Trotters, Horsemen prepare for Districts
The Plains High School girls and boys track teams are approaching the most critical juncture of their season with the MHSA Class C boys, girls’ State scheduled for May 25-26 in Great Falls.
The Horsemen and Trotters will travel to the Big Sky Class 13-C Districts on May 11-12 and head to Divisionals in Frenchtown May 17-18before the remaining qualifiers begin their preparation for Class C’s biggest stage in Great Falls.
Over the course of the last five seasons, Plains has been stockpiled with talent, and 2018 is no exception.
The Trotters all but cemented their reputation for having some of the best throwers in Class C and will now look to stockpile more accolades in the upcoming events.
Trotter’s thrower Jessica Thompson, for the majority of the season, has found herself in only one place in throwing events: first place.
Thompson placed first in the shot put, second in the discus and first in the javelin at the Kim Haynes Memorial Saturday morning at Big Sky High School.
Thompson recorded a distance in the shot put of 38 feet, 6 inches. The closest competitor to Thompson was Powell County’s Ariel Clark, who placed second with a throw of 38 feet, 4 inches.
Thompson continued to flourish the rest of the meet.
Thompson’s distance of 124 feet, 8 inches in the discus was good enough to finish second behind Seeley-Swan’s Klaire Kovatch, who placed first exceeding Thompson by nearly five feet. Kovatch’s throw was 130 feet, 5 inches, a personal record for the competitor and now one of the favorites to capture State in the discus.
She also finished first in the javelin with a distance of 121 feet, 7 inches and two of her teammates, Lindsay Laws, and Kara Altmiller, finished in the top five. Laws, one of the top up-and-comers for the Trotters in throwing events, tied for second with Seeley-Swan’s Autumn Morse and recorded a distance of 108 feet, 6 inches. Altmiller finished in fifth place with a throw of 106 feet, 3inches.
Cree Lulack recorded a personal record in the 300-meter hurdles en route to a second-place finish. Lulack’s second-place time was 51.58. Lulack was behind only first-place finisher Casey Ehmann, from Darby, who finished first recording a time of 49.46 seconds.
Altmiller thrives at John Cheek
Altmiller showcased her skills as a thrower in the John Cheek Top-8 track and Field Meet Tuesday afternoon at Mitchell Stadium in Anaconda.
Altmiller placed second in the shotput at John Cheek with a distance of 32 feet, 3.25 inches, second in the discus with a throw of 102, 00.50 inches and recorded a first-place finish in the javelin with a throw of 113 feet, 9 inches.
Kara Altmiller’s sister, Kylee, also had a top-five finish at John Cheek. Kylee Altmiller levitated to a distance of 4 feet, 6 inches in the high jump and finished fifth in the javelin with a throw of 92 feet, 1 inches.
Rachel Huenink finished behind Altmiller in the discus recording a throw of 94 feet, 8 inches.
Mariah Smith joined Altmiller near the top of the pack. Smith finished second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1 minutes, 4.30 seconds, a personal record.
Managhan bolsters stock approaching the stretch run
Brandon Managhan has participated in a total of six different track events this season (100-meter dash, javelin, high jump, long jump, triple jump, 4X100 meter relay) and continues to find himself in the top five in several events.
Managhan had two top-five finishes at the Kim Haynes Memorial Saturday afternoon at Big Sky High School in Missoula.
Managhan placed fourth in the triple jump recording a distance of 40 feet, 8 inches and fifth in the long jump with a distance of 19 feet, 1 inches.
Managhan carried his momentum over from the previous track meet to the John Cheek Top-8 Track and Field Event Tuesday afternoon at Mitchell Stadium in Anaconda.
Managhan finished with a grand total of three top-five finishes in Anaconda and they were all jumping events.
Managhan placed second in both the long and triple jump events. He recorded a leap in the long jump of 19 feet, 4 inches and set a personal record in the triple jump with a leap of 41 feet, 11.5 inches. He finished third in the high jump with a distance of 5 feet, 8 inches.
Sinjin LaDeaux finished third and fourth in the high jump. LaDeaux finished third in the high jump at John Cheek and finished fourth at the KLH Invitational recording a leap of 5 feet, 10 inches.
The Trotters and Horsemen’s next meets will be at the Western 13-C Districts in Big Sky May 11-12 followed by Divisionals the following week May 17-18 at Frenchtown High School.