Plains track races in Whitefish and at top ten

PLAINS –The Sixteenth Annual Top Ten Meet was held at Big Sky High School in Missoula on Tuesday, April 29. The Top Ten Meet brings together the top track and field athletes form all over Montana for individual competition. 

The boys and girls from Plains who attended the event faced tough competition against teams they don’t often see at other meets throughout the season.

“The Top Ten was awesome and out athletes had some personal records reached,” Plains head coach Denise Montgomery said. 

Trotter’s sophomore Hailey Phillips had a big day running a 44.93 in the 300-meter hurdles, placing first in the competition for the second year in a row.  Phillips also finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.43. Additionally, Phillips competed in the long jump finishing fourth and the triple jump finishing fifth. She scored a 16-2-1/2 and a 34-5 respectively. 

Phillips was not the only winner from Plains at the big meet. Leah Thompson took home first in the discus competition with a throw of 129-10. Thompson also finished in third during the shot put event, throwing a 37-6. 

Carley VonHeeder narrowly missed out on first place in the javelin throw, finishing with a 130-6, which gave her a second place finish. Teammate Kimberly Earhart finished in sixth in the javelin throw with a 121-5.

The Horsemen were also represented at the Top Ten Meet and Ben Gorham did not disappoint, notching a third place finish in the shot put, with a throw of 49-7. 

 The Plains Trotters followed up the mid-week tournament with a third place finish at the Whitefish Invitational.

The girls collected 76 team points and only finished behind the hosts Whitefish and the favored Glacier High School of Kalispell. 

The Horsemen tied for ninth place with Ronan, with each track and field squad scoring 10 team points. 

As was the case last week the Plains athletes competed through tough conditions, including low temperatures and intermittent rainfall. 

“It was cold and miserable, but we got some tough kids and they adapted well,” said Montgomery. 

Runner, Hailey Phillips had another big day for the trotters. 

Phillips finished first in the 100-meter hurdles with an impressive time of 15.52. Phillips took second in the 400-meter race, finishing close behind Marlow Schulz of Whitefish with a time of 1:01.17. She also notched a sixth place finish in the long jump with a 14-4. 

Leah Thompson, took home first in the discus competition with a throw of 128-8; her teammate Kayla Holmes, took third in the event with a throw of 114-6. Thompson also competed in the shot put event, finishing second with a throw of 35-11.50. 

In the javelin, Plains had some top finishes with VonHeeder, taking second with her throw of 122-1 and teammate Kimberly Earhart placing fifth with a distance of 98-7. Additionally, Earhart participated in the 1,600-meter race, where she came across the finish line in fourth, at 5:47.47.

Also, on the track Nicole Rehbein finished fourth place in the 100-meter sprint, clocking in at 13.18. In the 200-meter race Rehbein edged out Grace Kurtz of Whitefish, with a 27.36 to take second place, Shannon Dimond of Plains took fifth in the event with a 28.53.

Demi Horton took sixth place in the 800-meter race with a 2:37.94.

In the team events the Trotters got solid performances in both the 400 and 1,600-meter relays, where they finished fifth in both events. The relay team notched a time of 54.00 in the short relay, and finished with a 4:28.70 in the longer variety. 

Thrower Ben Gorham ended his day in whitefish with a third place finish in the shot put competition with a throw of 48-7. On top of this, Gorham took fourth in the discus event, throwing a 137-9. 

“All the kids our improving, which is really exciting,” Montgomery said.