Glacier boys Western AA track champs

The Daily Inter Lake

MISSOULA - With a cheering girls team waiting near the finish line, the Glacier boys took their victory lap at Missoula County Stadium.

There's a new Western AA divisional champion.

The Wolfpack hit its stride on Saturday and claimed the school's first divisional track and field title.

On the girls side, Glacier took second as a team and had another record-setting day as well. Freshman Lexy Boschee broke the 25-year-old divisional record in the high jump with a winning effort of 5-7 1/2. On Friday, the short relay team broke the old divisional record held by Flathead and set in 2003.

"It was just a great day for Glacier," Wolfpack boys coach Arron Deck said. "Both the boys and the girls competed so well."

The Wolfpack boys added to their slim first-day lead and finished with 122 points. Missoula Big Sky came in second with 94 and Helena Capital totaled 93.

"Our guys, I can't even begin to tell you, every one of them stepped up," Deck said.

There was an added incentive at this year's divisionals for Kalispell athletes with the state meet being at home next week for the first time.

Between both Flathead and Glacier, there were 30 qualifying place finishes in the top five.

Both Flathead boys and girls teams finished in fourth place.

Glacier's Kyle Montini defended his divisional crown in the triple jump with a winning leap of 42-10. Teammate Taylor Graham landed in second a day after winning the long jump.

Glacier's Ben Cutler had a busy two days. On Friday, the senior standout took second in the long jump. On Saturday he claimed the 400 title with a 49.38, took second in the 200 and ran on the winning 1,600 relay team alongside George Werk, Taylor Hart and Jake Glasman. The group clocked in at 3:27.97.

"I can't say enough about each and every kid on that bus," Deck said. "Even the kids that didn't make the trip contributed by working hard all season."

The Glacier girls tallied 94 points and earned a runner-up for the second year in a row. Big Sky, the defending state champions, won with 156.

In a tight 100 race, Glacier junior Maddey Frey came out ahead with a winning time of 12.86.

Right around the same time at the high jump, Boschee won by making 5-6, and had a choice of moving the bar up to attempt the record of 5-7, set in 1984 by Missoula Hellgate's Sandi Jacobsen.

"I talked to (jump coach Brad) Holloway, he said, 'Do you want to tie the record or beat it?'" Boschee said, "And I was like I want to beat it."

Officials raised the bar to 5-7 1/2 and Boschee's first two jumps knocked the bar off. On her third and final attempt, she leaped over but scratched the bar with her heels before landing on the mat.

"I heard my friend Rachel Cutler scream for me to jump off the mat because (the bar) was jiggling a tiny bit," Boschee said.

The freshman dove off the mat as the bar eased in its place. The historic jump, which is currently the tops in the state by a foot and a half, was safely secured.

Then the excitement erupted.

After hugging Holloway, Boschee said she darted over to her other coach, her father Jerry.

"I ran over to my family and I was at the point of tears," Boschee said.

Between juggling coaching and witnessing a daughter's historic moment, the weekend was definitely memorable, Jerry said.

"There's a lot of good memories within these two days," coach Boschee said.

Heather Fraley placed third in the 1,600. Kayla Smart took third in the triple jump and teammate Ali Armstrong came in right behind for fourth place.

Katie Pilsch finished third in the discus for Glacier.

The Flathead boys were led by junior Jesse Bennett, who took second in the 1,600, and Ian Damon, who placed second in the 100 and third in the 200.

Duncan Aylor qualified in the 110 hurdles with a fourth-place finish.

Freshman Tess Brenneman was a runner-up in the 200, took fourth in the 100 and nearly outleaned Missoula Sentinel's Chantelle Grey in the 400. Grey held on to win and set a new meet record with a time of 56.62, topping the old mark of 57.45 set by Hellgate's Emily Alspaugh in 1999. Brenneman was close with 57.57.

Flathead senior Heidi Windauer came in second in the 100 hurdles.

Notes: At the Eastern AA divisional meet in Great Falls, Chris Wilson of Great Falls C.M.R. ran a winning time of 10.48 in the 100. That's almost half a second faster than the current AA record (10.84) set by Flathead's Craig Galle in 1994. The all-class record is 10.74, set by Havre's Steve Heberly in 2003.

The Billings West boys won with 139 points, Billings Skyview took second with 104 and Bozeman third with 97.5.

The Butte High girls won with 144 points, Billings West took second with 100 and Billings Senior took third with 99.

Western AA Divisional

at Missoula County Stadium

Day 2, Saturday

GIRLS

Team scores (through 17 events): Missoula Big Sky 156, Glacier 94, Missoula Sentinel 73, Flathead 62, Helena Capital 51, Missoula Hellgate 48, Helena High 43.

100 - 1, Maddey Frey, Gla, 12.86; 2, Morgan Braby, BS, 12.96; 3, Bobbi Furrer, Hgt, 12.99; 4, Tess Brenneman, Flat, 13.00; 5, Chantelle Grey, Sent, 13.01; 6, Morgan Struble, 13.13.

200 - 1, Chantelle Grey, Sent, 26.11; 2, Tess Brenneman, Flat, 26.22; 3, Molly Briggeman, Hgt, 26.52; 4, Elle Tinkle, BS, 26.85; 5, Bobbi Furrer, Hgt, 26.88; 6, Demi Wignot, HH, 26.97.

