FHS' Bennett a champ at AA state track meet

Jesse Bennett made sure that Flathead High had a state champion at the first-ever state track meet at Legends Stadium.

In the boys Class AA 800 on Saturday, the junior distance runner stuck to the heels of the lead pack until the final corner, when he turned it on and sailed from third place to first in a matter of steps.

By the final straightaway, it was Bennett all alone.

"I just didn't want to lose," Bennett said. "I was coming around that corner and thought I'd give all I could and see what happens."

Bennett finished with a winning time of 1:56.65 and helped lead the Braves to fifth place with 43 points.

Billings swept the top three team places on the boys side, with West scoring 98 points to win for the fourth year in a row. Skyview followed with 65 for second and Senior totaled 48 for third.

The Glacier boys finished in seventh place with 39 points.

Chris Wilson of Great Falls C.M. Russell broke two all-class state records, in the 100 with a time of 10.67 and in the 200 with a 21.06.

On the girls side, Maddey Frey of Glacier won her second gold medal in as many days.

Moments before the 100 final, Frey said she loosened up her shoulders and tried to relax while a group of friends along with her mom and dad cheered her on from the crowded stands.

Frey didn't disappoint. She cruised to victory in 12.80.

"Having the 400 team win yesterday I think settled me down," said Frey, who ran on the state champion 400 relay team. "It feels amazing (winning the state title)."

The Glacier girls finished with 40 points for sixth place.

Freshman Tess Brenneman scored 26 of Flathead's 29 points and the Bravettes finished in eighth place.

During two days of competition, Brenneman took second place in the long jump, third in the 100 and second in the 400, and placed fourth in the 200.

She also competed in the high jump and ran on the 400 relay team.

After 16 events, both Butte and Billings Senior were tied at 79 points. In the final girls event of the state meet, the 1,600 relay, Butte finished third, two seconds ahead of fourth-place Billings Senior. That earned Butte the state championship with 85 points. Senior finished with 83 for second place and Missoula Big Sky took third with 75.

In the boys 3,200, Flathead junior Leif Castren exchanged the lead with Helena's Dan Osborne numerous times before finishing second place. On Friday, Castren took third in the 1,600.

Glacier senior Taylor Graham ended his prep career with a personal best in a tightly contested triple jump. Graham jumped 42-9 to earn third place. Western AA divisional champ Kyle Montini came in fifth.

"That was a good place for me," Graham said. "It was a good way to go out."

Senior Kayla Smart medaled one more time before wrapping up her track career at Glacier. In the triple jump, Smart, a member on the state champ 400 relay team, landed at 34-8 in the triple jump en route to third place. Teammate and fellow senior Ali Armstrong finished sixth.

Glacier's Jacob Leininger finished third in the 110 hurdles while Flathead's Duncan Aylor came in fifth.

Glacier's Jake Glasman placed fourth in the 800.

Flathead's Marissa Stivers and Ian Damon picked up sixth-place medals, Stivers in the javelin and Damon in the 100.

After the final event of the day, the Glacier boys 400 relay team gathered together one last time in uniform and bid farewell to two seniors, Ben Cutler and Glasman.

The team finished with their fastest time of the season.

"We're going to go home with our heads held high," said junior relay member Taylor Hart.

BOYS

Team Totals

Billings West (WEST) 98, Billings Skyview (SKYV) 65, Billings Senior (SENI) 48, Bozeman (BOZE) 45, Flathead (FLAT) 43, Great Falls CM Russell (CMR) 40, Glacier (GLA) 39, Helena (HELE) 37, Helena Capital (CAP) 32, Missoula Big Sky (MBS) 30, Butte (BU) 26, Missoula Sentinel (MS) 19, Missoula Hellgate (MH) 4, Great Falls (GF) 1.

Individual results

100 - 1, Chris Wilson, CMR, 10.67 (new all class state record, old record 10.74, set by Steve Heberly of Havre in 2003); 2, Brandon Pearce, SKYV, 11.16; 3, John MacDonald, WEST, 11.20; 4, Dalton Smith, SKYV, 11.38; 5, Mike Nguyen, SKYV, 11.41; 6, Ian Damon, FLAT, 11.43.

200 - 1, Chris Wilson, CMR, 21.06 (new all class state record, old record 21.51, set by Dan Hanley of Butte in 1981); 2, John MacDonald, WEST, 22.02; 3, Brandon Pearce, SKYV, 22.06; 4, Dalton Smith, SKYV, 22.31; 5, Chip Goodrich, BOZE, 22.37; 6, Ben Cutler, GLA, 22.44.

800 - 1, Jesse Bennett, FLAT, 1:56.65; 2, Kaleob Palmer, BU, 1:58.7; 3, Brett Edelman, SKYV, 1:58.86; 4, Jake Glasman, GLA, 2:00.17; 5, Jacob Kearney, HELE, 2:00.35; 6, Dan Osborne, HELE, 2:01.09.

3200 - 1, Dan Osborne, HELE, 9:53.92; 2, Leif Castren, FLAT, 9:56.25; 3, Jakob Woodland, BOZE, 10:01.54; 4, Ethan Shrader, BU, 10:16.46; 5, Ryan DeJarlais, BOZE, 10:17.61; 6, Will Strauss, GF, 10:22.35.

