Bluehawks bring home second
THOMPSON FALLS – The Bluehawk Track and Field team showed a strong performance at the Jim Johnson Invitational in Missoula, bringing home a second place finish. The boys finished with a score of 72.5, almost 13 points ahead of Hot Springs who landed in third place.
According to Head Coach Randy Symon, Tanner Laws, McKenzie Holt, Garrett Strine and Kyle Kinnick had strong performances at the meet, placing in numerous events.
Laws took second place in both the 1,600 and 3,200 with times of 4:59.62 and 11:00.97 respectively.
“When (Tanner) lines up he is ready to compete. He doesn’t care who he is up against,” Coach Symon said.
As for Holt, he took fifth place in the 100 with a time of 11:53 and Coach Symon said he also performed well on the relay team despite experiencing some pain throughout the meet.
Strine, who Coach Symon dubbed as a promising kid on the team, took fifth place in the 300 hurdles with 44.90. Coach Symon also credited him for a number of other strong performances throughout the meet.
Kinnick placed multiple times: he took fourth in the 800 with 2:14.57 and took fifth in the 1,600 with 5:05.19.
Despite never participating in track before, Kinnick continues to pleasantly surprise his coach.
Although the boys’ team took a lot of points, the girls team was almost nonexistent, as many of the athletes were unable to attend.
According to Head Coach Randy Symon, both Autrey and Shey Hannum did not make the meet – something that caused the girls to suffer.
Even with strong performances from Logan Beckman and Angela Padden, the team came in eighth place with a score of 24.5.
“If we had the two Hannum girls, we probably would have moved from eighth place to second or third,” Coach Symon said.
Padden did put up a strong front to compete with and placed third in the 100 hurdles with 17:33 and took fourth place in the 300 hurdles with 52:31. She also took fourth in the pole vaulting competition with a length of 7-0.
Beckman also showed up and competed well, placing fourth in the javelin with 102-10 and fifth in the shot put with 29-8.
Other placers on both teams included Dylan Vaught who took third place in the long jump with a length of 18-9 and also finished third in the triple jump with 38-5. Vaught also finished with a time of 11:59 for sixth place in the 100 and third place in the 300 with 24.45. Trais Hoisington took fourth in the 300 with 24.95 and also placed fifth in the 400 with 57.50. Tyler Riffle took sixth place in the 800 with 2:15.66. Logan Naegeli placed fourth in the 3,200 with 11:11.46 and Joe Lundberg placed third in the pole vault with a height of 10-0, followed by Jake Gascon in sixth with 9-6. Bridget Thor took fourth place in the 3,200 with 14:25.43.
The kids continue to practice hard every day with the main focus of consistency.
“We are trying to focus a little bit more on consistency as a team,” Coach Symon said.
The next meet is at Bigfork on Saturday, April 12. Coach Symon has no expectations and as long as his kids work hard and continue to improve, the coach is happy.
“It’s hard to judge because of the different teams that are there but I look for our kids to work real hard, be competitive and try their hardest,” Coach Symon said.