Vals claim district track title

BIGFORK — There won’t be a problem fitting all the names on this year’s District 7B girls track trophy.

The Bigfork girls, all 11 of them, used quality over quantity on Saturday and captured their first district title since 1992 on their home track.

After 17 events, the Vals had 10 first-place finishes a la 175 points while two girls — Kayla Carlson and Mallery Knoll — added their names to the record books.

The Eureka girls were second with 140 points and Thompson Falls followed with 103.

The Bigfork boys finished second with 102 points. Thompson Falls won with 184 and Plains was third with 93.

The top six athletes and relay teams qualified for this week’s divisionals in Missoula.

It was a celebration in the sun at the meet’s conclusion as the small team of Bigfork girls gathered together for a group hug with the brand new gold trophy in the middle.

“Coming in today I was not expecting what we ended up doing,” Bigfork coach Sue Loeffler said. “To have 11 girls, and that’s all we have, do what they did today was absolutely incredible.

“Each one helped to do this and that’s what’s so cool.”

A moment later, a smiling Carlson emerged with the trophy in hand.

“This is the first time I can hold up the No. 1 sign,” she said while raising up her pointer finger.

And if anyone earned it the hard way, it was her.

In the 1,600, Carlson’s feet began bleeding from blisters but she pushed through and managed to break the 13-year-old district record by 12 seconds, winning in 5:06. Two hours, and half a roll of medical tape later, Carlson won the 800 in 2:20.12, again breaking a district record, this one set in 2005.

After striding through the finish line in the 800, she stepped off the track with a silent grimace and peeled off her spikes to find blood soaking through her socks and tape.

“You really notice it when the race is done because the adrenaline is gone and you’re not concentrating on racing,” she said. “I could definitely feel my blisters during the 800 and my legs were a little bit more tired than what I wanted them to be. But overall I’m really happy about how my performances have been going and everyone on the team has been running well.”

Carlson, who will compete at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., next year, went on to win the 3,200 and cap the distance sweep.

“These kids have a lot of heart and they just never say die,” Loeffler said.

Knoll broke the district record in the 100 hurdles with a winning time of 15.45. The junior went on to win the 300 hurdles and the 100 and ran a leg on both winning relay teams.

Quinci Paine won both the 200 and pole vault and joined Knoll in the relay victories. Caitlin Charlebois and Jen Egdorf ran the other relay legs both times.

Bigfork senior sprinter Keenan Evans broke the district record in the boys 200, clocking a 22.31 hand time and surpassing the old mark of 22.51 set by Superior’s Cody Feasel in 2001. Evans went on to win the 100 in near record-breaking fashion and helped lead both relay teams to victory.

Evans said breaking the district record hadn’t sunk in for him yet, but he was sure his devoted fan and mother, Kelly, would remind him of it plenty.

“I like to be real humble about that stuff but she wants to tell everybody,” he said with a smile. “I appreciate that. If I had a track meet in like Australia she would be the first one down there. She’s very supportive — her, my step-dad, my little sister. They’re all real supportive and it’s nice to have that.”

Eureka’s Hunter Price swept the boys hurdle races and Bailey Malecha won the girls 400 and took second in the 800 and anchored the runner-up 1,600 relay team. Rounding out Eureka’s first-place finishers are Carly Hammond (long jump, triple jump) and Jasmine Bradford (high jump).

Thompson Falls got No. 1 finishes from Charlie Knapp (400), Stephen Block (800 and pole vault), Ryan Humphrey (1,600 and 3,200) and Will Dalby (javelin) on the boys side, and from Elizabeth Fairweather (shot put) for girls.

Plains’ Dillon Fryxell won the high jump, Taylor Firestone won both the triple and long jumps and Trent Thompson had the top throw in both the discus and shot put. For girls, Heather Earhart won both the discus and javelin.

