Braves 5th in AA track

The Daily Inter Lake

HELENA - Speed to burn.

That was what the Billings West sprinters had this past weekend at the Class AA state track meet.

The strength of the Flathead Braves was also the best part of the Golden Bears - and the Bears were simply stronger.

The Braves were in good company, though. Not even a steady, weekend long downpour could slow West down as it scored 120 points to run away with the Class AA title at Vigilante Stadium.

Bozeman was second with 53 points, edging Helena Capital by one point and Missoula Big Sky scored 48. The Braves finished the meet with 40 points, tied with Billings Skyview for fifth place. Glacier finished the weekend with three points.

Among the girls, it was Big Sky with 105 points, Billings West with 97 and Bozeman with 70. Flathead wound up with 11.5 points and Glacier scored seven points.

"They took those (sprint points) away from us. So, in a major, major meet, we were an average team," said Flathead coach Dan Hodge.

"Once again, today it was wet. It rained and rained and rained," Hodge said.

"I didn't think the rain could get any worse, but it did today," agreed girls' coach Kirtlye Lohof.

"Overall, out of our 40 points, Sam Tedrow had 16 points. He had a pretty good meet for himself," the coach said.

Tedrow turned the triple jump of his life to place fourth (42-10). According to Hodge, that was a career-best by nearly 18 inches.

"I thought (the Braves) competed really well under the conditions. We're just not as good as the other guys," he added.

"All you can do is get on the track and try to do your best - and that's what they did," Hodge said.

Others who added to Flathead's first day total of 32 points were C.J. Manning, sixth in 110 hurdles (15.66), Charlie Dotson, fifth in the 200 (career best 22.58), Josh Harris, fourth in discus (149-2, Calder Morrison, fifth in discus (148-9), and the 1,600 relay team of Mike Gallagher, Ian Damon, Dotson and Andrew Edsall, fourth (season-best 3:26.24).

Placing Saturday for Glacier was Kyle Montini, fifth in triple jump (42-8 1/2).

As for the girls, Flathead had no other placers on Saturday - and even had one of Friday's points taken away.

Ally Krautbauer actually wound up sixth in the long jump instead of fifth.

There was a mistake when the jump of a Billings West girl was recorded. West appealed and won and Krautbauer and that girl swapped medals.

Glacier added four points to its meet total. Kayla Smart was fifth in triple jump (34-0 3/4) and Heather Fraley was fifth in the 3,200 (11:38.17).

"Overall, it was a good season," Lohof said. "They did the best they could. We've got some holes to fill, for sure. Our team was mostly made up of seniors and freshmen, but we have a real strong eighth grade class that's coming in … and we have the only state champion from Kalispell," she said.

Ali Christensen claimed the girls' javelin title on Friday.

The Flathead season track awards will be handed out at 6 p.m. Thursday in the high school gym.

Girls

Team Totals

Big Sky 105, West 97, Bozeman 70, Butte 61, Senior, 56.5; Hellgate 41, Sentinel 36, C.M. Russell 20.5, Flathead 11.5, Capital 9, Skyview 8, Glacier 7, Great Falls High 2.5, Helena 2.

Events

800 - 1, Alexa Aragon, Billings Senior 2:15.60; 2, Chantelle Grey, Sentinel, 2:16.4; 3, Keli Dennehy, Butte, 2:17.00; 4, Nicole Rietz, Billings West, 2:17.5; 5, Elizabeth Spartas, Bozeman, 2:18; 6, Tara Will, Capital, 2:19.90.

Triple jump - 1, Asia Graham, Sentinel, 37-1; 2, Lindsey Hall, Big Sky, 35-8 1/2; 3, Kirsten Tilleman, Boz, 35-6; 4, Callie Muri, West, 34-10 3/4; 5, Kalya Smart, Glacier, 34-0 3/4; 6, Kylie Edinger, Senior, 33-11 1/2.

100 hurdles - 1, Lindsey Hall, Big Sky, 14.81; 2, Sarah McGree, Butte, 14.94; 3, Gwen Abbott, Butte, 15.69; 4, Angela Morasco, Big Sky, 15.77; 5, Sawyer Ferguson, Skyview, 15.9; 6, Mikal Chancy, Capital, 16.16.

