Swope leads Lady Bobcats with medal in javelin

The Superior boys and girls track and field teams are emerging as a Class B Montana high school state contender, early results continue to show.

The Bobcats and Lady Bobcats both had strong team showings and some outstanding individual efforts in the Florence/Darby Invitational meet last week at the Corvallis Sports Complex.

The women, with multiple individuals placing high in several different events finished sixth in the meet’s team standings, while the Bobcats boys were seventh.

Meet host Corvallis won both the men’s and women’s team titles, with the women narrowly edging out second-place Twin Bridges by three points, 92-89. The Corvallis men won their side of the bracket by piling up 114 points to easily outdistance runner up Drummond, 114-65.

The Superior girls racked up 30 points, while the boys amassed 34. Hot Springs boys placed 11th with 12 team points.

A total of 18 teams attended the meet.

Superior sophomore Maryisa Swope led the Lady Bobcats with the team’s lone first place medal when she won the wormen’s javelin, chucking the spear 106-10. Second place went to Corvallis senior Milana Bestor, who had a throw of 99-03. Two other Lady Cats sophomores placed in the top 10, with Makenzie Reum finishing seventh (94-03) and Juliette Evans taking eighth (93-11). Reum also placed 12th in the pole vault with a jump of 7-0. Juliette Evans, another of the strong sophomores on the Superior women’s team, placed eighth in the shot put with a throw of 28-01.

Swope had two other top ten finishes, claiming seventh in the long jump event with a leap of 13-07, and adding a tenth place showing in the pole vault to her day’s work, clearing the bar at 7-06.

Another Superior woman, junior Eddy Betts, picked up some valuable team points with a third place showing in the discus (95-05) and a fourth place medal in the shot put (29-01). Betts also finished 21st in the javelin with a toss of 65-07.

Superior junior Braelynn Mangold continued her strong showing this Spring, placing third in the women’s 400 meter run, and running the anchor legs on the Cats fifth place 4X100 relay team and the eighth place 4X400 relay event.

Hot Springs sophomore Kara Christensen, a multiple sport standout for the Lady Heat, also had a good meet, topped by her eighth place showing in the 300 meter hurdles. Christensen was also 13th in the javelin, 14th in the 100 meter hurdles and 21st in the 100 meters sprint.

In the men’s events, Superior senior Lucas Kovalsky continued his winning ways in the pole vault competition, clearing a school record 13-0, one foot better than second-place Killiam Smith of Salmon, Idaho. Standout freshman athlete Gannon Quinlan placed seventh in the pole vault for the Bobcats, clearing the bar at 9-06.

Kovalsky also placed eighth in the 100 meters sprint and ran legs on the Cats third place 4X400 relay team and on the fourth place 4X100 squad.

Quinlan ran the leadoff leg on both of Superior’s relay teams.

The Bobcats also got an eleventh place finish in the 100 meter run from junior Trizten Avila, who ran anchor legs on both of Superior’s relay teams.

Another first place winner for Superior was 6-5 freshman Landon Richards, who won the high jump with a personal best leap of 6-0. Richards also placed ninth in the triple jump and 18th in the long jump for the Cats.

Superior’s boys also picked up multiple points in the weight events, led by senior Jaxson Green’s fourth place finish in the shot put (43-9.50) and tenth place in the discus (108-08), Micha Acker’s 13th place showing in the 200 meters, and senior Jason Merrill’s twelfth in the shot put and 14th in the discus. Merrill also placed ninth in the javelin.

St. Regis all-sport standout John Pruitt, who came out for track this year after playing golf for the Tigers the two previous years, had a strong outing placing fifth in the javelin (137-10)m and twelfth in the discus.

Corvallis junior Drew Lewis won the javelin with a throw of 146-05.

Hot Springs junior David Chapman led the Savage Heat with a second place effort in the 300 meter hurdles, and a fourth place in the 100 meter hurdles. Teammate Ben Aldridge, a freshman, was ninth in the 110 meter hurdles Hot Springs junior Wesley Adams finished twelfth in the 110 event.

Hot Springs also got a ninth place finish from senior Elijah Campbell in the 1600 meter run and a tenth place showing in the 3200 meters. Adams placed tenth at 1600 meters.

Alberton got points from sophomore Shea Fredette who placed sixth in the triple jump with a hop, skip and jump of 36-10. He followed that with a seventh place effort in the 800 meter run.

Most of the local teams will take part in the Thompson Falls meet this Tuesday (April 16), then travel to Missoula County Public stadium for the Seeley Swan meet this Saturday, April 20.