Larson 3-peats in javelin

Records were falling from start to finish on the opening day of the Class AA state track and field meet Friday at Legends Stadium.

Glacier’s Keyawna Larson opened the morning by winning her third-straight javelin state championship, setting the Class AA record in the process with a toss of 144 feet, 7 inches. The future North Dakota State thrower topped the old record, set in 2009 by Billings West’s Aly Wardell, by a foot and bested the field by 15 feet, 3 inches.

Larson’s record-setting performance set the tone for the Glacier girls, who lead the team race with 33 points after the opening day.

It also set the tone for what turned out to be a big day for setting records.

Glacier freshman Annie Hill, the state cross country champion this fall, led the 1,600-meter run for most of the race, pacing the field at an extremely fast clip minutes after Bigfork’s Bryn Morley posted an all-class record time of 4:47.76 in the Class B race preceeding hers.

Hill stayed out front for nearly the entire race, but defending champion Christina Aragon of Billings Senior stayed on her shoulder. Aragon’s patience paid off entering the final turn as she took off towards the finish line, topping Morley’s mark with a finish of 4:46.34. Hill’s second-place time of 4:48.11 would have beaten the all-class record entering the day.

Aragon also set a Class AA record in the 400, winning in 55.87 seconds, a race in which Hill finished third.

Glacier sophomore Nikki Krueger finished third in the shot put and senior Tessa Krueger placed fifth. Brielle Bumgarner was sixth in the long jump.

Flathead is in a tie for seventh in the girls team standings with 12 points after Megan Russell finished third in the long jump. Gillian Maness placed fourth in the 1,600 and Kaitlin Wride was fifth.

The Flathead boys led the field for most of the day before a monumental performance pushed the Helena boys in front.

Helena High senior Chase Smith cleared 16-4 in the pole vault, obliterating the former all-class record of 15-9 set in 1988 by Todd Foster of Helena High. The future Washington Husky missed attempts at 16-7 and 17-0 before ending his day.

Flathead trails by three points in the team race, and was aided by a state championship performance from senior Chade Gonter.

Gonter won the high jump on attempts, clearing 6-3 and beating four other competitors at that height.

The Braves placed in five of the seven scored events on Friday, showing their depth on their home track.

Jake Perrin finished second in the 3,200 and teammate Sylas Schutt was close behind in third. Keaton Krantz finished third in the long jump and Jess Beaman was fifth. Beaman also finished sixth in the shot put and Tobias Barton placed fourth in the pole vault.  

Glacier is sitting further back in the team standings but saw senior Austin Cook claim his first state championship, bounding a career-best 22 feet, 1 3/4 inches to clear the field by 5 1/2 inches.

“My family was here today,” Cook said.

“They really pushed me. My parents haven’t seen me jump all season. I saw everyone was cheering for me, yelling Cookie or Austin. That really helped me.

“It’s so nice. This is my first year at state. To have it be here is awesome.”

The meet begins today at 9 a.m. with the boys javelin. The action on the track starts at 10:30 with the 400 relay.

Class AA State Track

Friday

Legends Stadium, Kalispell

Boys

Team Totals

    Helena 40, Flathead 37, Billings Senior 30, Billings West 22, Hellgate 21, Glacier 18, Capital 18, Sentinel 12, Butte 8, Skyview 5, Bozeman 5, Big Sky 1.

Events

    400 — 1, Connor Matthews, Helena, 49.16. 2, Dalton Daum, Butte, 49.54. 3, Jeremiah Coon, Helena, 49.94. 4, Brendan Atchison, Skyview, 50.40. 5, Josh Barrows, Helena, 50.42. 6, Donaldson, Levi, Capital, 50.50

    800 — 1, Jeremiah Coon, Helena, 1:54.22. 2, Levi Donaldson, Capital, 1:54.58. 3, Dawson Larance, Senior, 1:54.87. 4, Isaac Petsch, West, 1:55.35. 5, Josh Barrows, Helena, 1:55.82. 6, Simon Petsch, West, 1:56.60.

    3,200 — 1, Marshall Beatty, Sentinel, 9:22.92. 2, Jake Perrin, Flathead, 9:30.67. 3, Sylas Schutt, Flathead, 9:43.06. 4, Chase Equall, Bozeman, 9:46.00. 5, Brock Sandry, Glacier, 9:50.07. 6, Riley Collins, Bozeman, 9:53.88.

