Brian Schweyen (2006) - Hall of Fame - Montana State University Athletics

Brian Schweyen

Induction:
2006
Class:
1991

Brian Schweyen- Track, 1987-91 Years at MSU: 1987-91 Honors Earned: All-America, 1990 Four-time Big Sky Pole Vault Champion 12-time All-Big Sky Five-time Big Sky Athlete of the Week Hometown: East Helena Montana State assistant track coach Tom Eitel knew Brian Schweyen was a special track and field athlete by watching him play basketball in the Fieldhouse. “I saw him throw the ball off the wall near the old record board once and catch it and dunk it,” Eitel say, an undercurrent of amazement in his voice more than a decade later. Once Schweyen channeled that athleticism, which initially landed him on the Northern Montana College basketball team, into track and field at Montana State, he hit heights that had never before been reached. Literally. Schweyen became the first human on record to high jump seven-feet and pole vault 17-feet in the same day. The Helena High product’s Bobcat career stands as far more than that singular, freakish accomplishment. Schweyen’s ability took him to the national stage, and helped elevate the Bobcat program to prominence. He won four Big Sky pole vault championships and two high jump titles, and earned All-America honors in the high jump in 1990. Eitel remembers that meet for the level of competition, and for Schweyen’s out-of-nowhere performance. “That was a smoking-hot field,” Eitel says, “and they knew each other from competing against each other so often. When Brian jumped 7-4.5 he took the lead, and that place was dead quiet. Finally one of those guys said, ‘Nice jump.’ After that they took off, but he almost cleared 7-6.5. But at that meet everyone thought he was just a farm boy from Montana.” The pole vault and high jump are essentially unrelated events, but Eitel says Schweyen drew some of his success from an activity completely separate from sports. “He could visualize better than anybody I’ve ever seen, and some of that might be because he is an artist. He could think about what needed to be done and transfer it over. He’d get on the runway and blow through a pole, then have to change poles. Most people need two or three practice runs with a new pole, but Brian would just look at the flex number and not have to change the way he vaulted. Mentally, I’ve never had anyone like him.” Performance-wise, neither has Montana State. Schweyen holds the school’s indoor and outdoor high jump records, and remains in the top three in the pole vault. In fact, his lone decathlon as a Bobcat stands fifth on the school’s career list. Eitel summed it up. “He is amazing.”