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Bigfork track and field off to strong start with two meets

by Jordan Dawson
| April 13, 2011 1:00 AM

Bigfork High School’s track and field

team faced its first competition last week as the Vikings and

Valkyries competed in the Florence-Darby invite Thursday in

Corvallis and then the Columbia Falls invite Saturday.

“We had a really good start at

Corvallis,” said Sue Loeffler, Bigfork’s head track and field

coach. “The kids were kind of panicked because they didn’t think

they were prepared, but they did really well. I was looking at our

times from last year and we are sitting pretty well. The kids

always remember where they were at at the end of the season rather

than looking at it in the sense of where they were at at this time

last year. Then I show them and they see how much they have really

improved.”

The Bigfork girls took top honors at

Thursday’s meet with a combined point total of 98. Hamilton was

second with 95 points and Florence took third with 54.

The win was a group effort as five

individual Bigfork girls  — in multiple events — and two of the

school’s relay teams placed in the top five. Senior sprinter

Mallery Knoll took first in the 300-meter hurdles in 49.24, second

in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.49 and second in the 100-meter in

12.98. Senior Quinci Paine placed first in the 200-meter in 27.54

and was second in pole vault with 7-6. Sophomore distance runner

Chelsea Olson placed first in the 800-meter (time unavailable) and

second in the 1600-meter in 6:03. Senior Jenna Egdorf took third in

the 100-meter in 13.14 and third in the 200-meter in 28.22.

“Jenna is really sprinting well,”

Loeffler said. “This is what I’ve been waiting for for a few years.

She’s finally come to me not injured this season and that has made

a world of difference.”

Senior Caitlin Charlebois placed second

in the javelin with 112-.5 and fifth in pole vault with 7-6.

The Valkyries’ 1600-meter relay team

earned first place in 4:28 and their 400-meter relay team earned

second place in 53.26.

Bigfork’s boys team earned just 11.5

points and placed 12th at the meet in Corvallis.

Senior Travis Knoll was the only

individual to place in the top six at the meet. He finished fourth

in the 200-meter in 23.86 and sixth in the 100-meter in 11.57. In

past years, Knoll has also competed in the pole vault; however,

that is unlikely this year as he is recovering from a broken left

wrist, an injury he incurred during the alumni basketball game last

month.

In addition to taking him out of the

pole vault, his cast is also presenting some challenges with his

track events. He’s had to adjust his starting stance and the baton

pass was altered for him in the boys relay.

“We have Travis and the cast worked

out,” Loeffler said. “We have to pass right to right... It’s a

little awkward, but he’ll get his cast off before Archie Roe (one

of the team’s biggest meets leading into the postseason). He’ll be

a dark horse because he’ll run even faster when he gets that cast

off.”

The Bigfork boys’ 400-meter relay team

earned third place in 45.95 at its first meet.

 

Columbia Falls

After a jam-packed inaugural meet,

Bigfork competed in Columbia Falls’ contest two days later. Due to

the short amount of time between the two, Loeffler had many of her

athletes compete in fewer events.

“I loaded Mallery, Quinci and a couple

of our boys up pretty well on Thursday so they were tired come

Saturday,” Loeffler said. “But it was really good weather so we

decided we might as well take advantage of it.”

The Vals came away with 28 points,

which earned them ninth place, and the Vikes finished in 11th place

with 19 points. The girls’ top finish came from the short relay

team, which earned first place in 52.49.

“The girls knocked almost a full second

off of their time just from Thursday to Saturday. That’s a real

good time,” said Loeffler of the team made up of Paine, Egdorf,

Charlebois and Knoll.

Additionally, Charlebois took third in

the pole vault with 8-6, Paine took fourth in the pole vault with

8-0, Olson earned fourth in the 3200-meter with 13:18.52 and Knoll

earned fourth in the 100-hurdles in 16.54.

“What they did is they got to

specialize a little bit more,” Loeffler said. “Quinci and Caitlin

did better in pole vault because that was pretty much all they did,

so they got to focus more on that. Then the younger kids got to get

some more experience.”

As for the Bigfork boys, their

400-meter relay team earned third with a time of 46.19. Knoll and

Ryan Hayes tied for third place in the 100-meter, having both

finished in 12.02. Hayes, a junior, also placed fifth in the

400-meter in 56.31. Junior Austin Cantrell finished sixth in the

discus with 116-0.

 

Up next

Bigfork was scheduled to compete in

Flathead High School’s meet on Tuesday. Those results will be in

next week’s Eagle.

The Vikes and Vals host their

invitational at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Bigfork High School

track.