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Bigfork track athletes place at Class B state meet

by Jordan Dawson
| June 1, 2011 1:00 AM

 

The Bigfork track and field team used

its final meet of the season — the Class B state meet  — to do big

things.

“It was so exciting. The girls were

really close to getting a trophy, but what they did there felt just

as good as winning a trophy,” said Sue Loeffler, Bigfork’s head

track coach. “They did so well and it was just so exciting. I was

so proud of all of them.”

The Valkyries finished in fourth place

with 36 points at the state meet, which was held from Thursday

through Saturday at Charlie Merrifield Track in Butte. Glasgow won

the team championship among the girls with 60 points. Cut Bank was

second with 57 points and Colstrip had 38 points to earn third.

“For the girls to compete the way they

did with all the obstacles (injuries) we have had to overcome was

really incredible,” Loeffler said. “They were just incredible. You

couldn’t ask for anything more from them. Their bodies were

breaking down, but they just came through like troopers. It was

really cool.”

Bigfork’s successful weekend started

off with the Vikings earning a spot in the finals in the 400-meter

relay, in which they ultimately placed second. Kenji Sagami, Ryan

Hayes, Ian Lorang and Travis Knoll made up the Bigfork boys team,

which finished with a time of 44.34. Their time was .1 second

slower than the winning team from Broadwater.

“The boys relay was just incredible,”

Loeffler said. “They ran so well for two days considering where our

times were at and what they did. They couldn’t have ran any better.

Their hand-offs were just solid. We didn’t have any boys place in

the 100, and for them to do that in the relay was amazing. They

were disappointed because they were state champions last year, but

I told them they had nothing to be disappointed about. What they

accomplished there was unbelievable.”

Bigfork’s biggest winner at the state

meet was senior Mallery Knoll. She placed first in the 300-meter

hurdles with a time of 45.70 to earn the first state title of her

high school career.

“That was really neat,” Loeffler said.

“All of her competition was behind her. She was leading coming off

the corner. At divisionals, Hope (Reid of Thompson Falls) came from

behind and beat her, but Mallery ran a really good end of the race

at state.”

Knoll also earned fifth place in the

100-meter hurdles with her time of 16.43.

“When her leg started to bug her

(earlier this season) we focused a lot more on the 300 hurdles and

not so much on the 100 hurdles,” Loeffler said. “She still ran

really well in that one though.”

Knoll was also a part of both of the

Valkyries relay team and both of them placed at state. Along with

Knoll, Jen Egdorf, Quinci Paine and Emily Moxley are now state

champions as well. They took first in the 1600-meter relay race

with a time of 4:08.43.

“What really made it exciting was that

Glasgow was running really hard because they had to beat Cut Bank

to get the state championship over them,” Loeffler said. “So they

were trying to run against them while we were trying to win it, but

they couldn’t keep up with us. We won it handily. They had great

hand-offs. It was a really neat final finale to the whole

thing.”

In addition to their success in the

long relay, the Bigfork girls also picked up a third place finish

in the 400-meter relay. Paine, Egdorf, Caitlin Charlebois and Knoll

finished that race in 51.25. Cut Bank took first place in

50.25.

Charlebois also earned herself a top

spot in the pole vault. She initially tied Boulder’s Emily Schroeck

for first place when both girls cleared the bar at 9-06, but

neither could clear it at the next increase. So the event went into

a tiebreaker scenario, which Schroeck, who eventually cleared the

bar at 10-0, won.

“The other girl was struggling, but

once they had the jump off she did really well,” Loeffler said.

“(Caitlin) was OK with it considering she didn’t even place last

year.”

 

The boys

The Bigfork boys accumulated 22.33

points ranking them 13th at the state meet, but they still had

their share of successes.

Hayes placed second in the 200-meter

race in 23.09 behind Darby’s Aaron Johnston, who finished in

22.88.

“He was in lane 10, so going into the

finals he had the slowest or the second to slowest time in the

trials,” Loeffler said. “He had no one out in front of him because

he was in lane 10.”

Loeffler credits Hayes’ ability to come

from behind to his altering of his technique.

