State AA track: Ells cruises to 1,600 title, Pack sitting fourth

BUTTE — In case anyone had a doubt, the 1,600 is still Sam Ells’ jam.

The Glacier High senior cruised to victory in his favorite race Friday, at the State AA track and field championships at Bulldog Memorial Stadium.

Much as he did at last week’s divisionals, he grabbed an early lead and kept it, winning in 4 minutes, 15.47 seconds. Missoula Sentinel’s Keagan Crosby, who didn’t run the race last week, was second at 4:18.95.

“I’m happy,” said the understated Ells, who will run the 800 and 3,200 Saturday. “Feels good to put all that training this winter to good use. This was just kind of a reward for all of that.”

Ells helped Glacier to 24 first-day points, leaving the Wolfpack fourth in the team standings. The squad lost a few points here and there, but also gained some: Jake Turner was fifth in the 400 and long jump — he marked a career-best 21 feet, 3.75 inches in the latter — and ran first leg on the Pack’s short relay, which took second behind Sentinel.

The defending champion Spartans had the goods, winning in 41.89. Glacier clocked 42.30.

“Jackson (Hensley) almost got them,” Turner said, then corrected himself. “Not really almost. Sentinel was fast. They have a lot of sprinters.”

Turner was happiest that they — Connor Sullivan and Xavier Stout ran the middle legs — edged Billings West for second, though the Bears were later disqualified. They ended Friday with zero points.

After seven events Gallatin leads with 34, and Sentinel is next at 30. Capital is at 27.

Also adding points for Glacier was Henry Sellards, who wasn’t projected to place in the shot put but took fifth. Henley was one of three runners clocked at 11.00 in the prelims of the 100 meters trials; three runners were faster, led by Belgrade’s Evan Major (10.78).

The Pack’s Caleb Bernhard had the third-best 110 hurdles time, 15.08; Archie LaFurge of CMR ran the fastest trial, at 14.81.

The 200 trials were fast, with 14 runners running under 23 seconds, including Sullivan (22.98). Nate Prieto of Flathead made the finals with a time of 22.66.

The Braves ended the day with 12 points, all of it in the long jump, where Dylan Zink popped a career-best jump of 22-4.75 to take second, and Brody Thornsberry (21-8.25) was fourth.

On the girls side, Helena looks untouchable with 67 first-day points.

The Bengals’ Odessa Zentz took three names out of the record book with one race: She ran the 400 in 56.02, breaking not only the English distance (440 yards) record of 56.3 set by CMR’s Denise Pidcock in 1980, but the 56.54 run by Bozeman’s Carlee Clark in 2002 and tied by Sentinel’s Chantelle Grey in 2009. Zentz won the event for the third time: It almost assuredly would be the fourth had the 2020 season not been canceled by Covid-19.

Jaeden Wolff of Billings West ran a blistering 12.08-second 100 meters, setting the all-class record. The wind was strong but blowing perpendicular to the straightaway. The record was 12.19 by Billings Senior’s Morgan Sulser in 2014. Wolff won the event in 2021.

Billings West’s girls sit second at 41 points, with Bozeman and Missoula Hellgate next at 32. Flathead scored nine points Friday — same total as Sentinel — and Glacier’s girls got six.

Lilli Rumsey Eash was fifth in the 1,600 for the Bravettes, while teammate Taliana Miller took fourth in the javelin and Kennedy Moore tied for fourth in the high jump. Moore was one of four girls to clear 5-3 Friday; Bozeman’s Hannah Schonhoff made 5-5, then 5-7 to repeat as champ.

Glacier’s Kai Johnson PR’d to take third in the shot put, with a mark of 38-3.25.

Glacier’s Sidney Gulick was seventh in the 400, just .08 out of sixth. She ran the fifth-best 100 hurdles time.

State AA

BOYS

Team scores (Through 7 of 17 events) — 1, Gallatin 34; 2, Sentinel 30; 3, Helena Capital 27; 4, Glacier 24; 5 (tie), Missoula Big Sky, Butte and Helena 17; 8, Bozeman 15; 9, Flathead 12; 10, Great Falls CMR 11; 11, Hellgate 9; 12, Great Falls High 4.

400 — 1, Rafe Premo, CMR, 49.68; 2, Nikoas Udsteuen, Gal, 59.29; 3, Colin Shaules, Snt, 50.57; 4, Keagen Crosby, Snt, 50.80; 5, Jake Turner, Glacier, 51.32; 6, Brady Kolendich, Snt, 51.38.

1,600 — 1, Sam Ells, Glacier, 4:15.47; 2, Keagen Crosby, Snt, 4:18.95; 3, Weston Brown, Boz, 4:21.17; 4, Ryan Harrington, GFH, 4:22.48; 5, Nathan Neil, Boz, 4:22.54; 6, Finneas Colescott, Hgt, 4:25.26.

