: How do you see the men’s Final Four playing out?
RS: I’ll be pulling for George Mason, as many, many people will, and I think they have a legitimate shot of winning it. But the men’s Final Four is difficult to pick as well.
Head coach Robin Selvig |
GT: In the women’s Final Four, there are three No. 1 seeds and a No. 2 seed. In the men’s Final Four, there are no No. 1 seeds remaining and just one No. 2 seed. What does that say about the difference between the two sports right now?
RS: There’s a lot more parity in men’s basketball. Women’s basketball has been changing to where there is more parity, but it’s not nearly as much as the men’s. There’s still a top echelon in women’s basketball, and it’s been pretty tough for anyone to crack, but it’s changing. Ten or 15 years ago, there were three or four teams that had a legitimate shot at winning the title, now that’s probably more like 10 or 15 teams. But on the men’s side, there’s probably closer to 30 teams. I really don’t even look at a team like George Mason as a Cinderella. They’ve proven their worth by playing the teams they’ve had to play in the tournament. In my mind, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that there’s an 11 seed in the Final Four.
GT: Utah, a regional team that you’ve been competitive with over the years, was a missed free throw from making this year’s Final Four. Where does the difference lie in the two programs, and how close is Montana to ever being in that position?
RS: I’d like to think there’s not much of a gap between us and a team like Utah. Utah’s got a tremendous program, they’re good every year. What they did this year is something I’d like to think is something we had a chance to do two years ago (when we lost to Louisiana Tech in the first round). I’d like to think there’s not much of a difference, but their league is very strong and has gotten very good. I think the reason they did what they did this year is that they were very experienced. You’ve got those two kids off the Canadian national team (Kim Smith and Shona Thorburn) that are now seniors and that little additional experience helped them get as far as they did.
GT: What’s the most important thing that Montana’s new volleyball coach (who is expected to be named around May 1) has to do to not only return to the success of the Griz teams from the 1990s, but renew public interest in the program?
RS: To get people excited again, it’s pretty simple. You’ve got to put some Ws up there. The key to generating some excitement is just winning some matches, and I think the team has been a break or two from doing that. I think they’ve had some competitive teams and Nikki and Dave did things the right way, but they just never got over the hump. They just never seemed to have much luck, and that’s what it’s going to take to turn that around. But they’ve been so close, it’s not going to take a huge jump. Sometimes it’s just a lucky break here and there.
GT: Jon Newlee led Idaho State to a regular-season Big Sky championship, Laurie Kelly took Northern Arizona to the NCAA tournament, Charity Elliott coached Portland State to one of the nation’s best turnarounds while you and Weber State’s Carla Taylor continue to produce good teams. How does this current crop of conference coaches compare to other years?
RS: I rate it very good, but I’ve always had great respect for the coaches in this league. Three of the coaches from the past years have moved to the Pac-10 and two of them are still coaching there (at Washington and Arizona State), so I think there have been good coaches in this league, but I think it’s as good as it’s ever been right now. Top to bottom there are quality coaches in this league.
Head coach Robin Selvig |
GT: Talk about the evolution of Grizzly football from when you were a student-athlete at Montana in the 1970s to today. And what impact does the football team’s success have on your own program, particularly when it comes to recruiting.
RS: Obviously it’s been a very positive thing for all of Grizzly athletics. It’s created more awareness for the University of Montana, whether you’re talking about women’s basketball or any other sport. And it’s a plus because you can bring a kid in here in the fall to visit, and they see the tailgating and a packed stadium, and obviously it’s an exciting place to be. It helps to create an overall excitement for athletics here, and that’s a big plus.
GT: When you got the Lady Griz coaching job in the summer of 1978, could you possibly have imagined the change not only in Montana women’s basketball, but in women’s college basketball over the last quarter century? What’s been the biggest surprise to you?
RS: I don’t know that you could have projected what’s happened with women’s athletics, though it doesn’t surprise me. It didn’t take me long to be involved with the coaching of women to understand that they’re talented and competitive and they do all the things it takes to create interest and have a sport grow. The biggest thing for helping women’s basketball grow nationally was having the Olympics here at Atlanta in 1996. There was a lot of exposure to the sport at that time.