“I’ve been getting after him about

running the corner hard,” Loeffler said. “He runs a beautiful

straight away, but he struggles with the corner. He ran it so well

though, and he was so excited afterwards. “

Kyle Hauns had a come-

from-behind-victory of his own. Going into the long jump finals, he

was sitting in 10th place. However, he finished fourth with a leap

of 20-04.5.

Though it was his first year on the

track and field team, senior Christian Ker earned fourth place in

the high jump. He cleared the bar at 5-10.

Anyone that placed in the top six in an

event received All-state honors. All of the athletes that qualified

for the state meet earned All-conference honors for their

performances at the divisional meet.

Both Hayes and Knoll were thought to

have a chance at placing in the 100-meter race, but the competition

was tough.

“It was a real tight race,” Loeffler

said. “Travis ended up seventh. He ran really well. That’s the only

one he made it to the finals in. He ran a great leg in the 4x4

though too.”

Although neither the boys nor the girls

went home with a team trophy, one thing Loeffler did take with her

was some unforgettable memories.

“I got really emotional. It seems like

every time I turned around something else was going on that was

awesome,” she said. “The feeling that I came away with from the

state meet was like you won a state championship. It was that neat

to see what those kids did. To watch them overcome all the

obstacles that we had to this year and see them come out ahead was

great. To see the perseverance and the heart that they had was

really cool to watch. They believed in themselves. It was just a

really neat atmosphere.”

 

The seniors

The state meet not only marks the end

of the season, but the end of high school track for several Bigfork

athletes who will graduate Saturday as well.

“They’re going to be greatly missed,”

Loeffler said. “They are a great group of athletes, a great group

of students and great people. I just wish them the best in

everything they do in the future.”

 

At Charlie Merrifield Track

Saturday

Girls

Team scores — Glasgow 60, Cut Bank 57,

Colstrip 38, Bigfork 36, Thompson Falls 34, Huntley Project 30,

Loyola Sacred Heart 28, Baker 22, Sweet Grass 20, Florence-Carlton

18, Superior 18, Plentywood 17, Powder River 15.33, Darby 14,

Choteau 12.33, Red Lodge 12, Roundup 12, Forsyth 12, Manhattan 12,

Three Forks 11, Broadwater 10, Jefferson 10, Fairfield 8, Malta

5.33, Cascade 4, Plains 3, Lincoln County 2.

100 —1, Deni Fitzpatrick, Cut Bank,

12.71. 2, Ashley Olson, Plentywood, 13.14. 3, Kaitlyn Wurnig,

Huntley Proj, 13.16. 4, Sami Mohl, Red Lodge, 13.36. 5, Tess Porch,

Florence-Car, 13.38. 6, Erika Karcher, Cut Bank, 13.41.

200 — 1, Deni Fitzpatrick, Cut Bank,

25.68. 2, Kaitlyn Wurnig, Huntley Proj, 26.02. 3, Sienna Dailey,

Glasgow, 26.60. 4, Ashley Olson, Plentywood, 26.91. 5, Alyssa

Sanders, Glasgow, J26.91. 6, Sierra Bayles, Powder River,

27.44.

1,600 — 1, Paitton Herbst, Baker,

5:23.34. 2, Ashley Crippen, Colstrip, 5:25.41. 3, Selene Johnson,

Sweet Grass, 5:28.23. 4, Jami Johnson, Glasgow, 5:33.82. 5, Breanne

Watson, Broadwater, 5:33.86. 6, Emma Fewer, Glasgow, 5:34.70.

100 hurdles — 1, Hope Reid, Thompson

Fal, 14.98. 2, Deni Fitzpatrick, Cut Bank, 15.06. 3, Debra Griebel,

Glasgow, 16.09. 4, Nicole Stroot, Superior, 16.32. 5, Mallery

Knoll, Bigfork, 16.43. 6, Kaytlin Halle, Manhattan Ch, 16.69.

300 hurdles — 1, Mallery Knoll,

Bigfork, 45.70. 2, Hope Reid, Thompson Fal, 45.87. 3, Deni

Fitzpatrick, Cut Bank, 46.82. 4, Alyssa Sanders, Glasgow, 47.64. 5,

Katie Ducharme, Baker, 48.63. 6, Nicole Stroot, Superior,

48.92.

