Flathead, Glacier bring home track trophies
GLACIER’S LEXY BOSCHEE (second from right) eyes the next hurdle in the 100-meter event at the Class AA state track meet on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Great Falls. Boschee finished second.
FLATHEAD’S LEIF CASTREN (front) leads a tightly packed group of runners during Saturday’s 1,600. Teammate Jesse Bennett (left) went on to win the race, while Zach Perrin (right) placed sixth. Castren came in second.
Pat Hodge photo for the Daily Inter Lake FLATHEAD’s KARL INGRAM competes in the javelin on Saturday at the Class AA state track meet in Great Falls. Ingram placed second.
GREAT FALLS - The coldest, wettest Class AA state track meet in memory wasn't without something to celebrate.
Two Kalispell seniors ended their careers in winning fashion while a pair of underclassmen remained two of the state's most accomplished competitors as both Glacier and Flathead captured team trophies for the first time ever in the same year on the final day of competition Saturday.
Jesse Bennett ran his best time in his final race, again, winning the 1,600 and pacing the Braves to third place with 64 points. It's the best finish for the Flathead boys since winning a state title in 2003. Last year they were fifth with 43 points.
"At the start of the season this wasn't in our sights. I thought maybe a fifth, sixth or seventh place at state would be good for us," longtime Flathead boys coach Dan Hodge said.
"These guys came around. Those distance runners scored massive amounts for us and all the kids competed well. That's the thing I'm most proud of, they all came and competed hard. I can't ask for more than that."
Glacier senior Maddey Frey ended her stellar prep career with a second-straight state title in the 100 and sophomore Lexy Boschee picked up her second gold medal in as many days, helping the Wolfpack grab its first top-three trophy at state. Glacier scored 66 points for third place, the best finish in the program's three-year history. Last year the team was sixth with 40 points.
"I think everybody believed we could be a top three team. Maddey and Lexy kind of took care of us in terms of points but the whole team had a part in this," Glacier girls coach Jerry Boschee said.
Flathead sophomore Tess Brenneman earned six medals over two days and the young Bravettes tied for fourth place with 47 points. The Billings Senior girls won with 120 and West came in second with 85.
The Billings Skyview boys sabotaged crosstown Billings West's bid for a fifth-straight state title. Skyview edged West by 10 points, winning 96 to 86. Glacier's boys placed eighth with 28 1/2 points
Boschee, who won the high jump title on Friday, leaped away with the gold in the triple jump with a 35-11. She also finished a close runner-up in the 100 hurdles, crossing the finish line a half-second behind first place Tori Weyland of Billings West.
Frey clocked 12.62 to win the 100 and nearly capped the sprint sweep but lost the 200 by only two-tenths of a second. Billing Senior's Brianna Eaton clocked 25.70 to Frey's 25.90.
The Glacier girls short relay team of Frey, Boschee, Nicole Heavirland and Rachel Cutler placed fifth.
The Flathead distance dynasty came back to life at the state meet this year led by a pair of standout seniors and a freshman phenom.
Bennett, a senior, clocked 4:25.02 in the boys 1,600, the fastest time in AA this spring, and narrowly defeated classmate Leif Castren, who came in at 4:25.85. Zach Perrin, who became the first freshman Brave in at least 38 years to win an individual state title with a 3,200 victory on Friday, placed sixth with 4:31.96. Bennett's personal best in the 1,600 was his second-straight PB; he won the 800 for the second year in a row on Friday with the state's fastest time (1:56.85).
All in all, Flathead had seven of the 18 place-finishes in the distance events and state champions in all three.
Flathead senior Karl Ingram was clutch in his own right, earning second place in the javelin on his final throw.
Brenneman's busy weekend ended with third-place finishes in the 100 and 200 and fourth place for the long relay team, which she contributed on alongside Mary Allen, Megan Klingensmith and Jaclyn Rauthe. Freshman Kwyn Johnson took fifth in the triple jump and sixth in the 300 hurdles. Brenneman won the long jump, took second in the 400 and fifth in the high jump on Friday.