With the improved level of play and the growth, maybe the biggest surprise to me is that there aren’t more places that draw more fans. There are places that draw well, like Tennessee, Connecticut, New Mexico and Texas Tech, but I’d think attendance would be better across the board. You take a team like North Carolina, the top-ranked team in the nation that plays in a league that put three teams in the Final Four, and they average fewer than 3,500 fans per game (3,476).
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Griz transfers ease in
by Trent Makela, MontanaGrizzlies.com |
Senior quarterback Josh Swogger |
They come from different parts of the country, play different positions and are hoping to leave different problems behind at each of their previous schools. The goal is the same, however, for the four Division-I transfers who have been displaying their football skills for the first time in The University of Montana’s 2006 spring drills. Each of them want to earn the trust and respect of their new teammates and coaches so they can help fill the holes that plagued the team in 2005.
Those goals may well be within reach, judging by the group’s smooth transition into the Montana program and strong performances just two weeks into spring drills. Quarterback Josh Swogger, wide receiver Craig Chambers, running back Reggie Bradshaw and cornerback Dramayne McElroy already went a long way towards helping the team just by enrolling at UM for the spring semester, head coach Bobby Hauck said. By enrolling early, the transfers have given themselves adequate time to mesh with teammates and learn the program’s intricacies, according to Hauck.
The benefits reaped by the program’s newest additions were on full display on March 24, as the group proved their worth to teammates, coaches and a handful of Griz fans in the team’s first scrimmage. The work put in off of the field, however, has garnered the transfers’ strongest early reviews from Hauck and the rest of UM’s coaching staff.
“All four of the transfer kids we brought in fit the mold exactly of what we’re looking for. They don’t look out of place at all,” Hauck said. “They look like they can contribute for us this fall, but how fast they will pick up the offense and the defense remains to be seen. They look like they’re quick learners at this point, though.”
Swogger, a senior, is widely considered the favorite to win the starting quarterback job in 2006. That may be because he brings more experience from D-I Washington State than both of the Grizzlies’ 2005 starters combined. UM's youth at the position showed last season as freshman Cole Bergquist and junior Bowling Green-transfer Jason Washington struggled at the helm. Swogger, conversely, played impressively in 18 games in three years for the Cougars, including six starts to begin the 2004 season. He was sidelined for the second half of that season with a broken foot.
Due to his position and experience as a leader, the 6-foot-5 Swogger may have come into camp with more expectations and more to prove than his three fellow newcomers. Those responsibilities are a relished part of the job, though, for the calm and confident senior, who says his teammates’ responsiveness has been a pleasant surprise.
“I thought it was going to be hard to get my teammates to respect me as the new guy, but that has been one of the easiest things for me,” Swogger said. “I think they have seen that I have been working really hard to learn the offense, in the weight room and everywhere else. – I’m going to go out there and win this starting job this spring. Then, I’m going to lead this team to the conference championship, deep into the playoffs and to the national title.”
Along with his bold prediction, Swogger admitted that he sees UM as a golden opportunity to not only play, but potentially display his skills to professional scouts like Craig Ochs did two years ago.
Swogger’s transition has also been eased by what he called Grizzlies’ and Cougars’ comparable practicing and conditioning intensity and schedule.
The change has been made uniquely tougher for him, however, because it has separated him from his wife of less than one year who still attends WSU. The couple fell in love with the Missoula community on an early visit, though, and the burden is eased until next year by bi-weekly road trips to Pulman.
Junior wide receiver Craig Chambers |
Chambers, the wide receiver from the University of Washington, shares more than just a previous state and rivalry with Swogger. The 6-foot-5 junior also shares the impressive experience, high expectations and confidence of his likely quarterback.
Also like Swogger, Chambers is expected to upgrade his own youth-filled position at UM. The Grizzly receiving corps lost its lone upperclassman of 2005 when Jon Talmage was hurt midway through the season and then graduated. Chambers received plenty of experience at UW, but the majority of that experience came at the tail-end of each of his two years there.
According to Chambers, he earned a bad reputation when he made a few bad decisions as a freshman, and was punished with scant early playing time as a result. He played impressively in his limited time on the field, however, ending the past two seasons as a starter and finishing as UW’s second-leading receiver over each span.
Considered an elite talent when he came out of high school, Chambers was recruited by powerhouses USC, Ohio State and Miami, among others, but opted instead to play for his hometown Huskies. He maintains that his bad experience has not shaken the confidence that accompanies that sort of attention. Chambers said that he chose to transfer, not because of the competition at UW, but because the rift between him and his coaches turned personal.
