Local athletes bring home hardware from state track

Imagine holding an event with 17 different things happening, and often several of those things at the same time.

This is called chaos.

It is otherwise known as track and field and despite the simultaneous happenings it can be one of the most entertaining sports around.

And that was the case this past weekend when the Montana High School Class B-C track and field tournament was held in Great Falls.

Athletes from 34 different small and smaller town schools fought it out for top team and individual honors, and a life-time of memories for those who qualified to be there.

In the end, four different teams won the four available team titles after months of local meets, district tournaments and Divisional tournaments brought together a field of top-notch performers for two days of controlled mayhem.

Sweet Grass County (Big Timber) took home top team honors in the Women’s B competition, Plentywood won the Class C Women’s title, Jefferson High (Boulder) took home top honors in the Men’s Class B race and Seeley-Swan came away with the first place hardware in Men’s Class C.

None of the team title races were particularly close with each first place team finishing comfortably ahead of the first runners up.

Such was not the case in many of the individual titles contested, as witnessed by the number of athletes crashing to the all-weather surface of the Memorial Stadium oval after lunging to cross the finish line first, or in some cases tumbling to the track surface as a result of exhaustion from effort.

Several of the athletes were either repeat winners from years past or multiple winners from this year’s competition. Ridger Palma of Loyola-Sacred Heart in Missoula was an outstanding example of the latter, as he captured individual first-place honors in all three of the “sprint” events, winning the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters in convincing fashion.

Then there were athletes like Superior’s outstanding senior Sorren Reese, who repeated her championship in the Class C Women’s javelin event in dramatic style when she uncorked a personal best throw of 128 feet, four inches on her last throw of the competition to move past then leader Jaycee Erickson of Saco, who appeared to have won the crown with a toss of 127 feet even.

Reese would add a fourth place medal in the high jump event, also with a personal best effort, clearing the bar at five feet even in an event where four inches of height separated the top four finishers.

And there were still other events, like the Class C men’s shot put, where the top thrower for most of the season came out first by 13 inches over the guy who had the second best throw for the last half of the 2022 season.

In that event, Seeley’s Walker McDonald put the shot 53-11 to claim first place ahead of Noxon’s Cade VanVleet, who had a heave of 52-10 to claim the silver medal. Hot Springs junior Garth Parker, who finished third in the Western Divisionals was 15th with a throw of 41 feet.

The McDonald-Van Vleet battle continued in the discus event, where the Seeley senior was a relatively easy winner after throwing the disc 174-5, more than 23 feet better than runnerup Tyler Green of Valley Christian. VanVleet finished fourth in the discus with a toss of 143-4.

Thompson Falls Men’s team got points from long distance runner William Hyatt, who captured fourth in the grueling 3200 meters (eight laps around the track) run, after coming home sixth in the 1600 meters event. Manhattan Christian’s Oren Arthun won both distance events to help MC place second in the team standings.

The Blue Hawks 4X100 relay team of Braxton Dorscher, Jesse Claridge, Bucher and Breck Ferris took fifth in that event. T Falls also had a 12th place finish in the Men’s 4X400 competition.

Ferris also won a fifth place medal in the men’s Class B long jump event with a personal record leap of 20-6.5, while Claridge was ninth in the long jump after his jump of 19-10.75.

Hot Springs hurdler Kyle Lawson finished 16th in the 110 meters hurdles and ninth in the 300 meters hurdles, then came home 10th in the pole vault. Superior’s Lucas Kovalsky tied for tenth place in the pole vault event.

In Women’s competition, Hot Springs standout Katelyn Christensen finished fourth in both the 100 and 200 meters sprints. Christensen had a personal best time of 12.94 in the 100 meters, which was won by Brooke Reuter of Savage with a 12.70 clocking. The Hot Springs athlete also had a personal best in the 200 meters, crossing the finish line in 26.59. Manhattan Christian’s Jday VanDyken, who was second in the 100 meters race, took home top honors in the 200 meters sprint with a blazing time of 25.65.

Christensen also placed tenth in the Women’s Class C discus with a throw of 98 feet, and 15th in the shot put with a 32-05.50 mark.

The Superior relay team of Isabella Pereira, Reese, Molly Patko and Braedynn Mangold were fifth in the Class C 4X100 relay. The same group finished fourteenth in the 4X400 relay.

In addition, the Superior girls picked up an eighth place position in the shot put event where senior Cassie Green threw 33-11.25. Also, Reese and Mangold finished eighth and ninth respectively in the 800 meters run. And, Pereira was tenth in the pole vault and 13th in the triple jump.

Plains got team points in the Class B Women’s discus competition when freshman Alexis Deming uncorked a 108-01 effort to grab the fourth place medal. Deming added a 14th place finish in the shot put to cap her day.

T Falls’ distance ace Faith Palmer took eighth in the 3200 meters Class B event, while teammate Olivia Pirnat was 18th in the Women’s 300 meter hurdles. Trinity Riffle was sixth in the Class B women’s high jump, clearing 4-10 for the Lady Hawks. Thompson Falls also had a 13th place showing in the Class B long jump as Chesney Lowe leaped 15-00.5.

Noxon’s top female finisher was Skye Irgens who came home 16th in the 400 meters race.

In team competition, Plains was 18th in the Class B women’s competition with four points, while T Falls was 21st with one point. In the women’s Class C team race, Superior garnered 18 points, good for a tenth place tie with North Toole County, while Hot Springs’ women were 15th with 10 points.

In class B Men’s competition, Thompson Falls was 15th with nine points, while Noxon’s men had 10 points, good for 16th in the Class C race.

As the final event came to a conclusion, seniors ended their high school sports careers, while underclassmen looked ahead to next year with a slew of juniors, sophomores and freshmen returning for the 2023 season.