"We're very stoked. We almost doubled our points from last year and we're a young team, so everybody is excited now for next year," Flathead girls coach Kirtlye Lohof said. "We're pretty dang excited for the next couple years."
Flathead was eighth last year with 29 points.
Glacier's Kyle Griffith placed fifth in the triple jump, followed by sixth-place Kyle Montini. Bart Tobiason took fifth in the javelin and Tanner Morrison placed sixth in the discus. The Wolfpack short relay team came in sixth.
"We took 15 guys and for 10 of them it was their first time going to state, so it's that big meet experience that I think will help them out and they'll learn from," Glacier boys coach Arron Deck said.
Girls
Team Totals
Billings Senior 120, Billings West 85, Glacier 66, Flathead 47, Bozeman 47, Butte 34, Missoula Big Sky 33, C.M. Russell 22, Missoula Sentinel 22, Helena Capital 15, Great Falls High 15, Billings Skyview 13, Helena High 6, Missoula Hellgate 2
individual Results
100 - Maddey Frey, Glacier, 12.62. 2. Chloe Kanning, Senior, 12.73. 3. Tess Brenneman, Flathead, 12.90. 4. Brianna Eaton, Senior, 12.91. 5. Natalie Zimmer, Big Sky, 13.13. 6. Danielle Muri, West, 13.17.
200 - 1. Brianna Eaton, Senior, 25.70. 2. Maddey Frey, Glacier, 25.9. 3. Tess Brenneman, Flathead, 26.3. 4. Chloe Kanning, Senior, 26.4. 5. Sonia Antar, Bozeman, 26.5. 6. Ellie Tinkle, Big Sky, 26.6.
800 - 1. Danielle Aragon, Senior, 2:14.14. 2. Alexa Aragon, Senior, 2:14.96. 3. Keli Dennehy, Butte, 2:15.04. 4. Nicole Rietz, West, 2:16.31. 5. Rachel Stewart, Great Falls High, 2:18.51. 6. Heidi Turner, Bozeman, 2:18.54.
3,200 - 1. Keli Dennehy, Butte, 10:59.67. 2. Alexa Aragon, Senior, 11:02.14. 3. Keely West, CMR, 11:06.8. 4. Katie Keith, Bozeman, 11:22.28. 5. Sierra Kamplain, Bozeman, 11:27.08. 6. Paige Gilchrist, Hellgate, 11:28.05.
300 hurdles - 1. Sawyer Ferguson, Skyview, 45.77. 2. Liz Harper, Sentinel, 45.88. 3. Morgan Struble, Big Sky, 45.94. 4. Sonia Antar, Bozeman, 46.42. 5. Tori Weyland, West, 47.17. 6. Kwyn Johnson, Flathead, 47.79.
100 hurdles - 1. Tori Weyland, West, 15.19. 2. Lexy Boschee, Glacier, 15.62. 3. Liz Harper, Sentinel, 15.66. 4. Morgan Struble, Big Sky, 15.70. 5. Danielle Muri, West, 15.87. 6. Natalie Zimmer, Big Sky, 15.93.
400 relay - 1. C.M. Russell, 49.67. 2. Billings West, 49.75. 3. Billings Senior, 50.12. 4. Missoula Big Sky, 50.44. 5. Glacier, 51.01. 6. Billings Skyview, 51.37.
1,600 relay - 1. Bozeman, 3:58.15. 2. Billings Senior, 4:01.26. 3. Billings West, 4:04.53. 4. Flathead, 4:06.03. 5. Butte, 4:06.38. 6. Great Falls High, 4:07.24.
Pole vault - 1. Sara Lubke, Capital, 11-6. 2. Alexa Aragon, Senior, 10-6. 3. Marisa Arneson, Sentinel, 10-6. 4. Sami Risa, West, 10-0. 5. Terah Cundith, Helena, 10-0. 6. Emma Fulton, Senior, 10-0.