Chambers’ confidence is on full display when asked what his expectations are for himself next season.
“I want to be the best receiver on the team. I want to be all-conference. I want to be all-American,” Chambers said. “I want to achieve everything possible. I want to do everything but it’s going to take a lot of hard work. I didn’t want to transfer here and be in the same boat as Washington. I want to play and be up there with everybody else in the nation.”
Chambers said that UM’s more physical style of practice could help him reach those goals. He also said that the individual attention from personal friend and UM’s new strength coach Mike Gerber will elevate his game. The conditioning program at UW was built on a standard system that applied to each player and failed to maximize his potential, Chambers said.
Chambers also said that the toughest part of the transition to Montana was the more complex play calls. Washington utilized a singular count for routes, numbered one through nine. Montana’s route numbers depend on the particular formation, Chambers said, so that a single number could represent any number of routes. The culture shock of moving to Montana was also a tough change for Chambers. An avid shoe collector during his time in Seattle, he said that Missoula’s limited shopping and other draws were hard for him to accept.
Senior cornerback Dramayne McElroy |
McElroy shares Chambers’ culture shock. The senior speedster is originally from the sunny shores of California where he grew up and played junior college ball. From there, he transferred to the University of Arizona, where he felt he was never given a fair chance by the coaches and, thus, was buried in the depth chart.
“[The Arizona coaches] made me get knee surgery to stay on the roster because they discovered I had blown my knee out,” McElroy said. “I had been playing for 5 years on it, though, and I didn’t think I needed [the operation]. The surgery kind of put me out of the rotation and when I got back I was never given the opportunity I had been promised.”
McElroy could potentially provide a surprising lift to an already solid Grizzly secondary.
Unlike his fellow transfers, though, he is modest about his chances to crack the starting lineup and swears he is glad to just get a chance to win a job. McElroy said he is only asking for a chance to prove whether he is one of the best defensive backs on the team or one of the worst, a privilege he never received at UA.
The transition has been particularly easy for McElroy, who said he can feel a discernable difference in speed and intensity between Arizona and Montana practices. Like Chambers, he also said that he has already benefited from Gerber’s individual conditioning and feels he is in the best shape of his playing career.
The biggest change has come in practice for McElroy, where he said Arizona would drill on specifics for entire practices at a time. Montana practices are much faster-paced and physical, he said, and players are simply expected to do it right the first time.
Bradshaw from Louisville represents UM’s fourth transfer. With senior star Lex Hilliard returning in 2006, Bradshaw’s likely role appears to be as a backup and change-of-pace back. With reported speed of 4.38 seconds in the 40-yard dash, Bradshaw’s elite speed makes him the ideal player for the job behind the bruising Hilliard.
Junior running back Reggie Bradshaw |
Bradshaw comes to UM with limited experience, seeing action in just 11 games during the 2004 season for Louisville before being buried on the bench last season. His athletic potential came with strong recommendations from his former coaches, though, and he could become the biggest prize of the four transfers.
Bradshaw’s potential could also be maximized by UM’s strong tradition of grooming top running backs such as Yo Humphrey, Justin Green and Hilliard. Former backup to Hilliard, J.R. Waller, said that the work ethic enforced by the former and current running back corps is what helps to make the group special. That work ethic could help Bradshaw eventually realize his exceptional potential.
Due to his limited time on the field in 2005, the transition to UM has probably been the hardest for Bradshaw of the four transfers. His struggles could be seen, as he rushed for just 22 yards on 11 carries in the Grizzlies’ first scrimmage. Bradshaw admits that he has plenty to work on before next season, but said that his coaches and teammates are helping him get pointed in the right direction.
“I’m starting to get a lot more comfortable. I’m still learning the plays and offense and getting it polished up a bit more. I’m still a bit rusty, though,” Bradshaw said. “The guys that have been here already have really helped me. Lex has been a big help. I try to follow him because he’s the leader of the group. I try to listen to what he says and it should go really well.”
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Speed kills
by Joel Carlson, UM Sports Information |
Sophomore sprinter Loni Perkins |
As all of UM sprint coach Harry Clark's quarter-milers know, speed kills. Well, not literally, but nothing can pull out a tight race down the homestretch or demoralize an opponent quite like pure, base speed. And none of Clark’s Big Sky Conference-champion 1,600-meter relay quarter-milers have been blessed with it quite like sophomore Loni Perkins, the Montana school-record holder in both the indoor and outdoor 400 meters.