110 hurdles - 1, Connor Albertson, BOZE, 15.10; 2, Heath Hunter, BOZE, 15.24; 3, Jacob Leininger, GLA, 15.24; 4, Koleman Gross, 15.28; 5, Duncan Aylor, FLAT, 15.38; 6, Beau Berg, CAP, 15.48.

1600 relay - 1, Billings Skyview (Mike Nguyen, Garret Bergum, Dalton Smith, Brandon Pearce), 3:19.60; 2, Butte, 3:23.34; 3, Billings West, 3:23.97; 4, Billings Senior, 3:25.2; 5, Bozeman, 3:25.67; 6, Glacier, 3:25.78.

Pole vault - 1, Joey Petritz, MBS, 14-06; 2, Clinton McKinlay, CMR, 14-00; 3, Taylor Jackson, BOZE, 13-06; 3, Austin Sprenger, BOZE, 13-06; 5, Jason Wardell, CAP, 13-06; 6, Jordan Brown, SENI, 13-00.

Triple jump - 1, Ben West, WEST, 45-02 1/2; 2, Lee Hardt, WEST, 43-06; 3, Taylor Graham, GLA, 42-09; 4, Corey Raymond, SENI, 42-08 3/4; 5, Kyle Montini, GLA, 42-06; 6, Brendan Gragg, MH, 42-04 1/4.

Discus - 1, Brian Maus, MS, 158-02; 2, Logan Nathe, CAP, 157-02; 3, Ryan Parrish, MBS, 154-00; 4, Cameron Stone, CMR, 151-11; 5, Davis Brush, WEST, 149-07; 6, Toby Erickson, HELE, 149-06.

Javelin - 1, Brian Schwartzkoph, WEST, 202-09; 2, Eli Swain, WEST, 198-07; 3, Justin Meyer, MS, 184-10; 4, Josh Swain, WEST, 180-11; 5, Corey Dennehy, BU, 179-04; 6, Matt Reyant, CAP, 177-09.

GIRLS

Team Totals

Butte 85, Billings Senior 83, Missoula Big Sky 75, Billings West 55, Bozeman 50, Glacier 40, Missoula Sentinel 30, Flathead 29, Great Falls 18, Billings Skyview 16, Missoula Hellgate 16, Helena Capital 12, Great Falls CM Russell 10, Helena 8

Individual results

100 - 1, Maddey Frey, GLA, 12.80; 2, Chantelle Grey, MS, 12.96; 3, Tess Brenneman, FLAT, 13.06; 4, Chloe Kanning, SENI, 13.06; 5, Morgan Braby, MBS, 13.08; 6, Danielle Muri, WEST, 13.14.

200 - 1, Chantelle Grey, MS, 25.42; 2, Brianna Eaton, SENI, 25.65; 3, Sonia Antar, BOZE, 25.69; 4, Tess Brenneman, FLAT, 26.06; 5, Molly Briggeman, MH, 26.19; 6, Ellie Tinkle, MBS, 26.56.

1600 - 1, Alexa Aragon, SENI, 5:04.84; 2, Keli Dennehy, BU, 5:05.39; 3, Danielle Aragon, SENI, 5:05.88; 4, Heidi Turner, BOZE, 5:08.97; 5, Auralea Fain, SENI, 5:20.73; 6, Nicole Reitz, WEST, 5:23.23.

100 hurdles - 1, Lindsey Hall, MBS, 14.74; 2, Gwen Abbott, BU, 15.79; 3, Danielle Muri, WEST, 16.10; 4, Tori Weyland, WEST, 16.10; 5, Heidi Windauer, FLAT, 16.40; 6, Hilary Harrison, SKYV, 16.52.

300 hurdles - 1, Lindsey Hall, MBS, 45.29; 2, Sonia Antar, BOZE, 46.06; 3, Gwen Abbott, BU, 46.13; 4, Sawyer Ferguson, SKYV, 46.19; 5, Morgan Struble, MBS, 46.34; 6, Sarah Lidstrom, MBS, 46.49.

1600 relay - 1, Bozeman (Sonia Antar, Coriann Clark, Heidi Turner, Meagan Davis), 3:59.40; 2, Missoula Big Sky, 4:00.21; 3, Butte, 4:00.52; 4, Billings Senior, 4:02.60; 5, Missoula Hellgate, 4:03.71; 6, Missoula Sentinel, 4:06.30.

Pole vault - 1, Sara Lubke, CAP, 11-00; 2, Rebekka Chambers, SENI, 11-00; 3, Alexa Aragon, SENI, 10-00; 4, Liz Valentino-Manno, MH, 10-00; 5, Libby Madison, GF, 10-00; 6, Stacey Pitt, GLA, 10-00.

Triple jump - 1, Lindsey Hall, MBS, 35-04 3/4; 2, Sarah Fry, SKYV, 34-11 1/2; 3, Kayla Smart, GLA, 34-08; 4, Brianne Holland-Stergar, BU, 34-01 1/2; 5, Ashleigh Geiger, CMR, 33-09 1/4; 6, Ali Armstrong, GLA, 33-07 1/2.

Discus - 1, Jessica Sharbono, WEST, 141-06; 2, Kellie Cole, BOZE, 128-01; 3, Kristina Smith, BU, 118-03; 4, Mary Koppy, GF, 117-05; 5, Katlyn Rudy, BU, 116-07; 6, Tana Hansen, MS, 116-00.