Ells doubles up, Wolfpack second to Sentinel boys

MISSOULA — The distance double happened for Sam Ells Saturday, and should the Glacier standout run a solid 800 race next week — he plans to — the Wolfpack might find gold in Butte.

As it was, Glacier finished second at the Western AA Divisional track and field meet at MCPS Stadium. Missoula Sentinel was first with 124 points; the Pack was on the Spartans’ heels at 122.5.

Ells made the best of his two races, certainly. After winning Friday’s 3,200 in personal-best 9 minutes, 19.39 seconds, he cruised through the 1,600 in 4:17.17.

“That last lap was tough,” the senior said after dispatching Hellgate’s Finneas Colescott (4:20.97) and Sentinel’s Tanner Klumph (4:29.85.). “I felt it in my legs today.

“I’m happy. The goal was just to go out and run as fast as I could. After running the two mile yesterday, I was happy to go out there and just push it.”

The Wolfpack was bolstered by the triple jump, with Tate Kauffman out-dueling Flathead’s Dylan Zink, and teammates Ty Olsen and John Pyron taking third and fourth. But as often happens in close team races, a handful of events served as what-ifs.

Glacier’s Caleb Bernhardt ran his career-best 110-meter hurdles Saturday, in 15.06 seconds; Sentinel’s Drew Klumph won in 15.01. In the 100 meters, the Pack’s Jackson Hensley ran 11.23 to Helena Capital speedster Thomas Carter’s winning 11.21.

Then came the 400: Sentinel’s Brady Kolendich and Glacier’s Jake Turner were both given 51.24, but Kolendich won in a photo finish, leaving Turner to rue his finish — Kolendich closed fast at the very end.

“Just… tired,” Turner said afterward. “Been in a couple events.”

Turner had a good weekend: Second in the long jump and first leg on Glacier’s second-place short relay Friday; seventh in the 100, sixth in the 200 and second in the 400 Saturday.

Turner ran the 100 while Connor Sullivan, who’d met the AA state qualifying mark in the 100, concentrated on the 200 (and took second in a personal-best 23.01). Glacier’s long relay was also pre-qualified.

“That was super nice — then I don’t have to run it today,” Turner said, smiling. “That was a relief.”

Flathead won the long relay: Trevor Burke, Wyatt Thompson, Kesler Hughes and new anchor Brody Thornsberry ran 3:29.80.

The Braves scored 45 points and placed sixth. Aside from Zink, other top Flathead finishes came from a short relay that took fourth on Friday; Gabe Felton’s third in the 3,200 in a PR of 9:54.12; Hughes taking third in the 800; and Nate Prieto taking fourth in the 200 while running his season-best.

Helena, with Odessa Zentz added 400 and 200 victories to her 800 win from Friday, easily won the girls team title with 154 points. Sentinel was a distant second at 91, but could score big next week in Butte.

Zentz was just .02 off the divisional 400 record, set by Sentinel’s Liz Harper in 2013. In fact just one record fell on the weekend: Kensey May of Hellgate got fellow Knight Paige Gilchrist’s record in the 1,600.

Flathead’s girls had no victories, but the points added up, with a fourth from Lilli Rumsey Eash in the 1,600 here and a third from Kelsey Copping in the 200 there. The Bravettes also saw Alivia Rinehart take fourth in the 100 hurdles.

The Glacier girls’ points likewise were spread out: Noah Fincher was second in the 200 and fourth in the 100; Sidney Gulick was fourth in the 400; their long relay took second; Reagan Brisdendine and Natalie Fisher both PR’d in the triple jump while finishing 4-5.

Alyssa Vollertsen was fourth in the 800 Friday, while Kai Johnson and Delanie Schultz went 2-3 in the shot put.

Of the locals, Glacier’s boys appear in the best position for state. Ells is pleased to have the 1,600 on Friday at the State AA.

“I think the mile is my jam,” he said. “I love the mile.

“Super deep. We’ve got a lot of boys that are really fast. Having it the first day, it could be really fast. I think Keagan (Crosby, off Sentinel) will be back. Finneas, Tanner… It’s cool when you get the guys that maybe aren’t as fast for their cross country teams. They get to shine a little more.”

Western AA

Saturday, MCPS Stadium

BOYS

Team scores — 1, Missoula Sentinel 124; 2, Glacier 122.5; 3, Helena Capital 84; 4, Missoula Hellgate 56; 5, Helena 50; 6, Flathead 45; 7, Butte 34.5; 8, Missoula Big Sky 11.

100 — 1, Thomas Carter, Cap, 11.21; 2, Jackson Hensley, Glacier, 11.23; 3, Karsen Beitz, Snt, 11.27; 4, Easton Leadbetter, Snt, 11.31; 5, Brody Thornsberry, Flathead, 11.50; 6, Quentin Schraeder, Snt, 11.54.

200 — 1, Karsen Beitz, Snt, 22.88; 2, Connor Sullivan, Glacier, 23.01; 3, Lance Baumgart, Cap, 23.42; 4, Nate Prieto, Flathead, 23.55; 5, Joseph Ceccacci, Snt, 23.61; 6, Jake Turner, Glacier, 23.63.

