Helena Capital's Brayden Brisko wins two Class AA state titles

Brayden Brisko ended his Helena Capital career with the kind of weekend that secures a place in school memory. The senior repeated as Class AA pole vault champion and added the 100-meter title at the Montana high school state track meet in Missoula, turning a strong season into a defining finish at MCPS Stadium.

Brisko entered the meet as the top seed in both events, carrying Montana’s best pole-vault mark at 16 feet, 6 inches and the fastest Class AA 100-meter seed time at 10.68 seconds. In Missoula, he won the 100 in 10.97 seconds and took the pole vault with a clearance of 15-0. The sprint crown stood out because it came in Brisko’s first season competing seriously as a sprinter, a shift that made his double win one of the weekend’s most notable performances.

His path to that finish had already included a record-breaking performance at the Western AA divisional meet, where he cleared 16-6 and shattered the meet record. That mark also carried wider historical weight. MontanaTrack.com lists the all-class boys pole-vault state record at 16-4, set by Helena High’s Chase Smith in 2015, which means Brisko’s 16-6 clearance surpassed the existing all-class standard, even though it came at a divisional meet rather than at the state meet.

Brisko’s return to the top was especially meaningful after MTN Sports reported that he had battled pneumonia during his 2025 championship season. He arrived in Missoula as the reigning Class AA pole-vault champion and left with another repeat title, plus a sprint gold that expanded his profile beyond the technical event that first made him a standout.

The weekend also underscored Helena Capital’s place in the Class AA landscape. The Bruins produced three individual state champions at the meet, and Brisko’s two wins were central to that total. Coach Mikayla Nickol said coaches will remember his name for years because of how dominant he became in Montana high school pole vaulting, while Brisko said the moments he will carry forward are tied more to teammates and the emotional side of competition than to the marks alone. Against a backdrop of Billings West sweeping both team titles, Brisko’s finish stood as the capstone to one of Helena Capital’s most memorable recent individual careers.