One-Timer: In with a flash, out with a bang

As athletes sat in the Big Sky High School gym in Missoula during a lightning delay at the State AA-B track and field meet, it hit me: the sky has not played kind with Kalispell athletes this school year.

Flathead boys track coach Dan Hodge called the postponement “unprecedented,” after the remaining events were pushed to Saturday morning. 

“This is the 54th state track meet that I have been to as a coach and this is the first time this has ever happened,” Hodge said. “We lost the state track meet because of Covid and one year we had Mount Saint Helens erupt, but that didn’t interfere with the meet.” 

Well, it did slightly; the 1980 MHSA state track and field meet in Missoula was delayed a week with the volcano spewing ash and soot across the region on May 18. The meet was held on May 30-31 instead of May 23-24. 

So maybe not quite unprecedented for this meet, but the amount of lightning related delays and postponements in 2025-26 might just be. As I returned to the Missoula Travelodge to write, a second thought struck: The lightning seems to be following me.  

Start back in August with the Lady Griz soccer team’s showcase match with Air Force in Columbia Falls delayed a day due to storms. 

Then at the end of August as the Braves football team’s opener was declared a no-contest against Great Falls after stormy skies appeared over Legends Stadium. 

Then, two weeks later as the Braves again were home for a matchup with Missoula Hellgate where lightning forced the teams to finish Saturday. 

By this time, Braves coach Mac Roche was not wanting to hear the word “lightning” anywhere near the locker rooms. 

“This is wild, this has been a weird year,” Roche said. “Between the first lightning game ...  now we are playing the same game in two days, this is certainly something that I wasn’t anticipating this year.” 

The night before the Braves and Knights hit the field, Flathead and Glacier’s Crosstown Flag Football game was hit with a similar fate. 

Roche and the Braves conquered the lightning delay woes, knocking off Butte after the skies opened in October. 

The common factor? This reporter was scheduled to be at all five of these fall events, and then winter brought a reprieve. 

Until the spring. 

The sky reared its unpredictable head on me again as I trekked to Flathead track practice — it was moved indoors — ahead of the state meet to speak with coaches before making a showstopping appearance in Missoula Friday. 

Born and raised in Kalispell weather did not stop an event as far as I can remember during my youth, but in the past 10 months I was in attendance for seven such events. 

So if you are out to watch your friends and family members over the summer and into the fall and you see me out, make sure you know where to take shelter. 

Reporter Jon Allen can be reached at 406-758-4426 or jallen@dailyinterlake.com. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.