Bluehawks fall shy at divisional meet

Matt Unrau

Valley Press

It all came down to the last event on the last day of the divisional track meet in Missoula.

Thompson Falls’ boys mile relay team along with Darby were both favorites to place in the race.

If the Bluehawks finished ahead of Darby they would win the meet.

If Darby beat the Bluehawks then they would host the first-place hardware.

Thompson Falls finished with a personal record in the event, 3 minutes and 36.46 seconds.

But it was not enough to beat out Darby who edged them by two seconds to place second in the race and first at the meet.

Darby finished with 94 points at the meet, while Thompson Falls had to settle for second place falling one point shy and two seconds behind.

It was the second year in a row that the Bluehawks had finished one point shy of a divisional championship and it stings this time around just as much as last year.

“When it’s all said and done you can’t change the outcome, but it’s (second place) not what we came here for,” says Coach Randy Symon who was hoping for a divisional championship.

It was a valiant effort for the team as they lowered their best time by four seconds in the event.

Connor O’Callaghan who ran the first leg describes how the team keeps on raising their game to meet tougher challenges. “Everyone grows every meet and gets faster and faster.”

Big winners for the Bluehawks include Aaron Palmer who outdistanced himself in the javelin and Aaron Palmer who won in a very deep discus field.

Stephen Block won the pole vault and the 800. The short relay team also took first place.

The Lady Hawks also finished in second place and 92 points at the meet.

It was an impressive total considering the fact that they only have six girls who scored points at the meet.

The team also finished with a bang by winning the mile relay by making a remarkable comeback over Eureka in the last two laps.

It was freshman Maria Mora who made up the space in the third leg of the race as the girl running in first place opened the door for Mora to pass on the inside.

 “I didn’t think I just ran,” said Mora as her and her teammates were shocked to see her being able to pass on the inside of the track.

Standout Rheanna Padden finished off the win by holding off a pesky Bailey Malecha of Eureka by running a blistering 62 second split.

It was a full three seconds faster than her previous best and would have been good enough to place third in the 400 if she had ran it.

“I could hear her behind me,” said Padden. “It really helped when everyone (her teammates) was yelling.”

This was only the second race that the group of four (including Delcie Peters and Beca Gunderson) ran as a team, and they shaved an impressive 12 seconds off their previous best time.