Bigfork dominates divisional dashes

WHITEFISH - Speed rules in Bigfork.

Two sprinters backed that up Saturday during the final day of the Northwestern A divisional track meet.

Senior standout Andrew Whittaker doubled up with victories in the 100 (11.11) and 200 (22.61), while freshman sensation Mallery Knoll took first in the 100 (13.02) and settled for second place in the 200 (26.88).

"Wow! It was really close," Knoll said of the 200 finish.

"She was like a hair in front of me."

Polson's Breanne Kelley edged her out, 26.68.

On the team front, it was all Whitefish. The boys rolled up 151 points to best last year's champion Polson, 142. Bigfork was third with 70.

Whitefish's girls tallied 150 points with Polson a distant second with 96. Libby finished third, 88.

The top five placers in all events advance to state. That meet starts Friday in Bozeman.

Knoll added another first to her collection, winning the 100 hurdles.

"I can't remember the last time I had a boy and a girl both win the 100 in the same year (at divisional)," Bigfork coach Sue Loeffler said.

"I don't know if it's rare. Usually you will have good boys and no girls. Or you will have good girls and no boys."

But not this year. Loeffler is blessed with speed on both squads.

"Andrew is exceptional, but I do have a lot of (kids) who run 11.6, 11.7," Loeffler said.

Whittaker finished third in the 100 at divisional a year ago, but won the Class A state title a week later.

This is his first year running the 200.

"Coach convinced me to run," he said.

"She (Loeffler) said it would help for college recruiting purposes."

Whittaker, who was the smallest sprinter in the finals at 5-foot-7, 140-pounds, won easily.

"I didn't think I would be able to run the 200 (competitively) last year because of my short strides," Whittaker said.

"I'm really happy I took it up. It's a lot easier than I thought. I thought I would be tired, but I just got in better shape this year."

Whittaker said he likes to be in the lead when coming off the curve in the 200.

"Then hold everyone off," he said.

"So everyone has to play catchup."

It worked again.

"The start by far," Whittaker said of where he excels in the 100.

"I'm short, so I stay lower for the start. That helps."

Whittaker got a late start in track, passing on the sport until his sophomore year.

"I played basketball and coach (Jim) Epperly told me I should do track," he said.

It was a good move.

Knoll said her dash times Saturday were slower than Friday's preliminaries.

"My finishes today weren't as good," she said.

"I need to work on driving my arms more, especially around the corner (in the 200)."

Knoll came into the 200 looking to sweep the dashes. She has competed in the 200 just four times.

"I was pretty sure (I could do it)," she said.

"I get pretty nervous at the start. That's my least favorite part of the race."

Knoll came into the season with a goal of qualifying for state. With that accomplished, now she has a new one.

"Hopefully first (place)," she said of the three events.

"I want to win. I'm looking forward to winning."

Only one divisional record was broken and that came on the final day. Polson's Logan Torgison won the 800 in 1:56.88. The old mark was 1:57.1 set by Devin Schmit of Columbia Falls in 2005.

The title for the WHS girls was their fourth straight.

"Our distance group came through," WHS coach Derek Schulz said.

"In the 800 we got solid points, in the 3,200 we went two through six. That pack of girls was incredible."

Whitefish scored 21 points in the 3,200.

"The other thing that happened late in the meet was we went one-two in the javelin. (Ashley) Ferda had a career-best throw. A real dark horse for us was Olivia Nagler. She finished second."

Ferda's winning distance was 132-6. Nagler threw 114-2.

The Polson boys continued an impressive streak, picking up a divisional trophy for the 14th-straight year.

"I thought the competition in this meet was outstanding," Schulz said.

"For our boys, I really thought every single kid stepped up a little bit. That's what it takes at a divisional. We got places in about every event. That's what we look for, event coverage."

Girls

Team Totals

Whitefish 151, Polson 142, Bigfork 70, Columbia Falls 60, Ronan-St. Ignatius 54, Libby 50.

Events

100 - 1, Mallery Knoll, BF, 13.02; 2, Ashley Ferda, WF, 13.30; 3, Jill Hamilton, BF, 13.33; 4, Carly Schwickert, WF, 13.47; 5, Logan Best, Lib, 13.48; 6. Jen Egdorf, BF, 13.52.

200 - 1, Breanne Kelley, Pol, 26.68; 2, Mallery Knoll, BF, 26.88; 3, Merilee Mowbray, Pol, 27.09; 4, Heather Melcer, WF, 27.57; 5, Jen Egdorf, BF, 27.64; 6, Logan Best, Lib, 27.68.

800 - 1, Lauren Kuennen, WF, 2:22.49; 2, Carly Schwickert, WF, 2:25.26; 3, Sierra Pete, Pol, 2:25.27; 4, Stella Holt, WF, 2:25.60; 5, Quinci Paine, BF, 2:26.26; 6, Ashli Fairbank, CF, 2:27.07.

3200 - 1, Kayla Carlson, BF, 11:52.98; 2, Lauren Kuennen, WF, 12:20.98; 3, Bailey Eaton, WF, 12:22.77; 4, Clare Miller, WF, 12:24.44; 5, Loni Hanson, WF, 12:25.16; 6, Jackie Cassidy, WF, 12:27.74.

100 hurdles - 1, Ashley Ferda, WF, 14.97; 2, Emily Stoltz, CF, 15.90; 3, Sadie McMillan, RSI, 16.01; 4, Mallery Knoll, BF, 16.21; 5, Breanne Kelley, Pol, 16.22; 6, Jade Hansen, WF, 17.21.