But most people knew what coach Tom Raunig's track team was getting when Perkins signed a National Letter of Intent to run for the Grizzlies: Someone who won 13 gold medals at Montana Class B state track and field meets, including a state-record seven as a junior in the spring of 2002 (100, 200 and 400 meters, high jump, long jump and as a member of Conrad High’s 400-meter and 1,600-meter relay teams).
In fact Perkins still holds the Montana all-class 400-meter state record of 54.62 and the Class B 200-meter state mark of 24.8.
Clark, no stranger to success at the Montana high school level himself with 11 state track and field titles at Cascade High and state records in the triple jump, 110-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles that still stand, knows what makes a good 400-meter runner.
“First off, they have to have good base speed,” Clark says. “Then they need to be willing to work. And that’s really the main thing for a quarter-miler. They have to be the first person at the track every day and the last person to leave because they have to work so much harder than most people do at their events.”
Perkins adds her own viewpoint.
“I think you can’t have any fear,” Perkins says. “You just have to go out and run it as fast as you can and not worry if it’s going to hurt. A lot of it comes down to form and technique, but when there are times when I get scared or intimidated, I have little mental tricks that I do to convince myself that it’s only 400 meters and not to worry about it.”
Perkins enrolled at Montana with plenty of speed. She just needed some tweaking.
“Loni came in with good base speed,” Clark says, “She’s just a fast, fast person. You know, speed kills. And then she works really hard. We had to change her arm action and just taught her to run a little better than she had done in high school. Plus, our workouts that we do are different than what she had been doing in high school.
“And then just training at this facility (Dornblaser Stadium) all the time makes you faster. Loni was on a dirt track in high school, but by coming to this facility and soaking up all the training that we do in the fall really got her a lot faster.”
How much faster?
By just her first indoor track season in early 2004, Perkins posted the fastest 400-meter time in the Big Sky Conference. A back injury kept her from competing at the BSC indoor championships and forced her to miss the 2004 outdoor season as well as the 2005 indoor season, but by the 2005 outdoor season, she let it be known that she was back with a vengeance.
After slowly lowering her season-best 400-meter time from 56.95 to 55.16 at four outdoor meets, Perkins ran a personal-best 54.33 in the preliminaries at the Big Sky Conference championships, breaking an 18-year-old school record in the process.
Sophomore sprinter Loni Perkins |
She won her first BSC title the next day when she ran a title-winning 54.64 in the finals to win by over a half a second, a sizable gap between the top two runners in a race like the 400 meters.
Her preliminary time of 54.33 qualified Perkins to compete at the NCAA Midwest Region Championships at the University of Oklahoma, but before the celebration over her championship and second-place finish in the 200 meters could begin, she needed to run the anchor leg on UM’s 1,600-meter relay team with Tara Schwager, Mara Bronson and Nicole Walker.
The quartet took nearly six seconds off its previous season-best time and won the BSC championship in 3:45.55, which sent all four of the quarter-milers to Norman, Okla.
At regionals, Perkins shaved even more time off her school record by running a 53.99 in the preliminaries, missing out on the finals by 0.04 seconds, and anchoring the relay team to a 15th-place time of 3:43.86, just shy of the UM record of 3:43.13, set by Jennifer Harlan, Paula Good, Sara Robitailee and Kris Schmitt in 1987.
Why the success of not just Perkins, but all four quarter-milers under Clark’s watch? It’s all in the hard work they all do and the way they break down a race.
“We emphasize starting out fast and relaxed and running hard. We work off the first corner to set up our back stretch, where we’re staying tall and fast. And then we work into the next corner. With 150 (meters) to go, that’s when we get excited. Where most people get tired, we have an attitude with 150 to go that we push really hard from 150 all the way in on the home stretch.”
“In their workouts, when they are really tired, that’s the part we work the hardest. So if they are running multiple 300s for a workout that day, they know when they get to that point they push that in as hard as they can at every practice that we do.”
“I make sure I get a fast start, just like if it was a 200,” Perkins says. “Then I try to keep a fast 200-meter pace to the mid-backstretch. Then I stretch out and get ready for the last 200.
“Harry calls it (the 150-meter mark) working the corner. I don’t follow the inside of the track the whole time. I cut to make a straighter line and then make sure my knees are nice and high and my arms are pumping. Then I pretty much just give it all I have to the finish.”
