Vals capture divisional trophy

Bigfork High School girls turned their District 7B Championship into a Western B Divisional Championship after finding a great deal of success at last weekend's meet in Missoula.

The Bigfork girls tallied 113 points over the two-day meet. Second place went to Superior, which had 68.

"That's really awesome," said Sue Loeffler, Bigfork High School head track and field coach. "I didn't think they'd do it by that many points. They all just kept their heads together and did what needed to be done."

Mallery Knoll collected first-place medals in the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles with times of 13:17.2 and 47.32, respectively. She also took second in the 100-meter hurdles in 16:09.

"Mallery was really focused," Loeffler said. "There are a few things that we still need to work on. I told her that I'm nitpicking now. She had a bunch of events that she had to do boom, boom, boom, but she did real well with it. She's a very strong athlete. She's never satisfied when she makes mistakes and that's what makes her the athlete that she is. She is never satisfied when she knows that she can do better."

Bigfork's distance runner Kayla Carlson had a big day as well. She broke the meet record in the 800-meter. Her time of 2:16.38 replaced the 2006 record set by Darby's Kara Dewalt of 2:18.74. Carlson's time also narrowly missed breaking the BHS record of 2:16.04 set by Brooke Andrus in 2006.

Carlson was also first in the 1600-meter on Friday with a time of 5:10.93. She beat out Darby's Heather Demorest by nine seconds in that race, but it was Demorest who became the first to beat Carlson this season the following day.

Demorest took the title in the 3200-meter in 11:33.10 and Carlson finished in second with 11:46.45.

"Kayla bucked the wind and the other girl followed behind her and used her to block the wind," Loeffler said. "It was smart on her part and she won for it. Kayla was alright with it. It only fired her up more."

Quinci Paine and Caitlin Charlebois were essential point-getters for Bigfork at the meet as well. Paine took second in the 200-meter in 28.39 and the 400-meter in 62.10. She also placed fourth in the pole vault in 8-0.

Charlebois took first in the pole vault after clearing the bar at 8-9. She also placed fourth in the javelin with a throw of 107-9.

Bigfork's Jessica Killian was also added to the list of Valkyries who qualified for the Class B State Meet this weekend in Laurel when she placed fifth in the high jump with her leap of 4-4. Jenna Egdorf qualified for state as well, finishing sixth in the 100-meter in 13.86.

The Valkyries picked up a big chunk of their points by winning both of the relays. The 400-meter relay team of Knoll, Egdorf, Paine and Charlebois won the race in 51.18. The 1600-meter relay team of Knoll, Paine, Charlebois and Carlson won their race in 4:13.59.

"They ran really well," Loeffler said. "We have a few things that we need to iron out, but they are doing great."

The Bigfork boys, who finished sixth as a team with 43 points, had a winning relay team as well in their 400-meter race. Keenan Evans, Travis Knoll, Ian Lorang and Derek Minemyer made it around the track in 44.44.

"The boys competed really well," Loeffler said. "I was really proud of them. I know they were disappointed they didn't get a trophy, but they did a great job. I was especially impressed with the younger kids. It was a really new experience for them. I think that it was a little bit surprising to some of them how overwhelming of an atmosphere these meets can be."

One of her young runners she said she was most impressed with in the boys relay was Lorang, who she said has shown great improvement since the start of the season.

"He has improved leaps and bounds in the relay," Loeffler said. "I can't believe how far he's come as a competitor in that race."

Evans picked up a first place finish in the 100-meter with his time of 11.32 and took second in the 200-meter in 23.43. Charlie Knapp of Thompson Falls took first in 23:24.

"He was mad because he lost the 200, but that will be a good race between those two at state," Loeffler said. "It was the first time I've seen Keenan clinch up like that. The wind came up and he really had to push against it"

Knoll had a fourth-place finish in the 100-meter with a time of 11.56, took fifth-place in the 200-meter with a time of 24.17 and tied for second in the pole vault. He and Thompson Falls' Cody Phillips both cleared the bar at 12-0 in the same number of attempts.

"I was real impressed with him," Loeffler said. "He had just gotten done with the 200 and he had to go pole vault and he did the best he's ever done."

Ben Sandry was one of the first members of the Bigfork team to qualify for state. In the high jump, he made it over the bar at 5-10 and placed fifth.

"He jumped real well," Loeffler said. "He stepped up. That's the best he's cleared."

One of the biggest upsets for the Bigfork boys was their 1600-meter relay team narrowly missing placing in the top six and qualifying for state.

"They didn't move the kids down and line them up quite right," Loeffler said. "It was just a big mess where the hand-offs were and we messed one up. The relays from the other district were very tough."

The Class B State Meet begins Friday in Laurel and runs through Saturday.

"We're just going to keep running fast and jumping high and see what happens," Loeffler said.