400 - 1, Chantelle Grey, Sent, 56.62 (meet record; old mark, 57.45, Emily Alspaugh, Hgt, 1999); 2, Tess Brenneman, Flat, 57.57; 3, Elle Tinkle, BS, 57.89; 4, Molly Briggeman, Hgt, 58.96; 5, Marisa Kramer, Hgt, 59.44; 6, Allison Morrison, HH, 60.01.

1,600 - 1, Tara Will, Cap, 5:27.81; 2, Shelby Mallin, Sent, 5:28.83; 3, Heather Fraley, Gla, 5:32.75; 4, Taylor Rather, BS, 5:36.60; 5, Paige Bouma, Flat, 5:37.91; 6, Bailey Hughes, Flat, 5:39.27.

100 hurdles - 1, Lindsey Hall, BS, 14.47; 2, Heidi Windauer, Flat, 16.15; 3, Sarah Lidstrom, BS, 16.37; 4, Emily Harris, BS, 16.43; 5, Natalie Zimmer, BS, 16.48; 6, Morgan Struble, BS, 16.64.

1,600 relay - 1, Big Sky 4:02.57; 2, Hellgate, 4:05.64; 3, Sentinel, 4:05.95; 4, Capital, 4:09.51; 5, Flathead, 4:11.34; 6, Helena, 4:12.86.

Discus - 1, Sara Feilzer, BS, 116-6; 2, Amanda Snell, Cap, 110-1; 3, Katie Pilsch, Gla, 108-5; 4, Anna Pershouse, Sent, 108-0; 5, Tana Hansen, Sent, 107-6; 6, Taylor Amestoy, Hel, 106-7.

High jump - 1, Lexy Boschee, Gla, 5-7 1/2 (meet record; old mark, 5-7, Sandi Jacobsen, Hgt, 1984); 2, Kristen Daugherty, BS, 5-4; 3, Amy McLaughlin, BS, 5-4; 4, (tie) Brooke Johnson, Hel, and Lindsey Hall, BS, 5-2, 6, Alisa Gilchrist, Hel, 5-2.

Triple jump - 1, Lindsey Hall, BS, 36-31/2; 2, Hillary Thompson, Hel, 34-11 1/4; 3, Kayla Smart, Gla, 34-91/4; 4, Ali Armstrong, Gla, 34-2; 5, Jessica Stanisich, Hel, 33-81/2; 6, Amy McLaughlin, BS, 33-6.

BOYS

Team scores (through 17 events): Glacier 122, Missoula Big Sky 94, Helena Capital 93, Flathead 85, Helena High 81, Missoula Sentinel 36, Missoula Hellgate 16.

100 - 1, Brooks Nuanez, BS, 11.50; 2, Ian Damon, Flat, 11.52; 3, Thayne Palmer, BS, 11.57; 4, Braden Peterson, Cap, 11.66; 5, Calvin Athy, Flat, 11.71; 6, George Sherwood, Flat, 11.79.

200 - 1, Drew Owens, BS, 23.05; 2, Ben Cutler, Gla, 23.14; 3, Ian Damon, Flat, 23.15; 4, Taylor Hart, Gla, 23.31; 5, George Sherwood, Flat, 23.45; 6, Braden Peterson, Cap, 23.88.

400 - 1, Ben Cutler, Gla, 49.38; 2, Drew Owens, BS, 49.49; 3, Cody Hanson, Cap, 51.12; 4, Taylor Hart, Gla, 51.22; 5, Brad Olsen, Cap, 51.65; 6, Tyler Jacobson, Sent, 51.77.

1,600 - 1, Dan Osborne, Hel, 4:30.89; 2, Jesse Bennett, Flat, 4:31.06; 3, Jacob Kearney, Hel, 4:32.64; 4, Leif Castren, Flat, 4:34.32; 5, Dan Burfeind, Gla, 4:37.71; 6, Matt Barker, Hel, 4:43.20.

110 hurdles - 1, Beau Berg, Cap, 15.23; 2, Jacob Leininger, Gla, 15.24; 3, Koleman Gross, Hel, 15.25; 4, Duncan Aylor, Flat, 15.58; 5, Dan Miller, BS, 15.70; 6, Reece Easterling, Cap, 15.76.

1,600 relay - 1, Glacier (Jake Glasman, Ben Cutler, George Werk, Taylor Hart), 3:27.97; 2, Big Sky, 3:28.38; 3, Capital, 3:28.89; 4, Flathead, 3:31.54; 5, Sentinel, 3:31.62; 6, Helena, 3:32.85.

Discus - 1, Brian Maus, Sent, 162-10; 2, Toby Erickson, Hel, 162-2; 3, Logan Nathe, Cap, 160-1; 4, Ryan Parrish, BS, 148-10; 5, Tommy Peterson, Cap, 147-8; 6, Cory Budak, Hel, 141-4.

Triple jump - 1, Kyle Montini, Gla, 42-10; 2, Taylor Graham, Gla, 42-8; 3, Brenden Gragg, Hgt, 41-6 1/2; 4, Isaac Obrigewitch, Cap, 41-1/2; 5, Zane Reneau, Sent, 40-7; 6, Cody Hanson, Cap, 40-3 1/2.