AA State Track: A damp but decent day for Kalispell athletes
CONNOR THOMAS follows through during one of his attempts in the shot put ring on Friday at the Class AA state track meet in Great Falls. Thomas won the event with a distance of 51 feet, 6 inches.
GLACIER’S LEXY BOSCHEE attempts to clear the bar during the high jump competition on Friday at the Class AA state track meet at Memorial Stadium. Boschee won the event with a height of 5-4.
GREAT FALLS - Kalispell is shining bright in the Electric City.
Five individuals from Flathead and Glacier High won state championships and put their teams in contention for trophies on the first day of the Class AA state track meet on a rain-soaked Friday.
Flathead's boys sit in second place just three points behind Billings Skyview, who leads with 40.
The Glacier girls and Flathead girls both scored 28 points and are only nine behind leader Billings Senior.
The Braves owned the distance events as tradition would have it. Zach Perrin held off Bozeman's Jakod Woodland for a two-second victory in the 3,200, running 9:40.6. Senior teammate Leif Castren came in third and Hunter Schutt placed sixth.
Jesse Bennett, who hadn't run an 800 for most of the season because of illness, defended his state title with a winning time of 1:56.85. That's the fastest time all year for all classes.
Connor Thomas won the shot put by only two inches, throwing 51-6 to edge Jesse Ginn of Missoula Hellgate, who threw 51-4.
Glacier's Lexy Boschee won the high jump for the second year in a row, clearing 5-4 to beat Flathead's Briana Patyk, who jumped 5-2. Boschee also placed third in the long jump.
Flathead's Tess Brenneman out-leaped her season-long competition, Glacier's Maddey Frey, in the long jump. Brenneman took first with a 17-6 1/2 effort on her final attempt. Frey jumped 17-4 1/2. Brenneman placed second in the 400 for the second year in a row and took fifth in the high jump.
Shane Freese placed in two events for the Glacier boys, who sit in fifth with 20 1/2 points. Freese took second in the long jump and sixth in the high jump. Taylor Hart placed third in the 400, Kyle Griffith was fourth in the long jump and Shay Smithwick-Hann came in sixth in the shot put.
For the Glacier girls, Stacey Pitt placed fourth in the high jump.
"It was probably the worst weather I've seen at a state meet," Glacier girls coach Jerry Boschee said. "The weather definitely dampened the kids' spirits a little bit but I liked the way our kids went out there and competed. They didn't use the weather as an excuse."
"Overall I know our boys are happy with where they're at," Glacier boys coach Arron Deck said. "We want to be up there competing with the big guys but we're still pleased with small victories. Today we had a few of those."
The same was said on the Flathead side as boys head coach Dan Hodge applauded the Braves' resilience.
"The weather was just as bad as it could be but we put ourselves in a good position," he said. "Now we have to have those big ifs taken care of tommorrow."
NOTES: Zach Perrin became the first freshman to win an individual state title in the last 38 years at Flathead, Hodge said.
Perrin will go after his second title today in the 1,600.
State AA Track
Girls
Team scores - Billings Senior 37, Glacier High 28, Billings West 28, Flathead 28, Bozeman 20, Butte 16, Missoula Big Sky 9, C.M. Russell 6, Helena Capital 5, Helena High 4, Billings Skyview 2, Great Falls High 2, Missoula Hellgate 1
400 - 1. Sonia Antar, Bozeman, 58.19. 2. Tess Brenneman, Flathead, 60.08. 3. Nicole Rietz, Billings West, 60.14. 4. Danielle Aragon, Billings Senior, 60.18. 5. Ellie Tinkle, Missoula Big Sky, 60.20. 6. Brianna Eaton, Billings Senior, 60.21.
1,600 - 1. Alexa Aragon, Billings Senior, 5:07.06. 2. Danielle Aragon, Billings Senior, 5:07.27. 3. Keli Dennehy, Butte, 5:07.97. 4. Heidi Turner, Bozeman, 5:09.30. 5. Nicole Rietz, Billings West, 5:10.06. 6. Rachel Stewart, Great Falls High, 5:16.32.
High jump - 1. Lexy Boschee, Glacier, 5-4. 2. Briana Patyk, Flathead, 5-2. 3. Kristen Daugherty, Missoula Big Sky, 5-2. 4. Stacey Pitt, Glacier, 5-0. 5. Tess Brenneman, Flathead, 5-0. 6. Corri Blair, Missoula Big Sky, 4-10.
