Valkyries outdo competition on the track

The Bigfork track and field team continued to show the importance of quality over quantity, especially on the girls side as they handily won the Seeley-Swan Invitational on Saturday.

The Valkyries totaled 77 points, blowing away even their closest competition Ennis, which finished with 54 points, and Hamilton, which finished with 52.

"We only have 10 girls on the teams so that's even more impressive," said Sue Loeffler, Bigfork's head track and field coach.

Bigfork's lead sprinter, Mallery Knoll, and lead distance runner, Kayla Carlson, swept all of their individual events.

Carlson had a time of 11:38.49 in the 3200-meter, which she ran for the first time this season, and a 5:13.08 in the 1600-meter.

"We were shooting for 11:44 and she ran 11:38 in the 3200 and we were shooting for a 5:18 in the 1600 and ran a 5:12 hand time," Loeffler said. "She finally got pushed. That's what made the difference. It was so neat to see the strategy and the determination. She was so excited after the race and you don't see that much from Kayla."

Carlson had every right to be excited as she edged out Chiara Warner of Townsend by three-and-a-half seconds and Darby's Heather Demorest by 15 seconds in the 3200.

In the 1600, she bested Demorest by nearly six seconds and Warner by 11 seconds.

Knoll went 1-2-3 in capturing the title in her events with little competition keeping pace with her. She won the 100-meter in 13.26, the 100-meter hurdles in 16.59 and the 300-hurdles in 48.10.

She completed the first 100-dash and 100-hurdles about .30 faster than the second place finishers. In the 300-hurdles, she was finished more than two full seconds ahead of any of her competition.

"She isn't getting pushed, so she is having to push herself," Loeffler said. "I told her that her times won't be where she wants them until she is pushed. There have been meets this year where she was pushed, but this wasn't one of them."

Caitlin Charlebois earned her second first-place finish of the season in the pole vault with an 8-6.

Quinci Paine landed in sixth place in the event with a 7-6.

The Valkyries' 400-meter relay and 1600-meter relay teams both finished in second place. The short relay team of Knoll, Jenna Egdorf, Paine and Charlebois had a time of 53.45.

The long relay team from Bigfork with Knoll, Carlson, Paine and Egdorf completed the race in 4:17.93. Teams from Hamilton won both races with times of 51.53 and 4:16.13, respectively.

Bigfork's boys finished 11th at the meet, which attracted a total of 23 boys teams and 23 girls teams.

"It was insane," Loeffler said of the number of school's at the meet. "Luckily, a lot of them had really small teams with just a few kids on them."

Corvallis placed on top in the team standings for the boys with 90, followed by Thompson Falls with 64 and Plains with 52.

The Vikings sprinters had another strong showing led by Keenan Evans and Travis Knoll.

Evans placed second in the 200-meter with a time of 23.02 behind Corvallis' Slater Powell, who finished in 22.69.

Evans' time of 11.60 in the 100-meter earned him third place. Powell was the medalist in that event as well with a time of 11.51. The Bigfork boys' short relay team consisting of Knoll, Derek Minemyer, Evans and Ian Lorang took third place in 45.27. Charlo won that race in 44.82.

"I'm really pleased with the boys' short relay and how Travis and Keenan are running," Loeffler said.

Loeffler is still working on getting the boys to participate in more events so that the Vikings have greater representation.

On Saturday freshman Austin Jordt gave the 300-meter hurdles a try, and Loeffler said she was impressed with his performance.

"He did really well," Loeffler said "I was really glad he did it. We're really trying to get boys to fill in on some of the events."

Bigfork will compete in Whitefish twice this week. Saturday the Vikes and Vals will attend the Whitefish A.R.M. and Tuesday they will take part in the Ken Good Invitational Track meet in Whitefish.

Several athletes from Bigfork competed in the Missoula Top 10 on Tuesday. See the Eagle's website, www.bigforkeagle.com, for results.