300 hurdles - 1, Nicole Davey, Pol, 45.91; 2, Breanne Kelley, Pol, 47.02; 3, Mallery Knoll, BF, 47.12; 4, Sadie McMillan, RSI, 47.94; 5, Ariel Ducote, WF, 48.31; 6, Christa Redcrow, Pol, 49.35.

1,600 relay - 1, Polson (Sierra Pete, Breanne Kelley, Merilee Mowbray, Nicole Davey; meet record; old record not available), 4:03.65; 2, Ronan-St.Ignatius, 4:12.37; 3, Libby, 4:13.18; 4, Whitefish, 4:15.18; 5, Columbia Falls, 4:15.82; 6, Bigfork, 4:18.63.

Shot put - 1, Loni Havlovick, Pol, 34-9; 2, Ishan Wylie, RSI, 34-0; 3, Samantha Ladenburg, CF, 33-6; 4, Erin Baker, Lib, 32-5; 5, Natasha Lafferty, Pol, 30-11; 6, Katelinn Rutherford, Lib, 30-4.

Javelin - 1, Ashley Ferda, WF, 132-6; 2, Olivia Nagler, WF, 114-2; 3, Stephany Kluver, Lib, 110-6; 4, Brittany Martin, Lib, 104-1; 5, Lisa Larsson, RSI, 103-8; 6, Loni Havlovick, Pol, 102-4.

High jump - 1, Alyssa Fierro, Bigfork, 5-0; 2, Ishan Wylie, RSI, 4-10; 2, Sadie McMillan, RSI, 4-10; 4, Emily Stoltz, CF, 4-10; 4, Ketti Wilhelm, CF, 4-10; 6, Alex Kulbeck, Lib, 4-10.

Long jump - 1, Christa Redcrow, Pol, 15-8; 2, Alyssa Ladenburg, CF, 15-11/2; 3, Hailey Farmin, WF, 15-03/4; 4, Jylisa Fields, CF, 14-91/4; 5, Tara Johnson, Pol, 14-9; 6, Shantell McLinden, Lib, 14-81/4.

BOYS

Team Totals

Whitefish 150, Polson 96, Libby 88, Columbia Falls 84, Bigfork 72, Ronan-St. Ignatius 37.

Events

100 - 1, Andrew Whittaker, BF, 11.11; 2, Stephen Baumgarter, CF, 11.30; 3, Anto Daoud, WF, 11.38; 4, Scott Palmer, CF, 11.43; 5, Tyler Mason, WF, 11.54; 6, Aaron Tkachyk, WF, 11.57.

200 - 1, Andrew Whittaker, BF, 22.61; 2, Zack Rowan, Lib, 22.83; 3, Anto Daoud, WF, 22.99; 4, Makenzy Kelch, RSI, 23.06; 5, Aaron Tkachyk, WF, 23.44; 6, Scott Palmer, CF, 23.46.

800 - 1, Logan Torgison, Polson, 1:56.88 (meet record; old record 1:57.1, Devin Schmit, Columbia Falls, 2005); 2, Drew Coco, WF, 1:57.30; 3, Michael Samdahl, WF, 2:04.70; 4, Ray Dalke, Pol, 2:05.43; 5, Shawn Whitman, CF, 2:06.70; 6, Phillip Sandry, BF, 2:07.65.

3,200 - 1, Drew Coco, WF, 9:51.22; 2, Logan Torgison, Pol, 10:16.64; 3, Shawn Whitman, CF, 10:42.39; 4, Patric Jessat, CF, 10:44.03; 5, Kevin Wroblewski, RSI, 10:53.30; 6, Danny Beavers, RSI, 11:07.15.

300 hurdles - 1, Seth Wiley, WF, 41.79; 2, Chris Alfiero, Pol, 42.15; 3, Jamie Engledrum, RSI, 42.41; 4, Tyler Mason, WF 42.71; 5, Kody Berget, Lib, 42.71; 6, Willie Roche, WF, 44.09.

1,600 relay - 1, Libby (Loran Nelson, Riley Hoyer, Seth Wright, Zack Rowan), 3:26.91; 2, Whitefish, 3:34.18; 3, Polson, 3:34.88; 4, Columbia Falls, 3:36.65; 5, Ronan-St. Ignatius, 3:37.28; 6, Bigfork, 3:38.47.

High jump - 1, Colt Idol, WF, 6-6; 2, Seth Wright, Lib, 6-6; 3, Chase Fairbank, CF, 6-2; 4, Garrett Pewe, BF, 6-2; 5, Willie Roche, WF, 5-10; 6, TJ Benson, Lib, 5-10.

Long jump - 1, Aaron Tkachyk, WF, 21-2; 2, Willie Roche, WF, 20-61/4; 3, Seth Wright, Lib, 20-41/2; 4, Roland Benedict, BF, 19-91/4; 5, Riley Hoyer, Lib, 19-61/4; 6, Cody Doyle, Pol, 19-3.

Shot put - 1, Jordan Gragert, Lib, 46-11; 2, Kevin McDowell, WF, 45-4; 3, Nathan Klug, CF, 44-0; 4, Donny Tudahl, BF, 43-11; 5, Jake Durglo, RSI, 43-4; 6, Loran Nelson, Lib, 42-6.

Javelin - 1, Steven Brennen, CF, 169-3; 2, Seth Wright, Lib, 166-4; 3, Brock Picard, Pol, 165-10; 4, Adam Skogen, RSI, 158-6; 5, Dustin Beck, WF, 157-1; 6, Alex Elespuru, WF, 148-5.