Javelin thrower claims AA title

The Daily Inter Lake

Christensen rallies from fifth place to first for Flathead

HELENA - From fifth to first.

That was the jump Flathead Bravette Ali Christensen made Friday in the finals of the Class AA girls' javelin throw at Vigilante Stadium.

"They were all real close, within a foot or two (of each other)," said Flathead girls' coach Kirtlye Lohof.

The best throw at that point was 117 feet.

On Christensen's last attempt, she uncorked a 118-3 toss, then waited out four more competitors before she was declared the winner.

Christensen has thrown the javelin further - she was second last weekend at 124-10 - but Lohof was impressed.

"It's the best I've ever seen her compete," she said.

"To win on your last throw is the most nailbiting. She put in a lot of time over the winter. She works hard and it was great to see her grab the state championship," Lohof said.

"Terrible throwing conditions, bad runway, pouring down rain, but it was one of her prettiest throws, nice and straight," she said.

"We were all very excited," Lohof said.

Senior Ally Krautbauer also placed for the Bravettes. She garnered a fifth in long jump and a sixth in high jump.

"For the first part of the day, we were three for three," Lohof said.

They also made it into double digits with 12.5 points.

Missoula Big Sky has the edge after the first day with 52 points. Billings West had 51, and Butte is third with 35.

Flathead is ninth, and Glacier is 11th with three points.

Glacier's Heather Fraley was fifth in the 1,600 (5:18) and Emilee Hashley was sixth in shot (37-1).

On the boys' side, it's Billings West with a big lead.

West has 64 points, Missoula Big Sky, Billings Skyview and Flathead are tied with 32, and Bozeman has 28. The Glacier Wolfpack has one point.

"It was a rough day in the rain, but the kids were great. This was not a sprinkle, not a rain and a stop … it was steady all day long," Lohof said.

"But they didn't complain and they didn't seem to let it faze them."

"It poured. It absolutely was pouring rain from the minute we started - up until about 1 p.m.," said Flathead boys' coach Dan Hodge.

"It was miserable conditions for competitors," he said.

The good news for the Flathead boys was that of the nine events in which they were entered Friday, the Braves scored in eight.

But five of those were sixth places.

"I'm pleased with the fact, even though we haven't scored a ton of points, we still scored in eight of the nine events we competed in. Out of those, five were personal bests," he added.

The top result for Flathead was Sam Tedrow in the long jump and the 400 relay team of Tedrow, Mike Kozlowski, Ian Damon and Charlie Dotson.

Tedrow jumped 20-3 3/4 to finish second. The winning jump was 21-10.

They were second to Billings West. With the exception of one handoff, everything went as well as it could in that race for Flathead.

"Even with a perfect handoff, West was ahead of us. We were definitely second," Hodge said.

Others who placed were Mike Kozlowski, sixth in the 100, Tyler Thomas, fifth in shot (48 5 1/2), C.J. Manning was sixth in high jump (5-10), Tedrow was sixth in 400 (50.98), Justin Kersteter was sixth in javelin (158-11) and Leif Castren was sixth in the 3,200 (10:06.91).

For Glacier, Taylor Hart placed sixth in the 300 hurdles (41.3).

The spectators were treated to a new Class AA state record - Chris Wilson of CMR ran a 10.82 to win the 100. The old record was 10.84 by Flathead's Craig Galle in 1994.

Boys

Team Totals

Billings West 64, Missoula Big Sky 32, Skyview 32, Flathead 32, Bozeman 28, Butte 20, C.M. Russell 20, Capital 20, Billings Senior 18, Missoula Sentinel 18, Great Falls 13, Missoula Hellgate 12, Helena 11, Glacier 1.

Events

400 relay - 1, Billings West, 42.71; 2, Flathead, 43.10; 3. Billings Senior 43.46; 4, Helena 43.68; 4. Great Falls 43.68; 6, Captial 43.76.

300 hurdles - 1, Lane Hamilton, Big Sky, 39.70; 2, Seth Long, Capital 39.94; 3, Drew Owens Big Sky 40:03; 4, Logan Hodke, Great Falls, 40.21; 5, Dustin Hover, Hellgate, 40.33; 6, Taylor Hart, Glacier, 41.30.

800 - 1, Kaleob Palmer, Butte, 1:56.22; 2, Greg Bush, West, 1:58.30; 3, Cody Lund, Big Sky 1:58.63; 4, Kenny Hornung, Skyview, 2:00.17; 5, Matt Francis, Bozeman, 2:01.10; 6, Jordan Schelender, Bozeman 2:01.13.

Shot put - 1, James Cole, Bozeman, 55-11; 2, Beau Donaldson, Big Sky, 51-7 1/2; 3, Sean Thornton, Capital, 50-7; 4, Matt White, West, 50-5 1/2; 5, Tyler Thomas, Flathead, 48-4 1/2. 6, Louis Blood, Capital, 46-11.

High jump - 1, Kurtis Parsons, CMR, 6-2; 2, Levi Frickle, Skyview, 6-2; 3, Lee Hardt, West, 6-2; 4, Kevin Mrray, West, 6-0; 5, Dan Miller, Big Sky, 6-0; 6, C.J. Manning, Flathead, 5-10.

