Glacier boys 2nd, girls 3rd at AA track
MISSOULA — Seven-thousandths of a second, faster than the blink of an eye, is what separated Glacier from its second State AA boys track and field team championship.
That’s how tight the race for second was in the 1,600 relay Saturday, with Billings West edging out Belgrade. The eight points that came with second pushed the Golden Bears to 76 points, while Glacier — sixth in the relay — finished at 74.
“What a weekend we had,” Glacier boys coach Connor Fuller said. “We outperformed what we were supposed to do. We ask kids to PR and they did. To have a chance to win a state championship was an incredible run.”
Glacier’s girls added a third-place trophy, finishing the meet with 66 points behind winner West at 122 and Gallatin at 84.
“I’m so proud of the girls, especially our distance runners who showed up and showed out,” Wolfpack girls coach Hollis May said. “Our goal all year was to PR and be ourselves and they did that and exceeded expectations. Trophies are hard to get at the state track meet.”
The track was fast early on a rainy Saturday at MCPS Stadium on Big Sky High School.
Glacier junior Cooper Pelc set an all-class state record in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing in 14.03 seconds, ahead of Capital’s Oliver Mow — who finished in 14.08, also under the old record of 14.14 set by Huntley Project’s Bradley Graves in 2019.
“I had a dream last night that I won,” Pelc said. “I knew I had one of the better starts. I really wasn’t expecting (a record) to be honest, I’m still kind of letting that one sink in, but it feels great.”
The Wolfpack boys added another state champion in the javelin with Daniel Pederson continuing his late-season strong form with a toss of 189 feet, 5 inches.
“I’m happy with that,” Pederson said. “I still wish I could have broke 200 and my PR, but I am so happy with first and I am eager, hungry and ready for next year to come back and get some more.”
Kruz Robinson and Liam Palmer went 2-4 in the 300 hurdles to give Glacier another strong points showing.
Will Astle had his second points showing of the weekend with a fifth in the discus, throwing 151-1. Kyle West finished third in the 200 in a personal best 22.18 seconds.
Friday, Owen Thiel flashed his speed to win the boys 3,200 for the second straight season in 9:11.17, nearly six seconds ahead of Bozeman’s Miles Halvorsen.
“It’s a great feeling to end high school with another state title,” Owen Thiel said. “It’s kind of the pinnacle of high school is winning the state championship your senior year. You can win it junior year, but a senior year state title is what you need to end it on the highest note you can and I’m glad I could get it done today.”
Lauren Bissen made it two back-to-back 3,200 champions with her strong close to finish in 11:00.40. Hawks’ runner Phoebe Maixner was second in 11:04.41.
“It was a fun race, I took a playful mindset to it and tried to play a game with it,” Bissen said. “It was satisfying, when I crossed the finish line I just said ‘I did it.’ “
Saturday, Ada Thiel finished her freshman year on a strong not with a state championship in the 1,600 to go with her second in the 800 from Friday.
“I’ve worked hard on this in the past couple years and I am really happy that it has paid off these past couple seasons,” Thiel said. “I’ve been running every day since seventh grade and its really nice to see it pay off.”
The Wolfpack girls added a fourth in the long relay on the track and Addyson Brisendine ran the 300 hurdles in personal record 45.12.
Glacier got a 4-6 finish in the discus with Rylee Bigelow (129-2) and Allie Krueger (120-0) setting personal bests.
On Friday the Glacier girls started hot in the girls 800 where Dacia Benkelman used the momentum from her win at the Western AA Divisional in Helena to set a personal best 2:12.79, followed in second by freshman teammate Ada Thiel — who also set a personal best at 2:13.22.
“I just tried to keep up with Hazel (Cooper) and at the end just gave it all that I had,” Benkelman said. “It’s an awesome feeling to be able to PR and a good way to set a PR. It’s good to see how far I have come from freshman year to now.”
Flathead’s Will Hollensteiner took victory in the rain-delayed long jump that finished Saturday morning.
Hollensteiner scored all 28 points for the Braves Saturday, helping Flathead to a 10th place finish in the team standings.
He added two second-place finishes in the 400 and triple jump, while also coming home fifth in the 200.
The Bravettes found their footing Saturday as well with Julia Kay opening the day with a personal record 59.00 in the 400 to finish fourth.
Flathead added a sixth place in the long relay after winning the first heat in 4:06.22.
“Proud of our kids to compete in the elements and fun to see some of our girls break through to get themselves spots on the podium, Bravettes coach Kaylee Fox said. “We had a lot of kids have personal and season bests today and that is exactly what you want at state.”
Two more bests came in the triple jump as Anna Bain leaped 36-6 for a personal record, while Alice Dolezal went 36-2.5 for her best jump this season. Naomi Miller was seventh with a jump of 35-4.5.
Bravettes’ freshman Brynn Kossman was eighth in the shot put Friday, 1.5 inches away from sixth with her throw of 35-8. Bristol Lenz was seventh in the long jump with a leap of 16-11.5.
Familiar name in B
In Class B, Plains’ John Jermyn set a new personal best to win the 3,200 in 9:38.55. Plains swept the top three with Cord Greer and Simeon Costner following Jermyn.
Jermyn set a PR to win the boys 1,600 in 4:24.21 Friday, Greer was fourth.
Eureka’s Josh Lambertson tallied a sixth in the 400 and a fifth in the 100.
Troy found a state champion in triple jumper Aspen Orr, who went 37-6 for a personal best.
Multiple state records fell. Starting right away with Conrad’s Ledger Martin running a 47.65 in the 400, shattering the old record of 48.20 set by Deer Lodge’s Arie Grey.
Columbus’ Garret Prather then set a record in the 200 with a 21.38. The old record was 22.00 set by Superior’s Trizten Avila.
Loyola’s Allison Gama set the new mark in the 100 hurdles at 14.56, breaking Plains’ Hailey Phillips record of 14.75.
Friday, Eureka’s Kricket Bridges brought in a sixth-place finish in the girls pole vault, clearing 9-0.
Broadwater’s Kaitlyn Noyes also set a Class B record in the long jump with a leap of 18-9.75, breaking her old mark of 18-0.5.