Whitefish relay teams roll at Archie Roe
Bulldog track coach Derek Schulz likes to gauge the team's success through the relays — it's been a measuring stick for the program for years. With the boys' performance in the 400 and 1,600 relays the last two weeks, he's absolutely satisfied with where the team stands heading into the home stretch of the season.
Whitefish won both the boys relay events at the Archie Roe track meet at Flathead on Saturday, barely edging Flathead in the 400 and cruising past Columbia Falls in the 1,600. The girls were strong, too, taking sixth in the 1,600.
"The relays are a really important part of our program," Schulz said. "It's exciting to see them run so well in a meet like that."
The boys' wins came on the tail of a relay sweep at the ARM meet in Whitefish on May 1. Yet the Archie Roe win is even more impressive since it pits the biggest and best Class AA schools in Western Montana against local Class A and Class B teams.
"Archie Roe is a lot like the state track meet in terms of the quality of competition," Schulz said. "Winning there doesn't mean you will at state, but it does put you up against the caliber you see at state."
In the 400, Daniel Sim-mons and Derek Crittenden kept Whitefish in contention in the first two legs to set up Iaian Cameron and Anto Daoud in the final 200 meters.
Cameron rounded the corner in a dead heat with Flathead and made a clean transfer to Daoud who used his closing power to hold off the Braves by 0.02 second in a push to the finish.
"We've been consistent in the exchanges," Schulz explained. "Then we use our speed. We're not taking risks, we're just being solid."
In the 1,600 relay, Dalton Rice, Logan Harwood, Cameron and Daoud beat Columbia Falls by more than one second and third-place Frenchtown by almost four seconds.
In the solo events, Daoud again was impressive in the sprints, winning both the 200 and 400.
"Anto is having a really remarkable season," Schulz said, adding that it's Daoud consistency that has been most notable. He also won the 200 and 400 at the ARM meet last week.
In the 110 hurdles, Crittenden finished third against a stacked field of racers in a time of 16.05, while Mac Roche found the top-5 in the triple jump at 40-8 1/2.
As a team, the boys tallied 54 points for fourth place overall.
On the girls' side, Carly Schwickert and Jessica Sagen finished in the top-5 in the 1,600, posting 5:37.11 and 5:39.98 respectively.
Olivia Nagler took third in the javelin with a toss of 112-4. The girls tallied 13 points in the meet for 10th place.
Whitefish travels to Polson on Saturday for the Polson ABC meet.