Hawks finish first at home track meet

Lady Hawk breaks school pole vault record

A Lady Hawk reached new heights at the Thompson Falls Invitational Track Meet last week.

Junior Rheanna Padden broke the Thompson Falls High School record with a 7-foot, 8-inch pole vault at the school’s meet Thursday afternoon. The only competitor to come close to Padden’s first place vault was teammate Delcie Peters, who nabbed a second with a pole vault of 7 feet, 2 inches.

Padden’s former highest pole vault was 7 feet, 6 inches, said Randy Symon, head coach for the Thompson Falls team. Padden made two more attempts at 8-foot, 1-inch, but couldn’t do it. Symon said she hopes to clear the 8-foot mark this year. She also took first place with a 119-foot, 7-inch javelin.

Bluehawk Brian Schenavar was also looking to break the school record — one that he set last year — which was 14 feet, 3 inches, but only tied his former record Thursday to take first place, followed by his teammate, Michael Kidwider, who cleared the bar at 10 feet, 3 inches. The senior is hoping for a 15-foot pole vault, something Symon believes he can do.

Just over 200 athletes from nine teams competed at Thompson Falls, with Symon’s team being the largest at 53. The meet lasted about five hours and included 17 running, jumping and throwing events. The Noxon Red Devils had the fewest with 13.

The Thompson Falls boys team won first place with 178 points, 84 points ahead of the Eureka Lions, followed by the third place Superior Bobcats, which finished the day with 79 points. Fourth went to Arlee at 70 points; Troy took fifth at 57; Hot Springs finished sixth with 23; Noxon had seventh with 11 points; and in eighth place was Florence with nine points. Two Eagle participated, but received no points.

The Lady Hawks also finished at the top with 128 points. The Hot Springs girls grabbed second place with 112 points. Third went to the Lady Bobcats at 108. Finishing fourth was Eureka at 88, followed by sixth place Arlee and Noxon tying at 42, Troy in eighth at 21, and Two Eagle in last place with nine points.

Symon said several members of his team had personal bests Thursday. Jason Shaw, a senior, heaved the shot put for 50 feet, 2 inches, besting his former throw by three inches. The coach said Shaw is one of only three Bluehawks to reach the 50-foot mark at the shot put. The others were Jake Gerstenberger and Allen Czerwinski.

Jason Flemmer, also a senior, had a season best at the javelin with a throw of 182 feet, 11 inches, and a second place behind Troy’s Aaron Palmer, who tossed the stick 193 feet, 2 inches.

The Thompson Falls boys walked off the field with five first places, nine seconds, four thirds, four fourths, seven fifths, and two sixth places.

The Lady Hawks had four first places. Besides Padden’s firsts, Beca Gunderson, who had a 2:39.23 first in the 800-meter run, as well as first place in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:50.46. Symon said he has high hopes for Gunderson’s running abilities this year.

The Thompson Falls girls finished in second place in six events. They also had three thirds, four fourths, two fifths, and four six places.

Noxon’s Kimmy Moore, a senior, took first place in four out of five events and had a season best in two of them, said Kelly Moore, her father and head coach for the team. She zipped across the finish line in the 300-meter hurdles at 50.20, beating her former 51.75 time. In the 100 hurdles, she finished with a time of 16.80, besting her former finish this year of 17.22. Her high school record is 15.90. And she tied her season best at the 100-meter dash, finishing at 13.90. Moore also took first in the 200-meter dash at 28.64.

Karlynn Therrian was the only other Lady Red Devil to place at Thompson Falls. The sophomore took sixth with a long jump of 13 feet, 6 inches, sixth in the 800 run, and fourth with a discus throw of 86 feet, 2 inches.

Noxon’s boys topped off with a fourth place by Jesse Hay, who finished with a 45.81 in the 300 hurdles and Tyler Swant, who took fourth with a shot put of 40 feet, 7 inches. Swant didn’t place in the javelin or the discus, but he walked away with personal bests in both. The senior beat his former javelin throw of 113 feet with a throw of 118 feet, 9 inches. In the discus, he tossed the plate 111 feet, 8 inches, surpassing his former discus record by about four feet. Red Devil Keith Therrian, also a senior, had a triple jump of 35 feet, three feet more than his record. And teammate senior Ben Seratt knocked 12 seconds off his 800-meter run time.

The highest placer for the Hot Springs boys was Reiley Winebrenner, who took second place in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 44.02. He also took fifth in the 800 run and sixth in the 110-meter hurdles.

The Savage Heat boys had one third, one fourth, two fifths and three sixths at the meet.

The Hot Springs girls fared much better, with Matea DePoe placing in four events, taking a second, two thirds, and a fourth. DePoe’s top event was a 33-foot, 5 1/2-inch shot put, only about a foot and a half behind a Eureka girl’s throw. DePoe took third with an 87-foot, 11-inch discus, some five feet behind Padden. She also managed third with a long jump distance of 14 feet, 1 inch.

However, it was DePoe’s teammates that nabbed second and first in the event. Randi Arnold jumped for 14 feet, 3 inches and Devon White placed second with a long jump of 14 feet, 2 inches.

Five of the six athletes to place in the triple jump were from Hot Springs. White took top honors, going a distance of 31 feet, 3 1/2 inches. Third went to Savage Heat’s Lindsey Salmi at 29 feet 4 1/2 inches, followed by DePoe at 29 feet, 3 inches, Riley Pavelich at 29 feet, 2 inches, and Richelle Flagen in sixth at 28 feet, 9 inches.

Their 400-meter and 1,600-meter relay teams both finished in third place. The Hot Springs girls finished the day with 20 places.

Savage Heat head coach Dustin Herbert hopes to have several of his team qualify for the state championships this year. DePoe and White were the only two who went last year and both competed in the triple jump. However, Herbert said he has a lot of talent and expects more at state this season.

Hot Springs will host the Dave Tripp Memorial Track Meet Thursday at 10 a.m. where Noxon and Plains will compete. Thompson Falls will head to Frenchtown Saturday. Hot Springs will be competing at Superior April 29. Plains, Hot Springs and Thompson Falls will participate at the Noxon Invitational Thursday, May 1.