BOYS

    Team scores — Thompson Falls 184, Bigfork 102, Plains 93, Lincoln County (Eureka) 79, Troy 67

Individual results

    100 — 1, Keenan Evans, BF, 10.90. 2, Travis Knoll, BF, 11.23. 3, Chad Price, Eur, 11.25. 4, Ryan Hayes, BF, 11.55. 5, Dillon Fryxell, Pla, 11.64. 6, Ian Lorang, BF, 11.65.

    200 — 1, Keenan Evans, BF, 22.31 (district record: old record, 22.51, Cody Feasel, Superior, 2001). 2, Charlie Knapp, TF, 22.80. 3, Travis Knoll, BF, 23.50. 4, Dillon Fryxell, Pla, 23.61. 5, Chad Price, Eur, 23.70. 6, Ryan Hayes, BF, 24.04.

    400 — 1, Charlie Knapp, TF, 50.08. 2, Dillon Fryxell, Pla, 52.44. 3, Jacob Lopez, Tro, 55.53. 4, Ian Lorang, BF, 55.58. 5, Ryan Hayes, BF, 56.08. 6, Blayne Metz, Troy, 58.59.

    800— 1, Stephen Block, TF, 2:13.06. 2, Kalip Gregory, Troy, 2:14.59. 3, Dillon Charlebois, BF, 2:15.74. 4, Spencer Jenko, BF, 2:20.56. 5, Mike Barnett, , TF, 2:20.81. 6, Robert Earhart, Pla, 2:21.32.

    1,600 — 1, Ryan Humphrey, TF, 4:46.12. 2, Dylan Day, Eur, 4:46.28. 3, Stephen Block, TF, 4:58.00. 4, Carter Montgomery, Pla, 5:01.00. 5, Robert Earhart, Pla, 5:13.77. 6, Spencer Jenko, BF, 5:15.11.

    3,200 — 1, Ryan Humphrey, TF, 10:43.86. 2, Dylan Day, Eur, 10:50.00. 3, Carter Montgomery, Pla, 11:04.90. 4, Jacob Lopez, Tro, 11:27.07. 5, Jaron Laws, TF, 12:05.80. 6, Jeremiah Johnson, Tro, 12:08.00.

    110 hurdles —  1, Hunter Price, Eur, 16.00. 2, Chris Pavlik, TF, 17.47. 3, Preston Schubert, TF, 17.73. 4, Dalton Groshong, TF, 18.79. 5, Daniel Sutley, Eur, 19.30. 6, James Mepham, Eur, 21.82.

    300 hurdles — 1, Hunter Price, Eur, 43.73. 2, Dominique Holt, TF, 44.16. 3, Preston Schubert, TF, 44.36. 4, Coby Garrison, Tro, 44.70. 5, Austin Jordt, BF, 45.07. 6, Dalton Groshong, TF, 46.54.

    400 relay — 1, Bigfork (Derek Minemyer, Keenan Evans, Ian Lorang, Travis Knoll), 44.47. 2, Eureka, 46.44. 3, Thompson Falls, 47.46. 4, Troy, 48.52. 5, Plains, 58.68.

    1,600 relay — 1, Bigfork (Ryan Hayes, Ian Lorang, Dillon Charlebois, Keenan Evans), 3:43.00. 2, Eureka, 3:46.00. 3, Thompson Falls, 4:08.00. 4, Plains, 4:09.11. 5, Troy, 4:10.13.

    High Jump— 1, Dillon Fryxell, Pla, 6-4. 2, Charlie Knapp, TF, 6-4. 3, Ryan Rayson, Tro, 6-0. 4, Kyle Hauns, BF, 5-8. 5, Ben Sandry, BF, 5-8. 6, Cory Orr, Tro, 5-8.

    Pole vault — 1, Stephen Block, TF, 13-4. 2, Travis Knoll, BF, 11-6. 3, Shawn Sacchi, TF, 11-6. 4, Cody Phillips, TF, 11-0. 5, Preston Schubert, TF, 11-0. 6, Kenji Sagami,  BF, 10-6.

