Thompson Falls girls win home meet

Overall depth helped win the day for the Thompson Falls girls track team Thursday afternoon.

And it helped overcome an excellent overall performance by Hot Springs’ standout Katelyn Christensen, who put on a dazzling show winning three events and placing third in two others in propelling the Lady Savage Heat to a solid second-place team finish on a frigid, blustery day in Thompson Falls.

The Thompson Falls girls also had a number of first place finishes on their way to 111 team points to win the team title. Second place Hot Springs had 64 points.

The home team Blue Hawks boys also had a good day, racking up 92 points, good for second place behind the 124 points put together by Valley Christian.

Athletes from 12 Western Montana schools took part in the meet, which was Thompson Falls’ only home meet of the season.

Plains finished third in the men’s team chase with 54 points, just ahead of fourth place Hot Springs which collected 47 points.

Plains’ girls finished a respectable fourth in team scoring competition with 48 points.

Noxon’s boys, behind the first place shot put heave of Cade VanVleet, came in eighth, while Emily Brown helped the Red Devils’ girls team to seventh place.

St. Regis, the only other area school attending the meet, did not score in either the boys or girls races, due to an extremely low student turnout for track this year.

Christensen, who along with Superior’s Sorren Reese, are bound for Carroll College next year on track scholarships, was the dominant individual athlete of the meet. She picked up her the first of her three first place finishes when she won the 200 meters race in 27.10 seconds, nipping Anaconda’s Lelynn Woolbright at the tape.

Earlier Christensen grabbed a third place medal in the 100 meters race, crossing the finish line in a personal best 13.64 seconds.. Cora Pesanti of Anaconda won the event with a time of 13.39.

Christensen then dominated the throwing events, picking up first place medals in the javelin and discus to go with a third place finish in the shot put. Her throw of 111 feet in the javelin event was the second best Class C mark statewide this year, second only to Reese, who threw 125+ to win the Dilly Bar Invitational javelin title at the Ronan meet.

Another Class C girl also had a good meet as Noxon’s Emily Brown grabbed a first place medal in the 800 meters run, and took home third place honors in the high jump and javelin.

Team champion Thompson Falls finished strong in numerous events, led by distance specialist Faith Palmer, who won the 1600 and 3200 meters races and was a member of the 4X400 relay team.

Teammate Chesney Lowe also snared a pair of first place titles, winning the girls pole vault, finishing second in the javelin and taking third in the triple jump.

And Lady Hawk, Mollie Nichols, finished second in the 1600 and 3200 meters runs and was a member of the winning 4X400 relay squad.

The Plains girls had a strong team showing despite not having an individual title winner. Alexis Deming earned two second place finishes for the Trotters, getting runner-up honors in both the shot put and discuss. She also added a fifth place showing in the javelin during the meet.

The Plains boys were paced by middle distance/hurdles athlete Mason Elliot who was second in the 400 meters run, second in the 300 meter hurdles and fourth in the 110 meter hurdles.

Overall depth and some outstanding individual performances were the keys to the Thompson Falls boys and their second place team finish.

Once again distance run ace Will Hyatt led the way with a win at 3200 meters, second in the 1600 meters race, and a first place award as part of the winning 4X400 relay. Breck Ferris was also sharp for the T Falls group, winning the long jump and finishing second in the 100 meters to go with a first place honor in the 4X400 relay and second in the 4X100 relay.

Mason Elliot was also in good form, taking home second place in the 300 meter hurdles and fourth place in the 110 meter hurdles.

On of the best individual performances of the day went to Noxon shot put champion Cade VanVleet, who will compete next year for Montana Tech. VanVleet recorded a winning shot put throw of 48’8”, well ahead of second place Garth Parker of Hot Springs, who came in second with a toss of 42-6.

VanVleet’s shot put throw moved him into second place on the list of top throws so far this year for Class C shot putters, trailing leader Walker McDonald of Seeley-Swan who leads the pack with a 52 foot throw earlier this year.

VanVleet also finished second in the discus throw, while Parker took home fourth with his toss of 121-3.

Thompson Falls coach Trenna Ferris was pleased with her teams’ efforts on the cold, winter-like day.

“Our kids did well,” Ferris said. “We thought of the running events as a really competitive practice because the times were not timed on the FAT system and none of them can be official”.

And despite the numbing cold, blue skies were prevalent and winds were high at times for most of the meet.

“We were thankful we didn’t have any precipitation but that wind was pretty brisk,” she added. “That was the biggest T Falls invite we have had,” Ferris said. “We had to turn other teams away, such as Whitefish who are still trying to get their first meet of the season. Our dirt track would not be able to handle 90 more athletes”.

All six Sanders and Mineral county high schools will participate this coming Friday and Saturday at the Seeley-Swan Invitational, which is held in Missoula.