    High Jump — 1, Chade Gonter, Flathead, J6-3. 2, Keaton Anderson, Senior, J6-3. 3, Conner Schenk, Hellgate, J6-3. 4, Tristan Gray, Hellgate, J6-3. 4, Ethan Garrett, West, J6-3. 6, Trey Haidle, Skyview, J6-1.

    Pole Vault — 1, Chase Smith, Helena, 16-4.* (All-class record: 15-9, Todd Foster, Helena, 1988) 2, Charles Barron, Senior, J14-0. 3, Jake Bradford, West, J14-0. 4, Tobias Barton, Flathead, 13-6. 5, Tristan Gray, Hellgate, J13-0. 6, Kyle Hayter, Capital, J13-0.

    Long Jump — 1, Austin Cook, Glacier, 22-1.75. 2, Keaton Anderson, Senior, 21-6.25. 3, Keaton Krantz, Flathead, 21-3.75. 4, Jory Abelman, West, 21-1. 5, Jess Beaman, Flathead, 20-11.75. 6, Marcus Lindquist, Big Sky, 20-10.50.

    Shot Put — 1, Zayne Babbitt, Hellgate, 62-9.5. 2, Michael Smith, Capital, 52-6. 3, Harrison Kauffman, Glacier, 52-3. 4, Bryson Deming, West, 49-9. 5, Colin Hammock, Sentinel, 48-1. 6, Jess Beaman, Flathead, 47-11.25.

                        Girls

Team Totals

    Glacier 33, Sentinel 32, Billings Senior 29.5, Bozeman 22, Skyview 21, Helena 16.5, Big Sky 12, Flathead 12, Capital 10, C.M. Russell 10, Hellgate 9.5, Billings West 8, Butte 1.5.

Events

    400 — 1, Christina Aragon, Senior, 55.87.* (Class AA record, Carlee Clark, Bozeman, 56.54, 2002 and Chantelle Gray, Sentinel, 56.54, 2009) 2, Carly Smiedala, Helena, 56.13. 3, Annie Hill, Glacier, 57.73. 4, Anna Beck, Skyview, 58.21. 5, Olivia Burgad, Sentinel, 58.91. 6, Jordan Gilcrist, Senior, 58.92.

    1,600 — 1, Christina Aragon, Senior, 4:46.34. (All-class record: Bryn Morley, 4:47.76, 2015; Class AA record: Heidi Lane, CMR, 4:55.18, 2002) 2, Annie Hill, Glacier, 4:48.11. 3, Ellen Brooks, Sentinel, 5:03.00. 4, Gillian Maness, Flathead, 5:03.08. 5, Kaitlin Wride, Flathead, 5:03.82. 6, Piper Meuwissen, Bozeman, 5:04.21.

    High Jump — 1, Camille Landon, Bozeman, 5-5. 2, Jordyn Schweyen, Sentinel, 5-3. 2, Hailey Copinga, Skyview, 5-3. 4, Chiara Morelli, Capital, J5-1. 5, Kaci Paffhausen, Hellgate, J5-1. 5, Abby Dodge, Butte, J5-1.

    Pole Vault — 1, Shayla Palmer, Sentinel, 12-0. 2, Ashling Slevin, Bozeman, 11-9. 3, Mikayla Bloyder, West, 11-6. 4, Chiara Morelli, Capital, 11-0. 5, Katrina Terry, West, 10-6. 6, Kamden Hilborn, Helena, J10-0. 6, Tiffani Finley, Senior, J10-0.

    Long Jump — 1, Hailey Copinga, Skyview, 17-1. 2, Hannah Porch, Big Sky, 17-0.25. 3, Megan Russell, Flathead, 16-6.75. 4, Hannah Kearns, Big Sky, 16-5. 5, Alexa Linebarger, Bozeman, 16-3.75. 6, Brielle Bumgarner Glacier, 16-3.50.

    Shot Put — 1, Ashleigh Lehotsky, CMR, 41-10.50. 2, Shanna Florschinger, Helena, 39-3. 3, Nikki Krueger, Glacier, 38-9.75. 4, Hannah Nessan, Senior, 38-8.25. 5, Tessa Krueger, Glacier, 38-0. 6, Emerald Toth, Bozeman, 37-7.75.

    Javelin — 1, Keyawna Larson, Glacier, 144-7. (Class AA record: Aly Wardell, West, 143-7, 2009) 2, Darby Henthorn, Hellgate, 129-4. 3, Emily Malone, Sentinel, 128-7. 4, Madison Cicierski, Senior, 128-4. 5, Savanna Bignell, Capital, 119-5. 6, Bailey Deyle, Sentinel, 119-0.