    Long jump — 1, Taylor Firestone, Pla, 20-10. 2, Charlie Knapp, TF, 20-2 1/2. 3, Cory Orr, Tro, 19-7 1/2. 4, Jesse Thomson, Eur, 19-3 3/4. 5, Ryan Rayson, Troy, 19-2. 6, Jessie Pettrie, TF, 18-4 1/4.

    Triple jump — 1, Taylor Firestone, Pla, 42-0. 2, Charlie Knapp, TF, 41-7 3/4. 3, Cory Orr, Tro, 39-3 1/2. 4, Ryan Rayson, Tro, 39-3. 5, Dustin Baker, Pla, 38-11. 6, Preston Schubert, TF, 38-9.

    Discus — 1, Trent Thompson, Pla, 150-8. 2, Mike Wood, TF, 147-6 1/2. 3, Garrett Hibbs, BF, 135-8 1/2. 4, Robert VanHyfte, Eur, 123-8. 5, Will Dalby, TF, 120-8. 6, Tyler Norsworthy, TF, 119-06.

    Javelin — 1, Will Dalby, TF, 179-0. 2, Trent Thompson, Pla, 165-2. 3, Mike Wood, TF, 159-8. 4, Cody Phillips, TF, 146-10. 5, Kalip Gregory, Tro, 140-8. 6, Chalis Wilson, TF, 139-11.

    Shot put — 1, Trent Thompson, Pla, 49-10. 2, Robert VanHyfte, Eur, 48-0 1/2. 3, Cullen Metz, Tro, 42-3 1/2. 4, Tom Roeder, Tro, 39-4 1/2. 5, Garrett Hibbs, BF, 38-11 1/2. 6, Mike Wood, TF, 37-11 1/2.

GIRLS

    Team scores — Bigfork 175, Lincoln County (Eureka) 140, Thompson Falls 103, Plains 92, Troy 8

Individual results

    100 — 1, Mallery Knoll, BF, 12.72. 2, Jen Egdorf, BF, 13.21. 3, Hope Reid, TF, 13.49. 4, Kelsey Beagley, Pla, 13.57. 5, Kenna Hauns, BF, 13.67. 6, Jennifer Miller, Eur, 13.69.

    200— 1, Quinci Paine, BF, 26.99. 2, Kenna Hauns, BF, 28.08. 3, Jen Egdorf, BF, 28.30. 4, Hope Reid, TF, 28.66. 5, Jessica Hansen, Pla, 29.12. 6, Sierra Joner, Pla, 29.38.

    400— 1, Bailey Malecha, Eur, 59.99. 2, Quinci Paine, BF, 1:01.49. 3, Carly Hammond, Eur, 1:02.58. 4, Jessica Hansen, Pla, 1:06.85. 5, Sierra Joner, Pla, 1:09.31. 6, Kendra Chupp, Eur, 1:09.96.

    800 — 1, Kayla Carlson, BF, 2:20.12 (district record: old record, 2:21.80, Emmylyn Bentley, Eureka, 2005). 2, Bailey Malecha, Eur, 2:27.77. 3, Beca Gunderson, TF, 2:28.84. 4, Chelsea Olson, BF, 2:40.36. 5, Karen Noahson, TF, 2:48.95. 6, Jinghua Chen, TF, 3:23.60.

    1,600 — 1, Kayla Carlson, BF, 5:06.10 (district record: old record, 5:18.00, Elizabeth Roodell, Eureka, 1997). 2, Beca Gunderson, TF, 5:43.00. 3, Chelsea Olson, BF, 5:57.00. 4, Mariah Naegeli, TF, 5:58.00. 5, Diamond LaDeaux, Pla, 6:05.70. 6, Jeffereyann Parker, TF, 6:09.70.