400 relay — 1, Sentinel (Easton Leadbetter, Karsen Beitz, Quentin Schreader, Hudson Lembke) 41.89; 2, Glacier 42.30; 3, Gallatin 42.77; 4, Helena Capital 43.03; 5, Tommy Bossenbrook, Bozeman 43.12; 6, Great Falls CMR 43.14.

Shot put — 1, Josh Goleman, Hel, 53-4.5; 2, Tommy Nilson, Hgt, 50-5; 3, Chaise Meyer, MBS, 50-4; 4, Forrest Suero, Hel, 49-10.75; 5, Henry Sellards, Glacier, 49-6; 6, Zac Crews, Snt, 48-4.

High jump — 1, Garret Coley, Gal, 6-4; 2, Porter Gibbs, MBS, 6-2; 3 (tie), Jonas Sherman, Butte, and Trent Rogers, Bozeman, 6-00; 5, Jaxan Lieberg, Hel, 6-0; 6, Nick Michelotti, Cap, 6-0.

Long jump — 1, Garret Coley, Gal, 23-1; 2, Dylan Zink, Flathead, 22-4.75; 3, Hunter Cronenwett, Capi, 22-3.25; 4, Brody Thornsberry, Flathead, 21-8.25; 5, Jake Turner, Glacier, 21-3.75; 6, Colter Petre, Hel, 21-2.25.

Pole vault — 1, Alex Bistro, Cap, 14-6; 2, Gavin Vetter, Butte, 14-3; 3, Andy Williams, Cap, 13-6; 4, Jaric Sparks, Butte, 13-0; 5 (tie), Joey Sandberg, MBS, and Bridger Weirson, MBS, 13-0.

GIRLS

Team scores (through 8 events) — 1, Helena 67; 2, Billings West 41, 3 (tie), Bozeman and Hellgate, 32; 5, Gallatin 18; 6, Capital 13; 7, Billings Skyview 12; 8 (tie), Billings Senior, Sentinel and Flathead, 9; 11, Glacier 6.

400 — 1, Odessa Zentz, Hel, 56.02 (AA record: Old record 56.48 by Carlee Clark, Bozeman, 2002, and Chantelle Grey, Sentinel, 2009); 2, Taylee Chirrick, BW, 57.04; 3, Madilyn Todorovich, Hel, 58.41; 4, Hailey Burger, Cap, 59.58; 5, Halle Haber, BW, 59.88; 6, Ela Bloyder, West, 59.95.

1,600 — 1, Kensey May, Hgt, 4:56.04; 2, Kylie Hartnett, Hel, 5:06.38; 3, Hayley Burns, Boz, 5:15.54; 4, Kaitlyn Kinner, Hgt, 5:15.55; 5, Lilly Rumsey Eash, Flathead, 5:17.24; 6, Malia Bradford, Snt, 5:23.56.

400 relay — 1, Billings West (Hailey Coey, Kaitlin Grossman, Taylee Chirrick, Jaden Wolff) 47.55; 2, Helena 48.69; 3, Billings Skyview 49.60; 4, Sentinel 49.62; 5, Gallatin 49.68; 6, Hellgate 50.12.

Javelin — 1, Alysa Keller, BW, 143-1; 2, Clara Fox, Boz, 131-3; 3, Rachel Macy, BSR, 118-11; 4, Taliana Miller, 116-3; 5, Keke Davis, Hgt, 113-2; 6, Elly Thorpe, Hgt, 111-4.

Shot put — 1, Sydney Mattfieldt, Hel, 41-1.75; 2, tesse Kamps, Gal, 38-4.5; 3, Kai Johnson, Glacier, 38-3.25; 4, Jaavieve Lynch, Boz, 38-0; 5, Torie Jamieson, BSR, 37-9.25; 6, Jaida Green, Cap, 56-5.25.

High jump — 1, Hannah Schonhoff, Boz, 5-7; 2, Whitney Schlender, Gal, 5-3 3, Logan Todorvich, Hel; 5-3; 4 (tie), Kennedy Moore, Flathead, and Madilyn Todorovich, Hel, 5-3; 6, Ava Kellenberg, Snt, 5-1.

Long jump — 1, Logan Todorovich, Hel, 18-6.25; 2, Hailey Coey, BW, 17-11.5; 3, Madilyn Todorovich, Hel, 17-9.25; 5, Perry Paffhausen, Hgt, 17-5.5; 5, Brooke Stayner, Snt, 17-3.5; 6, Ava Kellenberg, Snt, 17-0.75.

Pole vault (held Thursday) — 1, Hannah Moses, Hgt, 11-9; 2, Libby Hansen, Cap, 11-6; 3, Madison Clause, Sky, 11-6; 4, Grace Stoddard, Boz, 10-6; 5, Austin Long, BW, 10-6; 6, Abbie Morledge-Hamption, BSR, 10-0.