Flathead boys set 4 records, win MCPS Invitational.

MISSOULA — Most people knew the Flathead Braves could jump. On Saturday they ran as well, and won the boys team title at the MCPS Invitational track and field meet.

Setting four meet records in perfect conditions at MCPS Stadium, the Braves piled up 149 points to 89 for second-place Helena Capital. Helena High was third at 62, just ahead of Missoula Big Sky (59.5).

Missoula Hellgate beat Helena 130-110 for the girls team title, on a day when four girls records also fell, one of them coming from Whitefish senior Brooke Zetooney. 

Hamilton was next at 101.5. Flathead’s Bravettes scored 33 points to finish eighth.

Junior Ben Bliven got the Flathead boys out of the gate fast, setting the meet record in the 200 meters with a time of 21.96 seconds. That broke the old record of 22.11 set by Seeley-Swan’s Owen Hoag last year.

Teammate William Hollenstein was fourth in that race, and then set the 400 dash record in the afternoon; the sophomore ran it in 49.10 seconds. That broke a 36-year-old mark of 50.22 run by Missoula Hellgate’s Eric Grossman in 1988.

In between, Michael Mahar, Jacob Dolezal, Bliven and Brody Thornsberry sped through the 400-meter relay in 42.10 seconds. That lowered the standard of 42.90 run by Great Falls Russell in 2009.

Finally the Braves took home gold in the long relay in 3:23.75. Helena High had the record for one year, having clicked 3:28.48 last April.

Flathead also saw Dolezal win the high jump at 6-6; he then tried for 6-7 but couldn’t get in on Saturday. And the Braves had some serious depth points: Thornsberry was third in the triple jump, marking 43-4.5; Thornsberry, Hollensteiner and Blieven went 2-3-4 in the long jump; Bliven (11.06), Dolezal and Thornsberry were 2-3-4 in a very tight 100 meters that Sentinel’s Hudson Lemke won in 11.00. 

Dolezal and Thornsberry both ran 11.13; Dolezal got third in a photo finish.

Kasen Kastner helped with a third in the 800 and a second in the 1,600.

Whitefish scored 52 points to finish fifth in the girls team standings, 10 behind defending State A champion Corvallis.

Zetooney’s time of 12.55 in the 100 was .03 under the 12.58 run by Missoula Big sky’s Hanna Coburn in 2016.

One Corvallis legend erased another: Olivia Lewis took the 300 hurdles in 44.06, and the old record of 44.20 was set by former Blue Devil Paige Squire in 2011.

They finished second Saturday, but the Helena Bengals are for real. They set the 400-meter relay record, for starters: Madilyn Todorovich, Hazel Bishop, Reghan Skogen and Logan Todorovich clocked 49.32. The old record was 50.19 by Big Sky in 2014.

Logan Todorovich also won the long jump in a record 18-10.75.  Coburn had that record as well, going 18-2.75 for Big Sky in 2016.

Another record came in the girls pole vault, where Hellgate’s Landrie Anderson and Helena’s Skogen finished 1-2. Anderson won on criteria; both cleared 11-6, which is higher than the 11-3 Hamilton’s Taylor Searle reached a year ago.

The Bravettes’ top finishers were Mikena Conan, who was third in the 800; Mia Stephan, who was third in the triple jump; Grace Gall, who finished fourth in the 400 with a PR of 1:02,75; and Bristol Lenz, who was fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.80.

Full results can be found at athletic.net.