100 - 1, Lauryn McKay, West, 12.63; 2, Morgan Braby, Big Sky, 12.67; 3, Jessica Leslie, West, 12.73; 4, Bobbi Furrer, Hellgate, 12.76; 4, Melissa Jenkins, Big Sky, 12.76; 6, Callie Muri, West, 12.91.

3,200 - 1, Heidi Turner, Bozeman, 11:12.97; 2, Alexa Aragon, Senior, 11:20.51; 3, Keli Dennehy, Butte, 11:24.97; 4, Aurielle Fain, Senior, 11:32.68; 5, Heather Fraley, Glacier, 11:38.17; 6, Kori Thornock, Big Sky, 11:43.69.

1,600 relay - 1, Billings West 3:57.04; 2, Bozeman 3:59.35; 3, C.M. Russell 4:01.12; 4, Big Sky 4:06.59; 5. Hellgate, 4:08.06; 6, Sentinel 4:08.26.

Discus - 1, Jesse Harkness, West, 128-2; 2, Kristen Tilleman, Bozeman, 123-7; 3, Kiandra Rajala, Hellgate, 122-7; 4, Sara Feilzer, Big Sky, 121-1; 5, Kellie Cole, Bozeman, 120-11; 6, Hannah Hart, Big Sky 109-0.

Pole vault - 1, Allison Huguet, Big Sky, 10-6; 2, Sarah Lubke, Capital, 10-6; 2, Alexa Aragon, Senior, 10-6; 4, Rebecca Chambers, Senior, 10-6; 5, Mandy Evanson, Helena, 10-0; 6, MistyBurdaux, CMR, 10-0; 6, Libby Madison, Great Falls, 10-0.

Boys

Team Totals

Billings West 120, Bozeman 53, Capital 52, Big Sky 48, Skyview 40, Flathead 40, Sentinel 32, Butte 28, C.M. Russell 28, Senior 25, Great Falls High, 21, Helena 20, Hellgate 16, Glacier 3.

Events

110 hurdles - 1, Jared Hunt, Capital, 14.74; 2, Logan Hodke, Great Fall, 3, Lane Hamilton, Big Sky, 14.93; 4, Matt Miller, Capital, 15.15; 5, Dustin Hover, Hellgate, 15.19; 6, C.J. Manning, Flathead, 15.66.

Discus - 1, Brian Maus, Sentinel, 157-9; 2, James Cole, Bozeman, 151-6; 3, Matt White, West, 149-9; 4, Josh Harris, Flathead, 149-2; 5, Calder Morrison, Flathead, 148-9; 6, Sean Thornton, Capital, 147-10.

1,600 - 1, Alex Brekke, Bozeman, 4:24.81; 2, Ethan Shrader, Butte, 4:28.79; 3, Cody Lund, Big Sky, 4:30.95; 4, Rob Brooks, Sentinel, 4:32.09; 5, Jake Roske, Hellgate, 4:33.51; 6, Matt Francis, Bozeman, 4:38.15.

200 - 1, Josh Pelczar, West, 21.88; 2, Brandon Pearce, Skyviw, 21.91; 3, John MacDonald, West, 22.32; 4, Justin Maes, Helena, 22.36; 5, Charlie Dotson, Flathead, 22.58; 6, Jordan Klatt, Senior; 22.90.

Triple jump - 1, Ben King, West, 44-6 1/4; 2, Brent Zundel, West, 43-0 1/2; 3, Scotty Owens, Senior, 42-11; 4, Sam Tedrow, Flathead, 42-10; 5, Kyle Montini, Glacier, 42-8 1/2; 6, Mike Devlin, Big Sky, 42-5 1/2.

1,600 relay - 1, Billings West, 3:21.74; 2; Capital, 3:22.79; 3, Bozeman 3:25.86; 4, Flathead, 3:26.24; 5, Big Sky 3:26.85; 6, Helena 3:28.28.

Pole vault - 1, Clinton McKinley, C.M. Russell, 14-6; 2, Kelly Wardell, Capital 14-0; 3, Sean Robinson, West, 14-0; 4, Justin Maes, Helena, 13-6; 5, Bryan Trumbo, Big Sky, 13-6; 6, Jon Orthmeyer, Capital, 13-0.