400 — 1, Brady Kolendich, Snt, 51.24; 2, Jake Turner, Glacier, 51.24; 3, Ethan Anderson, Glacier, 52.13; 4, Joseph Ceccacci, Snt, 52.15; 5, Wyatt Thompson, Flathead, 52.37; 6, Ben Shaules, Snt, 52.58.

1,600 — 1, Sam Ells, Glacier, 4:17.17; 2, Finneas Colescot, Hgt, 4:20.9; 3, Tanner Klumph, Snt, 4:29.85; 4, Jackson Triepke, Hgt, 4:30.40; 5, Daniel Wiltse, Hgt, 4:30.80; 6, Gabe Felton, Flathead, 4:31.26.

110 hurdles — 1, Drew Klumph, Snt, 15.01; 2, Caleb Bernhardt, Glacier, 15.06; 3, Holt Downey, Butte, 15.71; 4, Morgan McClernan, Butte, 15.75; 5, Merek Mihelish, Cap, 15.78; Joey Lauerman, Cap, 15.82.

1,600 relay — 1, Flathead (Trevor Burke, Wyatt Thompson, Kesler Hughes, Brody Thornsberyy) 3:29.80; 2, Sentinel 3:30.34; 3, Helena 3:31.98; 4, Helena Capital 3:32.99; 5, Hellgate 3:34.07; 6, Butte 3:35.53.

Discus — 1, Danny Sirmon, Snt, 154-2; 2, Layce Cooney, Hgt, 153-7; 3, Jerrick Woods, Snt, 149-10; 4, Barrett Hageman, Cap, 148-3; 5, Aiden Krause, Glacier, 148-2; 6, Josh Goleman, Helena, 142-5.

Triple jump — 1, Tate Kauffman, Glacier, 43-8.5; 2, Dylan Zink, Flathead, 42-4.5; 3, Ty Olsen, Glacier, 41-10.25; 4, John Pyron, Glacier, 41-9; 5, Zac Crews, Snt, 41-5 .75; 6, Louis Sanders, MBS, 40-10.5.

GIRLS

Team scores — 1, Helena 154; 2, Missoula Sentinel 91; 3, Missoula Hellgate 81; 4, Glacier 76; 5, Flathead 56; 6, Missoula Big Sky 34; 7, Helena Capital 25; 8, Butte 10.

100 — 1, Mollie Conlan, Butte, 12.64; 2, Hannah Moses, Hgt, 12.84; 3, Brooklyn Ludemann, MBS, 12.95; 4, Noah Fincher, Glacier, 12.95; 5, Lily McHood, Snt, 13.11; 6, Rylee Barnes, Flathead, 13.19.

200 — 1, Odessa Zentz, Hel, 25.95; 2, Noah Fincher, Glacier 26.93; 3, Kelcey Copping, Flathead, 27.07; 4, Brooklyn Ludemann, MBS, 27.56; 5, Lily McHood, Snt, 27.77; 6, Gabbie Hasskamp, MBS, 27.78.

400 — 1, Odessa Zentz, Hel, 56.53; 2, Madilyn Todorovich, Hel, 58.08; 3, Hailey Burger, Cap, 60.19; 4, Sidney Gulick, Glacier, 60.43; 5, Peyton Walker, Flathead, 60.74; 6, Ruby Lorenz, Snt, 60.86.

1,600 — 1, Kensey May, Hgt, 5;45.55 (meet record: old record 4:54.80, Paige Gilchrist, Hellgate, 2013); 2, Kylie Harnett, Hel, 4:56.99; 3, Kailtyn Skinner, Hgt, 5:14.63; 4, Lilli Rumsey Eash, Flathead, 5:15.46; 5, Stella Diaz, Hgt, 5:17.81; Rose Wiltse, Hgt, 5:18.46.

100 hurdles — 1, Logan Todorovich, Hel, 14.73; 2, Brooke Stayner, Snt, 14.92; 3, Emily McElmurry, Snt, 15.68; 4, Alivia Rinehart, Flathead, 16.53; 5,. Analise Miglaccio, MBS, 16.54; 6, Rachel Plaster, Hel, 16.62.

1,600 relay — 1, Helena 4:02.64; 2, Glacier 4:06.80; 3, Hellgate 4:07;0; 4, Sentinel 4:12.00; 5, Big Sky 4:14.03; 6, Flathead 4:15.96.

Discus — 1, Hadlea Fred, MBS, 122-6; 2, Sydney Mattfieldt, Hel, 122-4; 3, Avari Batt, MBS, 112-10; 4, Faith Marshall, Snt, 110-6; 5, Delanie Schultz, glacier, 108-11; 6, Parklyn Heller, Cap, 106-10.

High jump — 1, Logan Todorovich, Hel, 5-5; 2, Jayden Nash, Snt, 5-5; 3, Madilyn Todorovich, Hle, 5-1; 4, Ava Kellenberg, Snt, 5-1; 5, Gabbie Hasskamp, MBS, 5-1; 6, Annika Nehring, Hel, 4-11.

Triple jump — 1, Logan Todorovich, Heln, 36-9.75; 2, Emily McElmurry, Snt, 36-7.25; 3, Ava Kellenberg, Snt, 35-4.5; 4, Reagan Brisendine, Glacier, 35-0.5; 5, Natalie Fisher, Glacier, 34-11.75; 6, Mia Stephan, Flathead, 34-1.5.