Triple jump - 1. Lexy Boschee, Glacier, 35-11. 2. Danielle Muri, West, 35-9 3/4. 3. Kristen Daugherty, Big Sky, 35-2. 4. MaryGlen Vielleux, GFH, 33-10. 5. Kwyn Johnson, Flathead, 33-6 1/2. 6. McCall Hasquet, Sentinel, 32-11.
Discus - 1. Jessica Sharbono, West, 124-5. 2. Brittnee Grimstad, Senior, 122-10. 3. Mary Koppy, GFH, 122-4. 4. Kellie Cole, Bozeman, 119-11. 5. Paige Lueck, West, 119-3. 6. Tana Hansen, Sentinel, 114-2.
Boys
Team Totals
Billings Skyview 96, Billings West 86, Flathead 64, Helena Capital 52, Billings Senior 44, Bozeman 34, Great Falls High 31, Glacier 28 1/2, C.M. Russell 24, Missoula Sentinel 16.5, Helena High 15, Butte 14, Missoula Big Sky 13, Missoula Hellgate 9
Individual Results
100 - 1. Gage Pickering, Skyview, 10.86. 2. Mike Nguyen, Skyview, 25.9. 3. Seth Compton, West, 11.08. 4. David Wilson, CMR, 11.3. 5. Alex Stacey, West, 11.31. 6. Trevor Bolton, GFH, 11.32.
200 - 1. Gage Pickering, Skyview, 21.9. 2. Seth Compton, West, 22.2. 3. Mike Nguyen, Skyview, 22.5. 4. Jake Olson, GFH, 22.8. 5. David Wilson, CMR, 22.9. 6. Dakotah Kingfisher, GFH, 23.0.
1,600 - 1. Jesse Bennett, Flathead, 4:25.02. 2. Leif Catren, Flathead, 4:25.85. 3. Ben Vaughn, GFH, 4:27.05. 4. Jakob Woodland, Bozeman, 4:27.60. 5. Jake Turner, Sentinel, 4:31.07. 6. Zach Perrin, Flathead, 4:31.96.
110 hurdles - 1. Matt Miller, Capital, 14.54. 2. Heath Hunter, Bozeman, 14.57. 3. Koleman Gross, Helena, 14.9. 4. Beau Berg, Capital, 14.92. 5. Connor Albertson, Bozeman, 15.03. 6. Pow Williamson, West, 15.43.
400 relay - 1. Billings Skyview, 42.97. 2. Great Falls High, 43.35. 3. C.M. Russell, 43.4. 4. Helena High, 43.7. 5. Helena Capital, 44.04. 6. Glacier, 44.39.
1,600 relay - 1. Billings Skyview, 3:23.3. 2. Billings Senior, 3:23.9. 3. Billings West, 3:24.49. 4. Bozeman, 3:24.78. 5. Missoula Sentinel, 3:27.51. 6. Glacier, 3:27.82.
Pole vault - 1. Ryan Kropp, Capital, 15-0. 2. Austin Sprenger, Bozeman, 14-6. 3. Jason Wardell, Capital, 14-0. 4. Jason Alfred, Capital, 13-6. 5. Dylan Dean, Skyview, 13-6. 6. T.J. Bomar, Helena, 13-6.
Triple jump - 1. Scotty Owens, Senior, 44-4 3/4. 2. Lee Hardt, West, 43-9. 3. Alex King, West, 43-5. 4. Michael Duncan, Big Sky, 42-10 1/4. 5. Kyle Griffith, Glacier, 42-10. 6. Kyle Montini, Glacier, 42-10.
Discus - 1. Alex White, West, 168-6. 2. Tommy Peterson, Capital, 161-10. 3. Zach Sharp, West, 159-3. 4. Valentino Medicine Elk, Senior, 155-1. 5. Brian Maus, Sentinel, 153-3. 6. Tanner Morrison, Glacier, 152-1.
Javelin - 1. Corey Dennehy, Butte, 184-8. 2. Karl Ingram, Flathead, 180-0. 3. Derek Dennehey, West, 179-5. 4. Justin Meyer, Sentinel, 177-9. 5. Bart Tobiason, Glacier, 175-1. 6. Lee Perkins, GFH, 175-1.