Track dominates district meet

It's been more than a decade since the Bigfork track and field team has participated in a district tournament, but the Vikings and Valkyries made their presence known Saturday as they were a dominating force at the District 7B meet.

The Vals snagged the championship trophy with 175 points, which was 35 more points than second place Eureka. The Vikings finished in second place with 102 points. Thompson Falls's boys earned first place with 184 points and Plains was third with 93.

"It was a pretty big deal because we have a lot of boys events that we don't even have boys competing in, so for them to beat out Plains was really good," said Sue Loeffler, Bigfork High School head track and field coach. "Also for the girls to win it all with just 10 of them on the team is pretty incredible. I was looking at it on Friday and I thought, 'There is now way with our numbers that we can win it.' Even if you have the top performers, you aren't necessarily going to win because you need the points from having girls place in third, fourth and fifth. It took a team effort."

The Vals had their usual top finishers in sprint and distance, but it was the less-experienced girls that helped build a foundation in the points.

Freshman Kenna Hauns took second in the 200-meter with a time of 28.08 and fifth in the 100-meter in 13.67. Fellow freshman Chelsea Olson completed all three distance races in the one-day meet and qualified for the divisional meet this weekend in Missoula in all of them. She earned fourth place in the 800-meter with a time of 2:40.36, third place in the 1600-meter in 5:57 and sixth place in the 3200-meter in 13:41.

"She likes the eight and the 16 and I said, 'Why don't you try the 3200, Chels? It's at the end. It's not going to hurt you,'" Loeffler said. "She did real well with it which is great for a freshman."

Sophomore Amber McDaniel earned herself a spot at divisionals with a second-place finish in the triple jump. She had a distance of 30-11 1/2.

"She's been really doing well in the triple jump," Loeffler said.

McDaniel also placed sixth in the long jump with 13-9.

Rounding out the jumping events for the Vals was junior Jessica Killian, who placed third in the high jump with 4-4.

Also demonstrating a divisional-qualifying performance was junior Kate Lamm, who placed fifth in the shot put and sixth in the javelin with distances of 29-1 and 80-6 1/2, respectively.

Junior Jenna Egdorf had a breakout performance at the meet as she took second place in the 100-meter with a time of 13.21 and third in the 200-meter in 28.30.

"She ran really well," Loeffler said "She's coming on and she's getting in better shape."

Junior Quinci Paine had a big day on the track and in the field as she took first place in the 200-meter with a time of 26.00 and won the pole vaulting competition as she cleared the bar at 8-0. Paine also took second in the 400-meter with a time of 1:01.49.

Caitlin Charlebois, who is also a junior, was second to Paine in the pole vault as she cleared 8-0 as well but in more attempts than her teammate. Charlebois also placed third in the javelin with a throw of 97-6.

The Valkyries' mainstays in the distance and speed events, Kayla Carlson and Mallery Knoll, cleaned house.

Carlson, a senior, broke the district records in the 800-meter and the 1600-meter. She ran the 800-meter in 2:20.12, breaking Emmylyn Bentley of Eureka's 2005 record. Carlson finished the 1600-meter in 5:06.10 and set a new district record in that event as well. The previous record for the girls 1600-meter was 5:18 set by Eureka's Elizabeth Roodell in 1997.

"For her to run that time in the 1600 by herself without anyone pushing her was pretty impressive," Loeffler said. "We're trying to get her to push herself so we sort of broke down her race."

With her feet taped to control the bleeding from blisters, Carlson made it through her third and final race of the day, the 3200-meter, in a time of 12:22.90, which was good enough for first place.

Junior Mallery Knoll had a record-breaking, and first-place sweeping, performance Saturday as well. She broke Eureka's Stephanie Sander's 2005 record of 15.86 in the 100-meter hurdles with her time of 15.45.

"That was a really good time for her," Loeffler said. "She finally three-stepped all 10 of the hurdles."