Long jump - 1. Corey Raymon, Senior, 21-10; 2. Sam Tedrow, Flathead, 20-3 3/4; 3. Justin Goselin, Skyview, 19-10 1/2; 4. John MacDonald, West, 19-9 1/2; 5. Charlie Hoving, Capital, 19-9 1/2; 6. TJ Leep, Bozeman, 19-7.

100 - 1, Chris Wilson, CMR, 10.82; 2, Josh Pelczar, West, 10.94; 3, Aaron Booth, Great Falls, 11.01; 4, Brandon Pearce, Skyview, 11.12; 5, Justin Maes, Helena, 11.18; 6, Mike Kozlowski, Flathead, 11.24.

400 - 1, Josh Pelczar, West, 49.59; 2, Brandon Pearce, Skyview, 50.10; 3, Kaleob Palmer, Butte, 50.26; 4, Chip Goodrich, Bozeman, 50.42; 5, Casey Lamping, Capital, 50.71; 6, Sam Tedrow, Flathead, 50.98.

Javelin - 1, Ty Rogers, Sentinel, 181-8; 2, Brendan Gragg, Hellgate, 171-3; 3, Brian Schwartzkoph, West, 168-10; 4, Josh Swain, West, 167-1; 5, Kalob Smith, Senior, 165-7; 6, Justin Fersteter, Flathead, 158-5.

3,200 - 1, Alex Brekke, Bozeman, 9:38.69; 2, Rob Brooks, Sentinel 9:41.46; 3, Mike Barker, Helena, 9:48.79; 4, Ethan Shrader, Butte, 9:54.47; 5, Jake Roske, Hellgate, 10:00.56; Leif Castren, Flathead, 10:06.91.

Girls

Team Totals

Missoula Big Sky 52, Billings West 51, Butte 35, Bozeman 34, Missoula Hellgate 30, Billings Senior 22.5, Missoula Sentinel 17, C.M. Russell 14, Flathead 12.5, Billings Skyview 6, Glacier 3, Great Falls 2.

Events

High jump - 1, Gwen Abbott, Butte, 5-2, 2, Kirsten Vaculick, Hellgate, 5-0; 3, Jessica Leslie, West, 5-0; 4, Jessie Gilligan, Big Sky 4-10, 4, Amy McLaughlin, Big Sky, 4-10; 6, Kylie Edinger, Senior, 4-10; 6, Ally Krautbauer, Flathead, 4-10.

Javelin - 1, Ali Christensen, Flat, 118-3; 2, Meghan Eisenmann, Sentinel, 117-6; 3, Tracy Barrett, Senior, 117-0; 4, Rebecca Robinson, Butte, 116-7; 5, Coriann Clark, Bozeman, 115-4; 6, Kalli McCloskey, Butte, 113-9.

Long jump - 1, Jessica Leslie, Billings West, 17-2 3/4, Lindsey Hall, Big Sky, 16-11 1/2; 3, Meghan Davis, Bozeman, 16-9 3/4; 4, Danielle Muri, West, 16-6 1/4; 5, Ally Krautbauer, Flathead, 16-5 1/4; 6, Callie Muri, Billings West, 16-4 3/4.

400 relay - 1, Billings West, 49.45; 2, C.M. Russell 49.93; 3, Misosula Big Sky 50.44; 4, Bozeman 50.45; 5, Butte, 50.67; 6, Missoula Senitnel 50.83.

300 hurdles - 1, Lindsey Hall, Big Sky 45.92; 2, Sarah McGree Butte, 47.14; 3, Sawyer Ferguson, Skyview, 47.17; 4, Caitlyn Lower, Hellgate, 47.99; 5, Jayme Hill, CMR, 48.30; 6, Coriann Clark, Bozeman, 48.51.

1,600 - 1, Alexa Aragon, Senior, 5:02; 2, Heidi Turner, Boz, 5:05; 3, Keli Dennehy, Butte, 5:10; 4, Auriele Fain, Senior, 5:13; 5. Heather Fraley, Glacier 5:18; 6, Elizabeth Spartas, Bozeman, 5:18.

Shot put - 1, Kiandra Rajala, Hellgate, 40-7; 2, Kirsten Tilleman, Bozeman, 40-1 1/4; 3, Jessica Sharbono, West, 40-0; 4, Bri Holland-Stergar, Butte, 39-6; 5, Kristina Teasly, Great Falls, 37-10 1/2; 6, Emilee Hashley, Glacier, 37-1.

400 - 1, Melissa Jenkins, Big Sky, 57.57; 2, Chantelle Grey, Missoula Sentinel, 58.02; Lauryn McKay, West, 58.08; 4, Kelsey Ham, Bozeman, 49.87; 5, Alexa Aragon, Senior, 1:00.59; 6, Jessica Leslie, West, 1:00.93.

200 - 1, Melissa Jenkins, Big Sky, 25.56; 2, Bobbi Furrer, Hellgate, 3, Lauren McKay, West, 25.72; 4, Kate Steipe, CMR, 26.04; 5, Morgan Braby, Big Sky, 26.08; Jessica Leslie, West, 26.24.