Carroll’s Kauffman wins Frontier triple jump

LOCKWOOD — State AA champion one spring, Frontier Conference champ the next.

Tate Kauffman, a freshman out of Glacier High competing at Carroll College, took the men’s triple jump at the Frontier Conference track and field meet Thursday.

His winning mark was 13.92 meters (45 feet, 8 inches), and among his top competitors was Montana Tech freshman John Pyron. The fellow Glacier product marked 42-9.75, tying for fourth. Pyron was fourth at last year’s State AA championship as well.

In fact if you’re looking for how Montana Tech edged Carroll’s men 217.33-215.33 for the team total, look no further than Pyron, who tied Kauffman for fourth in the high jump and was also sixth in the long jump on Friday at Lockwood High School, just outside Billings.

Rocky Mountain College followed with 83.33 points, then came Providence (78) and Montana Western (13).

The Tech Orediggers swept the team titles, with the women winning more decisively, scoring 199 points to 143.5 for Carroll, 122.5 for Providence, 109 for Rocky and 27 for Western.

The Tech men were led by sprinter Dom Maricelli, who swept the 100 and 200, and distance man Edwin Kipainoi, who swept the 5,000 and 10,000..

Carroll was bolstered by Flathead Valley talent: Another freshman out of Glacier, Reuben Hornby, won the javelin for Carroll with a throw of 172-1.

Carroll’s Bodie Smith (Whitefish) was also fifth in the 110-meter hurdles and third in the long jump (Kauffman was fourth). Teammate Cormac Benn (Bigfork) was eighth in both the long and triple jumps.

Ronan’s Peyton Cates, who cleared 6-2.75 and won the high jump for Montana Tech on criteria (teammate Bauer Seewald also made that height).

Rocky’s Quinlan Stewart (Polson) ran anchor on the Battlin’ Bears 3,200-meter relay team that took third, and took sixth in the 400. For Western, Joe Lamb (Columbia Falls) was fourth in the 1,500 meters, running 4:11.54.

Among the leaders for Montana Tech’s women is Carlin Manning, a Flathead graduate, who was second in the 10,000 meters Thursday in a time of 39:45.36, and was third in Friday’s 5,000 with a time of 19:09.97. Teammate Haily Nielson won in 18:33.91.

Karly Lawson out of Polson helped the Orediggers by taking third in the hammer throw with a mark of 125-11. She took eighth in the javelin.

Carroll’s Madde Boles, a Flathead alum, cleared 5-1 to take third in the high jump. Bigfork product Chloe Raats was eighth in the 100 for the Saints.