Three county teams go to Seeley Invite

The Thompson Falls Bluehawks took command over the 16 other teams at the Seeley-Swan Invitational and cruised to a first-place finish Saturday at the Missoula County Stadium.

The Bluehawks had two first-place finishes, three second-place finishes and scored 99.50 points to finish with 30 more points than the second place Drummond Trojans. Bluehawk senior Brian Schenavar broke his own school record again in the pole vault, and inched closer to his goal of 15 feet, winning the event with a vault of 14 feet, 10 inches. Schenavar had set the school record by vaulting 14 feet, 6 inches the week before. Schenavar also placed fourth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.63 seconds.

Thompson Fall senior Jason Flemmer finished in first in the javelin with a throw of 179 feet, 1 inch. Flemmer’s throw was over 20 feet further than the throw of the second-place finisher from Alberton. The Bluehawks also had two of their athletes finish second in the other throwing events. Jason Shaw came in second with a throw of just over 48 feet and Austin Knutson came in second in the discus with a throw of 133 feet, 5 inches. Shane Donaldson also came in second for the Bluehawks in the 3,200-meter run.

The Lady Hawks missed out of placing in the top three in the team events by nine points, finishing behind Seeley-Swan in fourth with 54 points. Lady Hawk Rheanna Padden had a strong day for Thompson Falls, placing in the top three in three individual events. Padden won the javelin with a throw of 118 feet, 3 inches, came in third in the pole vault with a height of 8 feet, 3 inches and also came in third in the 100-meter hurdles.

Beca Gunderson finished second for the Lady Hawks in two of the long distance runs. Gunderson finished the 3,200 in 12 minutes and 51.41 seconds and the 1,600 meter run with a time of five minutes 42.46 seconds.

Lady Red Devil Kimmy Moore was a one-woman show for Noxon. Moore finished in first in the 300-meter hurdles, second in the 100 hurdles and in the 100-meter dash, fourth in the 200-meter dash and accounted for all of the Red Devils’ 30 seventh-place points. Noxon coach Kelly Moore said in most of the races Kimmy ran her best times of the season, which is perfect timing with districts coming up next week.

Noxon’s only other athlete who placed in the top five was Jesse Hay. The junior finished the 300 hurdles in 42.48 seconds to finish in fifth place. Moore said the time was Hay’s personal best. “He’s been working really hard on his form in the hurdles,” Moore said.

Although none of the other 8 Red Devils were able to finish in the top five, Moore said most of them had personal best performances. Senior Keith Therrian 12.8-second time in the 100 was a personal best. Adam Moore had a personal best in the javelin with a throw of 141 feet, 8 inches, Riley Dettlewiler had a personal best in the discus, Caplan Weare’s 58.50-seconds time in the 400 was a personal best, Levi Gardner ran the 1,600 in five minutes 18 seconds to set a personal record and Marissa Osbourne’s throw of nearly 80 feet in the javelin was also a personal best.

Hot Springs went into the Seeley-Swan Invitational nursing injuries and had a rough day, according to Savage Heat coach Dustin Herbert. One bright spot for the Savage Heat was the performance of Matea DePoe. DePoe finished in second in the long jump with a jump of 14 feet, 11 inches and ran the first leg on the fifth-place 4x100-meter relay team. DePoe, Randi Arnold, Lindsey Salmi and Jordon Fisher ran the 400 in 54.41 seconds, a season-best for Hot Springs.

Savage Heat senior Nick Pavelich was the only other athlete for Hot Springs’ to place in the top six. Pavelich ran the 400-meter dash in a season-best 54.36 seconds to finish in sixth place. “He’s really came around and is peaking at the right time,” said Herbert. Pavelich’s one point was the Savage Heat’s lone point in the tournament and they finished in a tie with Granite for 15th place.

Herbert said his team should be able to recover from injuries and regroup by the time of the district meet in Polson Thursday. “Hopefully, we’ll have a strong showing at districts,” he said. Noxon will join Hot Springs at the district meet, where only the top five in each event advance to the divisional meet. Thompson Falls and Plains will travel to Kalispell Saturday for their district tournament.