Vals take 1st, Vikes 3rd at home track meet Saturday

The Bigfork high school track season got underway at home Saturday as the Valkyries won their first meet of the season while the Vikings finished third.

Favorable weather met the 16 teams in action at the meet as the Valkyries finished with 94 points to top Whitefish (81) and Thompson Falls (54) among the top three girls teams while the Vikings’ score of 61 was six behind Whitefish with Loyola taking the title with 119.

The Valkyries got strong performances from several athletes, including University of Montana-bound Scout Nadeau, who qualified for state and won the shot put with a toss of 37 feet, 5.5 inches and was also second in the discus with a throw of 105 feet, 6 inches.

Zoey Albert picked up right where she left off at state last season as well, winning the javelin and qualifying for this year’s state meet with a throw of 116 feet, 9 inches.

Inga Turner finished in the top-5 in several events, including taking fifth in the high jump by clearing 4 feet, 8 inches, third in the long jump with a leap of 15 feet, 6.5 inches and second in the 100 hurdles with a time of 16.84 seconds.

Turner also teamed up with Danika Bucklin, Emma Pouwer and Afton Lambrecht to earn third in the 4X100 relay with a time of 53.85 seconds.

Maddi Chappuis missed qualifying for state by a single inch in the shot put, finishing fourth with a toss of 34 feet, 8 inches and was also second in the javelin with a toss of 112 feet, 3 inches.

Braeden Gunlock took second in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 53.31 seconds and Pouwer was in the top six in three individual events - sixth in the 100 and 200-meter dashes and fifth in the long jump.

Also for the Valkyries Saturday, Claire Jensen was third in the mile (6:19.55), Ione Plummer was fourth in the 200 (28.71), Lambrecht was fourth in the 400 (1:04.20), Erika Dowling was fourth in the two mile (14:54.41), Delcy Stewart was sixth in the shot put (30-01) and Chloe Norred was sixth in the long jump with a leap of 14 feet, 5.75 inches.

Wyatt Johnson won the 110 hurdles and Levi Peterson won the long jump to help lead the Vikings to their third-place finish.

Johnson’s time of 16.10 seconds in the 110 hurdles was just shy of qualifying for state while Peterson won the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 9.5 inches.

The Vikings had a number of third place finishes, including Jack Jensen in the mile (4:52.27), Noah Dixon-Hamilton in the two mile (11:47.24), Joseph Farrier in the javelin with a toss of 133 feet, 8 inches and Tristen Herd in the pole vault with a height of 11 feet.

The 4X100 relay team of Johnson, Trevor Hill, Peterson and Farrier was also third with a time of 46.13 seconds.

Austin Savik took fourth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 46.05 and fifth in the 110 hurdles at 17.88 seconds. Hill was also sixth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12 seconds and Eli Thorness took fourth in the 400 with a time of 55.36 seconds.