    3,200 — 1, Kayla Carlson, BF, 12:22.90. 2, Beca Gunderson, TF, 12:52.00. 3, Diamond LaDeaux, Pla, 13:18.00. 4, Jeffereyann Parker, TF, 13:28.90. 5, Mariah Naegeli, TF, 13:32.90. 6, Chelsea Olson, BF, 13:41.00.

    100 hurdles — 1, Mallery Knoll, BF, 15.45 (district record: old record, 15.86, Stephanie Sanders, Eureka, 2005). 2, Hope Reid, TF, 16.37. 3, Ashley Holmes, Pla, 17.88. 4, Bailey Johnson, Eur, 19.02. 5, Jasmine Bradford, Eur, 19.44. 6, Brittiany Warren, Eur, 19.89.

    300 hurdles — 1, Mallery Knoll, BF, 46.50. 2, Hope Reid, TF, 52.24. 3, Jasmine Bradford, Eur, 55.80. 4, Brittiany Warren, Eur, 57.99.

400 relay — 1, Bigfork (Quinci Paine, Jen Egdorf, Caitlin Charlebois, Mallery Knoll), 51.51. 2,Plains, 54.13. 3, Eureka, 54.77. 4, Thompson Falls, 1:01.00. 5, Troy, 1:02.00.

    1,600 relay — 1, Bigfork (Jen Egdorf, Quinci Paine, Caitlin Charlebois, Mallery Knoll), 4:21.00. 2, Eureka, 4:32.00. 3, Plains, 4:39.00. 4, Thompson Falls, 5:43.00.

    High jump — 1, Jasmine Bradford, Eur, 4-8. 2, Hope Reid, TF, 4-6. 3, Jessica Killian, BF, 4-4. 4, Carly Hammond, Eur, 4-2. 5, Brittiany Warren, Eur, 4-0.

    Pole vault — 1, Quinci Paine, BF, 8-0. 2, Caitlin Charlebois, BF, 8-0. 3, Bailey Johnson, Eur, 8-0. 4, Kelly Butler, TF, 7-6. 5, Mariah Naegeli, TF, 6-0.

    Long jump — 1, Carly Hammond, Eur, 14-9 1/2. 2, Kelsey Beagley, Pla, 14-5 1/4. 3, Katie Larson, Eur, 14-1. 4, Ashley Suber, Tro, 13-9 1/4. 5, Elizabeth Fairweather, TF, 13-9 1/4. 6, Amber McDaniel, BF, 13-9.

    Triple jump — 1, Carly Hammond, Eur, 31-4 1/2. 2, Amber McDaniel, BF, 30-11 1/2. 3, Kelsey Beagley, Pla, 29-8. 4, Jasmine Bradford, Eur, 29-4. 5, Taylor Holder, Eur, 29-0 3/4. 6, Annesse Burris, Eur, 28-8 1/4.

    Discus —1, Heather Earhart, Pla, 92-1 1/2. 2, Nicki Kunzer, Pla, 91-3 1/2. 3, Allison Vaught, TF, 90-8. 4, Franky Winebrenner, Pla, 86-10. 5, Evann Watson, Eur, 81-1 1/2. 6, Kate Lamm, BF, 80-6 1/2.

    Javelin — 1, Heather Earhart, Pla, 116-2. 2, Taylor Holder, Eur, 99-6. 3, Caitlin Charlebois, BF, 97-6. 4, Kylie Knudson, Pla, 88-3. 5, Ashley Suber, Troy, 85-7. 6, Allison Vaught, TF, 77-9.

    Shot Put — 1, Elizabeth Fairweather, TF, 31-4. 2, Kimberley Lovitt, Eur, 30-1 1/2. 3, Laura Truman, Eur, 29-6 1/2. 4, Evann Watson, Eur, 29-6 1/2. 5, Kate Lamm, BF, 29-1. 6, Franky Winebrenner, Pla, 25-9 1/2.