Coming off a successful outdoor season in 2005, Perkins opened the 2006 indoor season with a 400-meter win at the MSU Duals in 56.20.
With the 18-year-old indoor record of 55.49 (held by Jennifer Harlan) in her sights, Perkins won the 400 meters at the Idaho Open on Feb. 4 in 55.29, giving her the school record in both the indoor and outdoor 400 meters.
Not finished, Perkins dropped her time to 55.11 to finish fourth at the Washington Husky Classic, the second-largest indoor track and field meet in the nation this past winter.
Sophomore sprinter Loni Perkins |
With the Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships at Flagstaff, Ariz., on Feb. 24-25, Clark had a hint that something special might be afoot.
“With the meet in Flagstaff, that worked in her favor because it’s on a 300-meter track. We don’t have anywhere to train indoors in Missoula, so we spend a lot of the indoor season on an outdoor track. With Flagstaff’s 300-meter track, I thought it would feel to Loni like she was on an outdoor track, so I thought she could let her stride go more than if she was on a short track.”
“(In the preliminaries), all I wanted her to do was run fast and relaxed the whole way. When she got to 150 meters to go, she felt really good and just kept going. And she could have actually pushed that harder than she did.”
Which is a surprise since Perkins clocked a scintillating 54.39, 0.72 faster than her school record.
“I really didn’t think she was going to run that fast, but when she came by me with about 100 meters to go she looked really good and really tall and didn’t look fatigued one bit, so I knew it was going to be a good time, I just didn’t know it was going to be that fast.”
Perkins won the 400-meter final the next day in 54.67 to capture her second Big Sky title.
With the 2006 outdoor season underway, the show rolls on at a track near you.
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Pursuing a tennis dream
by Tim San Pedro, MontanaGrizzlies.com |
Senior Jan Steenekamp |
When Jan Steenekamp was 14-years-old, he was faced with a difficult decision most people never have to make at such a young age: Move away from his home in Burgersdorp, South Africa, away from his younger siblings, away from his parents, and away from the only way of life he knew, to pursue a love he “can’t imagine living without.”
Tennis became his knew way of life when he moved to Crens High School (a boarding school) to compete with some of the best players in South Africa.
“Back then, that was pretty much the only option I had,” said Steenekamp, now in his senior year at UM. “No one around me played tennis. I knew it would open up doors, but it was really hard missing out on (my younger brother and sister) growing up.”
Eventually Steenekamp’s difficult decision allowed him to become the best in South Africa as he and his doubles partner were the nations’ top tandem as a junior and senior. The decision also gave him a free ticket to the United States and a full-ride scholarship to study applied health science at the University of Louisiana-Monroe.
“You always strive to be the best and it was nice to end my junior career knowing I was No. 1. It was nice to achieve a goal that you set out for yourself,” he said.
Steenekamp’s new tennis goal is to rack up the conference honors. So far, that goal has been achieved as he’s twice been named first team All-Big Sky.
He always knew that tennis would allow him to reach places he never thought possible, say Missoula, Mont. His goal coming out of high school was to earn a scholarship in the states where he could see how he compared to players from all around the world. He soon found out that as soon as he reached college, the level increased considerably.
“Being 18- or 19-year-old, it was petty hard to play someone who has years of experience under them,” he said.
Yet, he stepped up his game to match the intensity and skill that soon surrounded him at Louisiana-Monroe, where he was first recruited to play, as he earned an All-Southland Conference selection as a freshman in 2001-02. After that season, the tennis program went under and he followed a tennis friend to Montana where he said the people reminded him of his hometown community.
Senior Jan Steenekamp |
Since transferring to UM, Steenekamp says he feels a new appreciation for team comradery.
“Sometimes you feel more pressure (being number one on the team), but college tennis is still a team game. It’s not like you’re out there playing for yourself, you’re playing for the entire team,” he said. “The nice thing about a team is you always have kids supporting you and getting your back. People don’t remember me winning or number four or six winning. It’s all about knowing that the team wins. If you have a bad day, another player could step up and win it for you.”
He says his next major goal is to graduate from UM and get into coaching tennis. A good place to start learning the tricks of the coaching trade, he said, would be from his current coach Kris Nord and the UM tennis program.
“I would like to give back to tennis what it has given to me the last 13-14 years,” he said.
