Coco, Tkachyk win big at Archie Roe track meet

Whitefish Pilot

The defending Class A state champion Bulldog boys took fourth place overall at the huge Archie Roe Invitational track meet in Kalispell on Saturday.

Whitefish finished with 42 points, by far the most of any class A-sized team. A total of 18 teams took part in the two-day meet. The Glacier boys won with 108 points, while Big Sky came in second at 79, and Flathead finished third with 64 points.

Defending state champion Drew Coco is back to his old self after a brief illness, winning the 1,600-meter with a time of 4:36.76, a good nine seconds faster than his closest competitor, Leif Castren, of Flathead.

Whitefish sprinter Anto Daoud came out of nowhere to take second place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.27, giving Glacier's Ben Cutler a scare.

Defending state champ Aaron Tkachyk won the long jump with a 21-5 1/2, and Kaleb Prestegaard took fourth place in the pole vault with a 12-6. Sam Wiley took fourth in the 110-hurdles, while his twin brother Seth took fourth in the 300-hurdles. The Whitefish 1,600 relay team took fifth place.

On the girls' side, Whitefish came in 14th overall with six points. Stella Holt took fourth place in the 800-meter, while Bailey Eaton took fifth place in the 3,200.

Girls team scores: Missoula Big Sky 126, Glacier 82, Missoula Sentinel 48, Flathead 39, Polson 36, Ronan-St. Ignatius 25, Cut Bank 25, Bigfork 24 1/2, Missoula Hellgate 23 1/2, Missoula Loyola Sacred Heart 20, Thompson Falls 17, Lincoln County 12, Libby 6, Whitefish 6, Columbia Falls 4, Plains 2.

Boys team scores: Glacier 108, Missoula Big Sky 79, Flathead 64, Whitefish 42, Missoula Sentinel 42, Plains 29, Columbia Falls 26 1/2, Missoula Hellgate 22, Polson 21 1/2, Thompson Falls 19, Troy 18, Lincoln County 12, Loyola Sacred Heart 12, Bigfork 10, Shelby 10, Libby 10, Ronan-St. Ignatius 1, Cut Bank 1.