Best of the west

A couple of sore shins couldn’t hold back an Alberton junior from out-distancing the best jumpers in western Montana last Tuesday.

James Wemple, with shin splints and all, jumped 42 feet, 2 1/2 inches to win the triple jump at the 10th annual Russ Pilcher Western Montana Top Ten Track meet at the Missoula County Stadium. The Russ Pilcher track meet brings together the best athletes from schools, regardless of class, across western Montana by selecting the 10 athletes who have had the best time, distance or height in their event at tournaments this year.

“This is huge,” said Alberton coach Rachael Clevenger. She said that it was an honor just to be selected to the tournament, let alone winning it with a personal best jump. She said it had been about six years since Alberton had sent anyone to the meet. “It’s a big, big deal,” she said.

The triple jump was Wemple’s second event at the meet. Earlier he finished third in the long jump with a jump of 19 feet, 10 3/4 inches. Wemple, the Alberton record holder in the long jump, describe his jump as just OK. “It was just decent. I was expecting a little further today,” he said. Wemple said he had shin splints and he was saving himself for the divisional and district tournaments.

Wemple said it was his first time being selected to the tournament. “It’s definitely an accomplishment,” he said. He said the level of competition at the meet was at a higher level than at most meets. “It’s pretty tough. They can jump far. They can jump long,” he said. Wemple said being able to compete with and beat the best athletes in western Montana gave him some confidence that he may be able to go on to compete at the college level.

Superior took three athletes to the top 10 meet. Jessica Sperry, a senior, finished in eighth place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.20 seconds. “I worked hard to get here. It’s pretty gratifying,” Sperry said. She said that even though she didn’t win the race, it was more satisfying than coming in first at other meets. “I won the 100 at Saturday’s meet. The competition was there, but it wasn’t as hard as this. It’s pretty tough competition; you really want to do your best,” she said.

Tyler Stenberg finished in 10th in the triple jump with a distance of 37 feet, 8 1/4 inches and Bobcat senior David Repke finished in fifth place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.60 seconds. Bobcat coach Tori Lucier said that Repke should also have been able to compete in the 800-meter run, an event he took to state last year. She said while looking at the times of the 10 people competing in the 800, she noticed that Repke had a good enough time to be in the event and had somehow got overlooked by the meet organizers. She said she was upset when she pointed it out to the race officials and they still wouldn’t let him race. “If you’ve earned the right, you’ve earned the right,” she said. “He’s a senior, it’s not like he can come back next year.”

About 300 athletes competed in 34 events at the meet. Russ Pilcher, who coached track at Big Sky for 20 years, said that it was the most athletes that had competed at the meet in its 10-year history. He said he thinks the level of competition is what keeps the athletes coming back. “The best thing about this meet is that you have Class C, Class B, Class A, Class AA kids going head-to-head against each other. Those kids love that kind of competition,” Pilcher said.

He said the meet is like the state tournament, where only the best can compete. “You have the 10 best athletes in Western Montana, lined up against each other to see who’s the best on the track on that given day,” Pilcher said. “You don’t often get that chance,” he added.