Steenekamp understands this game. He’s played both singles and doubles competitively for quite some time and realizes that doubles is all about aggressiveness and team play. On the other hand, singles is all about one player’s skill, ability and determination.
In a way, his life has mimicked more of his singles type of playing because, since the age of 14, he’s been taking care of himself and making all the decisions on his own. Yet, even in college singles matches, he is competing for his team and not just himself.
“I’ve always had support around me, but it comes down to supporting yourself,” he said. “If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change any decision I’ve made. This experience will stick with me the rest of my life.”
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| A letter from Director of Athletics Jim O'Day |
Montana A.D. Jim O'Day |
Thanks Griz fans for your support.
The fall and winter sports seasons are now complete at The University of Montana, and on behalf of all of us at UM Athletics, I want to thank our many fans across the state for their continued support of our program.
The 2005-06 season has been unsurpassed in UM history. Our football team under the guidance of Bobby Hauck advanced into the national playoffs for a record 13 consecutive year. Along the way, Griz fans filled Washington-Grizzly Stadium at a record pace of more than 23,000 per game – tops among Division I-AA programs.
The men’s basketball team and coach Larry Krystkowiak took another giant step, capturing the Big Sky Conference Tournament title before claiming the school’s first NCAA Tournament win in 31 years with a first-round victory over the University of Nevada. Robin Selvig’s young Lady Griz team battled until the last weekend before finishing second in the Big Sky Conference regular-season standings. Along the way, the Lady Griz were among the top 30 Division I schools in home attendance – a remarkable accomplishment.
The future looks extremely bright in all of these programs, as well as the others offered at UM Athletics. Again, we appreciate all your support, and look forward to seeing you again in the fall of 2006.
Jim O'Day - Director of Athletics
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| UM Athletic Department and GSA announcements |
Mike Chavez and the Griz will be recognized Thurs., April 6. |
Griz Basketball Recognition Night to take place Thursday, April 6
The University of Montana will host a “Griz Basketball Recognition Night” on Thursday, April 6, in Adams Center/Dahlberg Arena, from 5:30-7:00 p.m. The event is free to the public. Montana went 24-7 en route to the Big Sky championship and the school’s second ever NCAA Tournament victory. UM’s 24 wins this past season was the second most in school history.
OFFICIAL RELEASE | NCAA TOURNEY CENTRAL
Griz football to have scrimmage in Kalispell April 8
The Flathead Valley Chapter of the Grizzly Scholarship Association is hosting the 2006 University of Montana Grizzly Spring Football Scrimmage in Kalispell on Saturday, April 8th. The scrimmage will be held at Legends Stadium (formerly Rawson Memorial Field) starting at 12:00 noon.
General admission is $5 for adults and $3 for kids. The festivities begin with a pre-game booster function at Fatt Boys Bar and Grille (1307 Highway 2 West) on Friday evening, April 7th, at 5:30 p.m. and into the night.
OFFICIAL RELEASE
Montana summer sports camps and clinics registering now
University of Montana coaches have a full slate of sports camps for the summer of 2006. Football, basketball, soccer, volleyball and track and field all provide camps or clinics for those who want to learn the sport from Griz coaches and players. The UM Athletic Performance Center's Performance 101 camp is a great way to improve personal training. Click below to see what camps are offered and when they are scheduled to take place.
CLICK HERE FOR THE UM SPORTS CAMPS WEBPAGE
Griz athletics looking for team posters
The University of Montana athletic department is in the process of accumulating and framing year-by-year team posters for all Grizzly sports for display in the concourse of the Adams Center/Dahlberg Arena. There are a few posters missing from the archives and the Griz Nation is being asked to help track down these selected posters. If someone has a poster from the specified sport and year (listed at bottom of story) and UM athletics invites you to donate it to the cause.
OFFICIAL RELEASE
Griz Nation wristbands on sale
All proceeds from the Griz Nation wristband will go to the Grizzly Scholarship Association at The University of Montana. Help Support the Griz by wearing the wristband and showing your pride in being the best fans in the country, which is now known as “Griz Nation." Thanks you for your support! Go Griz!
ORDER
ONLINE AT
THE GRIZ SHOP
GSA apparel available
Grizzly Scholarship Association apparel is available at the GSA
offices in the Adams Event Center. There is an open invitation to all Griz
fans to check out the selection and help support the Montana
Grizzly Scholarship Association.
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