400 relay — 1, Cut Bank 50.25. 2,

Glasgow 51.18. 3, Bigfork 51.25. 4, Cascade 51.88. 5, Huntley

Project 51.98. 6, Three Forks 52.36.

1,600 relay — 1, Bigfork 4:08.43. 2,

Glasgow 4:10.18. 3, Loyola Sacred Heart

4:14.66. 4, Three Forks 4:16.26. 5,

Superior 4:16.68. 6, Lincoln County 4:16.87.

High jump — 1, Hope Reid, Thompson Fal,

5-03. 2, Hunter Borner, Roundup, 5-02. 3, Sami Mohl, Red Lodge,

5-00. 4, Alisha Breen, Choteau, 4-10. 4, Brenna Hansen, Powder

River, 4-10. 4, Jacki French, Malta, 4-10.

Triple jump — 1, Sarah Jakober, Darby,

36-04. 2, Sydne Steinbach, Fairfield, 36-02. 3, Allie Cole,

Forsyth, 34-02. 4, Hunter Borner, Roundup, 33-10.50. 5, Kaile

Sauro, Loyola Sacre, 33-08. 6, Caitlin Stadstad, Plentywood,

J33-08.

Shot put — 1, Ashley Medeiros, Loyola

Sacre, 37-11. 2, Megan Leathers, Florence-Car, 37-04. 3, Ashley

Thoeny, Powder River, 34-07. 4, Jordyn Vaile, Cut Bank, 34-06. 5,

Codi Francis, Manhattan, 34-05. 6, Erin Sutton, Columbus,

33-04.

Discus — 1, Carlee Smith, Manhattan,

129-06. 2, Megan Leathers, Florence-Car, 119-04. 3, Jordyn Vaile,

Cut Bank, 115-03. 4, Heaven Zuehlsdorff, Colstrip, 114-11. 5,

Franky Winnebrenner, Plains, 113-07. 6, Shanni Moran, Poplar,

109-02.

Javelin — 1, Kiernan Haggerty, Loyola

Sacre, 130-06. 2, Heaven Zuehlsdorff, Colstrip, 129-09. 3, Ashley

Thoeny, Powder River, 119-02. 4, Alisha Breen, Choteau, 116-08. 5,

Courtney Henry, Malta, 116-07. 6, Jacki French, Malta, 114-06.

Boys

Team scores — Darby 76, Manhattan 53,

Deer Lodge 35, Florence Carlton 35, Powell County 35, Broadwater

33.5, Columbus 32, Thompson Falls 30, Malta 28, Fairfield 26,

Loyola Sacred Heart 26, Plains 25, Bigfork 22.33, Baker 21.33,

Plentywood 20, Shelby 12.5, Three Forks 12, Superior 10, Colstrip

6, Troy 6, Choteau 5.5, Cascade 2.5, Powder River 2.33, Red Lodge

2, Lincoln County 2, Glasgow 1, Cut Bank 1, Sweet Grass 1.

100 — 1, Kodee Varner, Baker, 11.20. 2,

Matthew Brookie, Malta, 11.38. 3, Colin Hoeffner, Broadwater,

11.39. 4, Josh Janssen, Loyola Sacre, 11.40. 5, Aaron Johnston,

Darby, 11.41. 6, John Wiench, Cascade, 11.49.

200 — 1, Aaron Johnston, Darby, 22.88.

2, Ryan Hayes, Bigfork, 23.09. 3, Josh Janssen, Loyola Sacre,

23.10. 4, Matthew Brookie, Malta, 23.17. 5, Pres Harris,

Plentywood, 23.21. 6, Chase Ballantyne, Shelby, 23.23. 6, Colin

Hoeffner, Broadwater, 23.23.

800 — 1, Doug Raymer, Darby, 1:55.27

(new Class B record; old record of 1:55.50, Shawn McCracken, 1985).

2, Pres Harris, Plentywood, 1:59.50. 3, Marcus Swan, Manhattan,

2:00.38. 4, Jeremy Campbell, Darby, 2:01.84. 5, Cale Howells,

Manhattan, 2:01.96. 6, Madison Bolton, Florence-Car, 2:03.15.

