Brisko leads Montana in pole vault and 100 meters

Brayden Brisko has turned Helena Capital into one of the few Class AA programs with a legitimate title threat in both the pole vault and the 100 meters. The reigning boys pole vault state champion owns Montana’s best vault this season at 16 feet, 4 inches, and he is also leading the chase for the 100-meter title.

That combination is unusual even in Montana track and field, where most elite athletes settle into one lane, one runway or one field event. Brisko’s 16-4 clearance is 10 inches better than the 15-6 mark that won him last May’s state championship, a sign that he has not merely defended his level but raised it. For Helena Capital, it gives the Bruins a headline athlete entering the final stretch of the spring with two state-meet races still in play.

Brisko’s return matters even more because he is Helena’s only returning state champion. He won the 2025 state pole vault title after battling pneumonia during that season, a reminder that his rise has come with real adversity. Asked about what comes next, Brisko said, “For me, I’d like to see another state championship. And then the biggest goal then is to get the heights that I need to get to go to college.”

His sprint numbers explain why the 100 has become more than a side note. Athletic.net lists Brisko’s season-best 100 at 10.75 seconds, and Helena Capital’s top 4x100 relay time this spring is 42.31 seconds. That kind of speed gives him the runway carry and explosiveness that can translate in both events, while also putting more strain on training than a single-event profile would. The challenge for Capital is balancing that speed work with the technical demands of a state-caliber pole-vault repeat.

The postseason will put all of it on display at the 2026 Montana State AA-B track and field meet, scheduled for May 28-30 at MCPS Stadium in Missoula. Brisko enters that stretch as one of the most closely watched athletes in Lewis and Clark County, not just because he is defending a title, but because he is chasing a second one in a completely different event. He is also part of a deeper Capital boys group that includes junior hurdler Oliver Mow, a sign that the Bruins have more than one state-level threat as championship season arrives.