Whitefish girls settle for 6th place
BUTTE - Chris Hicks can leave behind his prep career with pride.
The Whitefish High School senior led the Bulldogs' boys track and field team to the State A meet team victory by 26 points Saturday at Butte High School's Bulldog Memorial Stadium.
"Nothing compares to this in my whole life," Hicks said.
The future University of Montana decathlete won the triple jump on Saturday - to go with Friday's high jump victory, long jump silver medal and fourth-place 300-meter hurdles - and helped lead the Bulldogs' 1,600 and 400 relay teams to gold and silver, respectively, to put his legs into 50 of the team's 86 points.
It gave him and the Bulldogs their second State A track meet team victory in three years.
The Belgrade boys finished with 50 points to place second. Libby scored three late points in the pole vault to leap over Laurel in the standings and place third with 45 points. Glendive also leaped over Laurel to finish in fourth.
Saturday's weather in The Mining City was non-stop wet and cold, bordering on snow. The pole vault competitions couldn't be held outdoors and started more than an hour after action wrapped up at Bulldog Memorial Stadium. In the confines of Butte's East Middle School gym, the Bulldogs padded their 22-point first-place lead with 14 more points from Cort Rogers and R.C. Carter.
The Whitefish girls did well also. Led by senior Erin Greiner's triple jump gold, Ashley Ferda's 110 hurdles gold and the 400 relay's silver, they scored 32 1/2 points to place sixth.
The Belgrade girls won the State A title with 61 points. Frenchtown took second at 52 1/2 points while Livingston and Lewistown rounded out the top four.
"That may be the best the girls have finished since I've been a coach here," Whitefish coach Derek Schulz said. "We came in at right about the same spot last year but this year the competition was really stiff so I am really happy with the way the girls competed."
The 1,600 relay
The pinnacle of the day for the Whitefish boys came when they rallied from fourth place to win the 1,600 relay and end the action outdoors.
"It put a really good close to the day on the track even though we struggled with the weather," Schulz said. "That really said it all for the team. That's the one event they really take a lot of pride in and to end the running events with that victory said it all. The kids loved it."
Seniors Kyle Becker, Austin Troiano, Hicks and Taylor Ferda clocked a 3 minute, 26.0 second race to beat Polson by 92-100ths of a second.
Hicks got the baton on the third leg in fourth place and gave it to Ferda in first place. Then Ferda staved off Polson's Chris Ogle for the victory with a 400 split of 50.3 seconds.
"Hicks gave me a lead and Ogle and I have been battling against each other all year," Ferda said. "I could hear him behind me hitting the water so I just went as hard as I could."
Schulz explained, "Ferda had a tough first day and didn't do as well as he would have liked but he saved it for this race for that reason and now he's just thrilled."
Hicks' leg was simply amazing.
"What can you say about Hicks … He's incredible," Schulz said.
He got the baton about 25 meters behind first place and overtook first place in the final 10 meters.
"That had been my goal all along," Hicks said. "The only thing I wanted to do was get into first place and get the baton to him (Ferda) in first place. They (the guys in the third leg) were going pretty slow around the final bend so I thought they were saving some for the end. But I just outkicked them in the last 100. Whew!"
Becker shaved a whole two seconds off his personal best 400 in the first leg of the relay and handed the baton off to Troiano barely in first place.
"I ran my butt off," Becker said. "I've been waiting for this race all year."
Troiano lost the lead but kept pace with the front runners of the second leg from fourth place.
"Last summer I told somebody I'd rather be the slowest person on the team if we had a real fast team," Troiano said. "Those three are all faster than me and we have a real fast team."
Rogers Pole Vault
In the crazy venue of the East Middle School gym late Saturday night, Rogers set a new Whitefish High School record with a 14 foot, 6 inch pole vault and won the gold medal.
Carter placed fourth with a vault of 13-0.
Hurdlers Ferda, Rogers
The Bulldogs earned 14 points in the 110 hurdles with Ferda's victory and Rogers' surprise fourth-place finish.
Ferda got off to a slow start in lane 6 but clocked a 15.10-second race to win by more than a half second.
"I had Stokken from Lewistown right beside me and he was beating me over the sixth hurdle but then he hit one," Ferda said. "So in the last four hurdles, the only thing that was going through my head was just get over them because I clobbered that last one on (Friday). I was happy. It was a good solid race in crappy conditions."
Rogers finished by himself 77-100ths of a second later, 12 hours before winning pole vault gold.
"I was kind of scared because this is my first time running 110s at state," Rogers said. "I ran them last year, but wasn't cut out to make it at state. I was seeded seventh coming into this and I was really nervous. But I felt good just before the race."
Hicks' Triple
He was Montana's leader, regardless of school size, in the triple jump coming into the state meet weekend with a personal best of 47-9 1/2 after winning state last year with a mark of 45-1/2.
He won back-to-back gold medals in the event with a mark of 45-5 1/2. He did it on his third jump, after scratching on his second, and no one got within about two feet.
"The weather is not prime time for triple jump with wind and rain," Hicks said. "I didn't jump that good but I'm happy for the win. That's 10 more points for the team and that's what we are looking for is that team championship. It's huge."
Greiner's Triple
There must be something special in the Whitefish Lake water in regards to triple jumping … Or maybe it's a just jump coach Jeremy Anderson.
Greiner, a senior who has competed at state in the triple jump for four years, won her first gold medal about three hours after Hicks won his triple jump gold.
"Finally!" Greiner said. "I've made it to state in the triple jump for four years and have never been able to win it. I wanted it bad this year. I had been ahead of that Hamilton girl (Alicia Toews) all year and at divisionals she jumped 35-10 and I wasn't going to let her beat me at state.
"I was really trying to focus on my last phase. My first two phases could have gotten me a 36-0 but I could have just kind of died at the end if I did that. But I still won it. This feels great!"
Ashley Ferda's Gold
About 15 minutes after senior Taylor Ferda won gold for the boys in the 110 hurdles, his sophomore sister followed him with a gold of her own in the 100 hurdles.
"This is definitely one of the coolest parts of this whole meet, especially with my brother not being able to run at all last year," Ashley said. "It's really awesome we both won."
Taylor was unable to compete last year because of two broken vertebrae in his back.
Ashley clocked a 15.78-second victory to win by almost a half second.
"Going into it, the wind was just starting to pick up," Ashley said. "It was more of a side wind, but it really doesn't matter what the times are - just where you place. It definitely wasn't my best but my best is 15.2 seconds and this was a 15.6. So I'm really happy with my time, especially with these conditions."
Girls 400 Relay Silver
It came down to a photo finish.
Ashley Ferda, junior Marni Hale, sophomore Lauren Kuennen and junior Courtney Ferda missed out on state gold by 1-100th of a second to Corvallis in the 400 relay.
"It was an awesome race," said Courtney Ferda, the anchor.
It came down to Courtney, who got the baton in about second or third place, versus Corvallis junior Ashlee DellaSilva in the final leg and Courtney nearly caught her.
The Bulldogs finished the race in 50.37 seconds after winning Friday's prelim in 50.05 seconds. They beat the Blue Devils in the prelim by 17-100ths of a second.