Knoll also threw down a stellar time in the 300-meter hurdles, 46.50, which was nearly six seconds faster than her closest competition, Thompson Falls' Hope Reid. Additionally, Knoll won the 100-meter in 12.72.

The Bigfork girls relay teams dominated their competition as well. The 400-meter relay team of Paine, Egdorf, Charlebois and Knoll completed the sequence in 51.51. Plains was second with a time of 54.13. In the 1600-meter relay race, Bigfork's Egdorf, Paine, Charlebois and Knoll had a time of 4:21, which earned them first place over Eureka by 11 seconds.

The Bigfork boys relay teams found just as much success as they took first place in both the long and short races. Derek Minemyer, Keenan Evans, Ian Lorang and Travis Knoll won the 400-meter relay in 44.47 and beat Eureka by just under two seconds. In the 1600-meter relay, Ryan Hayes, Lorang, Dillon Charlebois and Evans finished with a time of 3:43.00, which was two full seconds faster than second-place Eureka.

Evans not only had a stellar day on Bigfork's relay teams, but he also earned first place in both the 100-meter and 200-meter race. His 200-meter time of 22.31 broke the 9-year-old district record set by Cody Feasel of Superior in 2001 of 22.51. Evans, who is having a breakout year on the track in his final season as a Viking, also won the 100-meter with his time of 10.90.

"It's his work ethic," Loeffler said of the change in Evans' performance this year. "It's also from him being more focused."

Running nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with Evans for Bigfork is junior Travis Knoll. He took second in the 100-meter in 11.23 and was third in the 200-meter in 23.50. Knoll also earned second place in the pole vault as he cleared the bar at 11-6.

Similarly to the Vals, the Bigfork boys had a total team effort in acquiring points.

Hayes, a sophomore, didn't just make a name for himself as the lead-man on the Bigfork 1600-meter relay team. He also took fourth in the 100-meter with a time of 11.55, placed fifth in the 400-meter in 55.58 and grabbed a spot at divisionals in the 200-meter with a time sixth-place finish in 24.04.

"He has a lot of potential," Loeffler said.

Lorang showed his potential at the district meet as well. He qualified for divisionals in the 400-meter with a fourth-place finish in a time of 55.58 and the 100-meter with a sixth-place finish in a time of 11.65.

Dillon Charlebois, a sophomore, and junior Spencer Jenko will both be representing Bigfork in the 800-meter at divisionals. Charlebois placed third in the event with a time of 2:15.74 and Jenko was fourth in 2:20.56. Jenko will also be competing in the 1600-meter at divisionals as he placed sixth at districts in 5:15.11.

Freshman Austin Jordt will advance to divisionals in the 300-meter hurdles following his fifth-place finish at the district meet in the event with his time of 45.07.

The Bigfork boys earned a great deal of their points in the field events.

Juniors Kyle Hauns and Ben Sandry took fourth and fifth in the high jump, respectively, as they both cleared the bar at 5-8, but Hauns did so in fewer attempts.

Junior Kenji Sagami took the sixth-place spot in the pole vault with a successful attempt at 10-6. Senior Garrett Hibbs had solid performances in the discus and shot put events. He took third in the discus with a throw of 135-8 1/2 and fifth in the shot put with a distance of 38-11 1/2.

"I think we're peaking at the right time and the weather has really helped," Loeffler said of her team. "Even though we're not real used to the heat, it helps to run in the warmer weather. You just perform better. I think they're ready and they're staying focused. That's one thing we've really worked on."

The Western B Divisional Track Meet will be Friday and Saturday at Big Sky High School in Missoula. Athletes will need to place in the top six in an event in order to advance to the Class B State Meet in Laurel May 28 and 29.

Check the Bigfork Eagle's website, www.bigforkeagle.com, following the divisional meet for highlights of the Bigfork athletes' performances. Also see next week's Eagle for indepth coverage of the Vikes' and Vals' results.