3,200 — 1, Doug Raymer, Darby,

10:03.49. 2, Lyle Pocha, Loyola Sacre, 10:03.99. 3, Sean

Abrahamsen, Darby, 10:07.09. 4, Carter Montgomery, Plains,

10:07.40. 5, Tim Royce, Manhattan, 10:11.30. 6, Colten Wheeler,

Sweet Grass, 10:19.46.

110 hurdles — 1, Ethan Shevela,

Columbus, 15.89. 2, Slade Allen, Fairfield, 15.98. 3, Boone Helm,

Broadwater, 16.30. 4, Alex Roberts, Broadwater, 16.36. 5, Hunter

Price, Lincoln Coun, 16.38. 6, Nathan Vanderby, Manhattan,

16.44.

300 hurdles — 1, Slade Allen,

Fairfield, 40.04. 2, Kodee Varner, Baker, 40.09. 3, Dylan Reynolds,

Florence-Car, 40.44. 4, Boone Helm, Broadwater, 40.89. 5, Izaack

Zier, Manhattan, 41.33. 6, Preston Schubert, Thompson Fal,

41.72.

400 relay — 1, Broadwater 44.24. 2,

Bigfork 44.34. 3, Manhattan 44.74. 4, Thompson Falls 45.06. 5,

Choteau 45.15. 6, Cut Bank 45.44.

1,600 relay — 1, Manhattan 3:27.15. 2,

Darby 3:28.61. 3, Florence-Carlton 3:30.45. 4, Shelby 3:32.30. 5,

Broadwater 3:33.21. 6, Loyola Sacred Heart 3:34.08.

High jump — 1, Chalis Wilson, Thompson

Fal, 6-04. 2, Walter Johnson, Columbus, 6-02. 3, Nathan Olds, Troy,

6-00. 4, Christian Kerr, Bigfork, 5-10. 4, Jordan Gray, Baker,

5-10. 4, Ryan Gergan, Powder River, 5-10.

Triple jump — 1, Taylor Firestone,

Plains, 46-04.50. 2, Walter Johnson, Columbus, 45-03.50. 3, Ross

Mangun, Florence-Car, 43-01. 4, Reed Jenkins, Florence-Car, 42-08.

5, Sam Peterson, Malta, 41-05.50. 6, Kyle Gollahon, Choteau,

40-03.25.

Shot put — 1, Brandon Forson, Powell

Count, 56-00.50. 2, Cody Hanson, Three Forks, 48-01.75. 3, Tucker

Yates, Colstrip, 48-00.75. 4, John Weidenaar, Manhattan, 46-08.50.

5, BO Harris, Fairfield, 46-07. 6, Johnny Medeiros, Loyola Sacre,

46-01.

 

Friday at Charlie Merrifield Track

Girls

Team scores (after six events) —

Colstrip 22, Glasgow 21, Huntley Project 14, Big Timber 14,

Superior 11, Manhattan 10, Boulder 10, Baker 10, Bigfork 8,

Townsend 8, Cut Bank 8, Florence-Carlton 8, Thompson Falls 6,

Forsyth 6, Choteau 6, Three Forks 6, Plentywood 4, Darby 4, Plains

3, Wolf Point 2, Red Lodge 2, Lincoln County 1.

400 — 1, Kaitlyn Wurnig, Huntley Proj,

59.97. 2, Alyssa Sanders, Glasgow, 1:00.90. 3, Shayla Mack, Three

Forks, 1:01.32. 4, Ashley Olson, Plentywood, 1:01.42. 5, Kalyse

Engebretson, Red Lodge, 1:02.08. 6, Kadeshia Clark, Deer Lodge,

1:02.87.

800 — 1, Selene Johnson, Big Timber,

2:22.51. 2, Ashley Crippen, Colstrip, 2:24.86. 3, Mariah Renteria,

Choteau, 2:28.52. 4, Paitton Herbst, Baker, 2:28.57. 5, Tiar’E

Little Head, Wolf Point, 2:29.09. 6, Bailey Malecha, Lincoln Coun,

2:30.21.