Long jump - 1. Tess Brenneman, Flathead, 17-6 1/2. 2. Maddey Frey, Glacier, 17-4 1/2. 3. Lexy Boschee, Glacier, 16-5 1/2. 4. Andrea Emmett, Billings Senior, 16-4. 5. Danielle Muri, Billings West, 16-4. 6. Sammi Bignell, Helena Capital, 16-0.
Shot put - 1. Jessica Sharbono, Billings West, 40-7 1/2. 2. Samantha Hodgson, Billings West, 39-6. 3. Kellie Cole, Bozeman, 37-11. 4. Taylor Corne, Helena Capital, 36-2. 5. Anica Kinspal, Billings Skyview, 35-4. 6. Mary Koppy, Great Falls High, 34-10.
Javelin - 1. Kabri Emerson, Butte, 121-1. 2. Kathryn Newman, Billings Senior, 117-1. 3. Jessie Morin, CMR, 116-4. 4. Kelsey Williams, Helena, 115-10. 5. Brittnee Grimstad, Billings Senior, 113-4. 6. Raina Walther, Missoula Hellgate, 110-7.
Boys
Team scores - Billings Skyview 40, Flathead 37, Billings West 27, Billings Senior 22, Glacier 20.5, C.M. Russell 12, Great Falls High 10, Missoula Hellgate 9, Missoula Big Sky 9, Helena Capital 8, Bozeman 8, Missoula Sentinel 6.5, Butte 4, Helena High 4.
400 - 1. Mike Nguyen, Billings Skyview, 49.72. 2. Dakotah Kingfisher, Great Falls High, 50.81. 3. Taylor Hart, Glacier, 51.19. 4. Tyler Jacobsen, Missoula Sentinel, 51.44. 5. Drew Owens, Missoula Big Sky, 51.45. 6. Porter Hannah, Billings West, 51.66.
800 - 1. Jesse Bennett, Flathead, 1:56.85. 2. Thomas Neale, Billings Skyview, 1:58.29. 3. Porter Hannah, Billings West, 1:58.91. 4. Tyler Grubbs, Billings West, 1:59.15. 5. Ben Vaughn, Great Falls High, 1:59.40. 6. Jake Turner, Missoula Sentinel, 1:59.94.
3,200 - 1. Zach Perrin, Flathead, 9:40.6. 2. Jakob Woodland, Bozeman, 9:42.20. 3. Leif Castren, Flathead, 9:50.42. 4. Matt Barker, Helena High, 9:54.45. 5. Patrick Rayl, CMR, 9:55.27. 6. Hunter Schutt, Flathead, 9:59.64.
300 hurdles - 1. Landon Polkow, Billings Skyview, 39.28. 2. Lewis Polkow, Billings Skyview, 39.77. 3. Drew Owens, Missoula Big Sky, 39.96. 4. Matt Miller, Helena Capital, 40.34. 5. Reece Easterling, Helena Capital, 40.62. 6. Spencer Hale, Missoula Hellgate, 40.68.
High jump - 1. Kurtis Parsons, CMR, 6-4. 2. Lee Hardt, Billings West, 6-4. 3. Scott Owens, Billings Senior, 6-2. 4. Levi Frickle, Billings Skyview, 6-0. 5. Zack Wagenmann, Missoula Sentinel, 6-0. 6. Shane Freese, Glacier, 6-0.
Long jump - 1. Scotty Owens, Billings Senior, 21-11 1/2. 2. Shane Freese, Glacier, 20-11 1/2. 3. Seth Compton, Billings West, 20-11. 4. Kyle Griffith, Glacier, 20-9 3/4. 5. Alex King, Billings West, 20-6. 6. Michael Duncan, Missoula Big Sky, 20-6.
Shot put - 1. Connor Thomas, Flathead, 51-6. 2. Jesse Ginn, Missoula Hellgate, 51-4. 3. Valentino Medicine Elk, Billings Senior, 51-2. 4. Colton Fisher, Butte, 49-1. 5. Zach Smith, Helena Capital, 48-10. 6. Shay Smithwick-Hann, Glacier, 48-8.