3,200 — 1, Jami Johnson, Glasgow,

11:56.96. 2, Breanne Watson, Townsend, 12:04.20. 3, Paitton Herbst,

Baker, 12:16.02. 4, Selene Johnson, Big Timber, 12:21.43. 5, Ashley

Crippen, Colstrip, 12:27.63. 6, Emma Fewer, Glasgow, 12:44.83.

Pole vault — 1, Emily Schroeck,

Boulder, 10-00. 2, Caitlin Charlebois, Bigfork, 9-06. 3, Hope Reid,

Thompson Fal, J9-06. 4, Bailey Cranford, Huntley Proj, J9-06. 5,

Sienna Dailey, Glasgow, J9-06. 6, Kinzie Cooper, Superior,

9-00.

Long jump — 1, Nicole Stroot, Superior,

16-10. 2, Lacy Wilkins, Colstrip, 16-09. 3, Allie Cole, Forsyth,

16-03. 4, Sarah Jakober, Darby, 16-01. 5, Erika Karcher, Cut Bank,

15-11. 6, Kelsey Beagley, Plains, 15-10.

Discus — 1, Carlee Smith, Manhattan,

129-06. 2, Megan Leathers, Florence-Car, 119-04. 3, Jordyn Vaile,

Cut Bank, 115-03. 4, Heaven Zuehlsdorff, Colstrip, 114-11. 5,

Franky Winnebrenner, Plains, 113-07. 6, Shanni Moran, Poplar,

109-02.

Boys

Team scores (After six events) — Darby

26, Deer Lodge 25, Manhattan 20, Thompson Falls 15, Malta 14,

Florence-Carlton 12, Plains 11, Plentywood 10, Superior 10, Shelby

8, Fairfield 6, Missoula Loyola 6, Columbus 6, Bigfork 4, Three

Forks 4, Choteau 2.5, Red Lodge 2, Cascade 1.5, Townsend 1, Glasgow

1, Baker 1.

400 — 1, Pres Harris, Plentywood,

49.92. 2, Aaron Johnston, Darby, 49.97. 3, Marcus Swan, Manhattan,

50.44. 4, Jacob Senecal, Deer Lodge, 50.71. 5, Nathan Vanderby,

Manhattan, 51.11. 6, Adam Debruycker, Choteau, 51.16.

1,600 — 1, Doug Raymer, Darby, 4:30.77.

2, Sean Abrahamsen, Darby, 4:32.11. 3, Lyle Pocha, Loyola Sacre,

4:35.07. 4, Tim Royce, Manhattan, 4:37.99. 5, Madison Bolton,

Florence-Car, 4:39.29. 6, Carter Montgomery, Plains, 4:40.93.

Pole vault — 1, Christofer Erikksson,

Superior, 13-00. 2, Dominque Holt, Thompson Fal, 12-06. 2, Rodney

Hunter, Deer Lodge, 12-06. 4, Brett Witt, Deer Lodge, J12-06. 5,

Levi Nelson, Cascade, 12-00. 5, David Lightner, Choteau, 12-00.

Long jump — 1, Taylor Firestone,

Plains, 21-03.25. 2, Chase Ballantyne, Shelby, 21-00. 3, Walter

Johnson, Columbus, 20-11.50. 4, Kyle Hauns, Bigfork, 20-04.50. 5,

Ross Mangun, Florence-Car, 20-01.25. 6, Kenny Hoeffner, Townsend,

19-10.50.

Discus — 1, Brandon Forson, Deer Lodge,

178-04 (New Class B record, old record by Forson, 2007, 177-3). 2,

Damon Ward, Florence-Car, 148-09. 3, Bo Harris, Fairfield, 148-00.

4, Cody Hanson, Three Forks, 141-00. 5, John Weidenaar, Manhattan,

139-10. 6, Kyle Ducharme, Baker, 133-06.

Javelin — 1, Dane Stiles, Malta,

174-05. 2, Cody Phillips, Thompson Fal, 174-04. 3, Austin Jacobson,

Manhattan, 170-05. 4, Kaden Bedwell, Malta, 162-05. 5, Conner

Kelly, Red Lodge, 157-10. 6, Chaz Gordon, Glasgow, 155-03.