Superior girls third at divisional meet

One thing was not so surprising from the Class B ranks of the Western Divisional track and field championship this past weekend in Missoula.

It was good to be a “Heart” Breaker, and a day of twists and turns for many others among the 12 schools who qualified for the event, which feeds athletes to the State Championships next weekend in Laurel.

Not so surprising was the fact that both Class B team titles went to the Loyola Sacred Heart “Breakers,” with the boys dominating their team championship pursuit by nearly doubling runner up Florence in team points, 160-82.

At the same time, the Loyola girls were able to forge a tie for the top with Anaconda’s Lady Copperheads as both schools accumulated 94 team points.

For Sanders and Mineral counties track fans, it was a good day for Superior, whose women finished third (74 points) while the men’s team was fourth in their competition with 50 points.

The Loyola girls, led by sprinter Isabella Berry’s sweep of the 100 and 200 meter races had simply to much talent and depth as they rolled to their Divisional title.

The top local finisher in the sprints was Thompson Falls senior Trinity Riffle, who last week swept the two events in the District 7B meet, which was held in Libby. Riffle placed fifth in the 200 meters, qualifying her for a place in the state meet this coming weekend at Laurel High. She finished seventh in the 100 meter event. The top six finishers from each individual event qualified for State.

Riffle won the women’s high jump with a leap of five feet even, just two inches better than runner up Victoria Gerhart of Loyola 4-10). Plains sophomore Katelyn Subatch was fifth with a jump of 4-6 and also moves on to the State meet.

Superior’s Braelynn Mangold also had a good meet, winning the triple jump with a hop, skip and jump of 31-8, one and a half inches better than second place Aubrey Baxter, a freshman from T Falls. Baxter’s teammate, Addyson Deal was fourth in the triple jump. Mangold also placed third in the 400 meter run and ran the anchor legs on both of Superior’s relay teams, which placed third in the 4X400 and fourth in the 4X100 events.

One of the big surprises of the meet was the split decision wins posted by Plains outstanding women’s weight events leader, Alexis Demming.

The powerful junior won the shot put with a throw of 38-3.5, more than seven feet ahead of Superior sophomore Juliette Evans, who put the shot 31 feet even. Superior’s Eddy Betts qualified for state with a fifth place throw of 29-11.5. However, Demming, who has been unbeatable in the discus event since winning the state title as a sophomore last year, finished third this past Saturday. The event was won by senior Lexi Lunceford of Powell County, while Darby freshman Hadley Heiland was second.

Demming threw the disc 106-9, while Lunceford’s winning throw was 112-5. Superior’s Evans punched her ticket for State with a throw of 103 feet even.

Local women finished 1-2 in the javelin, with Superior sophomore Maryisa Swope uncorking a throw of 114-2 to finish first. T Falls freshman Deal was second at 108-8. Swope was also second in the pole vault, clearing 9 feet even, just a half foot behind first place Cali Pesanit of Anaconda (9-6). Swope’s teammate Makenzie Reum was third (8-0).

Plains also got a first-place finish from freshman Marina Tulloch, who won the 1600 meters run with a time of 5:24.45. Teammate Peyton Wasson was sixth at 6:04.37, and T Falls senior Faith Palmer earned a trip to Laurel with her fourth-place finish (5:59.34. Palmer added a second place showing in the 3200 meter run.

Local hurdlers Ava White (Superior) and Kali Tuma (Plains) finished fourth and sixth respectively in the women’s 100 meter hurdles to also qualify for the State meet. The same two also qualified in the 300 meter hurdles event, won by Sacred Heart’s Allison Garna (45.91). Tuma placed third and White was fourth in the 300.

In the boys competition, Issac Bates, a Florence-Carlton junior, stood out, taking top honors in the 100 meter event with a time of 11.30, and placing second in the 200 .

Third place in both sprints went to Superior junior Trizten Avila, who finished the 100 race in 11.49 (a new personal best) and third in the 200 (23.22), also a new PR.

Plains junior Darren Standeford qualified for the state meet in the 400 meter run, with a fifth place time of 53.46. Florence’s Bates who the event with a time of 51.62. The Horsemen also got a sixth place showing from senior Joseph Martin in the 800 meter run, while Loyola runners placed second through fifth.

Thompson Falls senior Cael Thilmony was a double state qualifier for the Blue Hawks, placing fourth in both the 1600 and 3200 meter runs.

In the hurdle events, Anaconda’s Tytan Cook won both the 110 meter and 300 meter events. Plains freshman Mathew Thurston finished sixth in the 110 meter race, despite injuring his leg toward the end of the race. Plains teammate Cody West qualified for state in the 300 meter hurdles with a sixth place finish, just ahead of teammate Cooper Meredith.

Superior got third place finished in both the 4X100 relay and the 4X400 relay, Plains finished fifth in the 4X100 and sixth in the 4X400.

Superior’s Jaxson Green, who is heading to Western Montana on a football scholarship this Fall, placed second in the shot put for the Bobcats with a throw of 44-1.75. Taylor Jones of Loyola won the event with a put of 45-5.

Thompson Falls senior Braedon Ferris won the men’s discus with a toss of 146-6, while teammate Ian Myers was fifth in the javelin with a throw of 134-7. The event was won by Anaconda’s River Hurley, who threw the spear 147-00 feet.

In the jumping events, Superior freshman Landon Richards placed second on the basis of fewer misses at the winning height, clearing the bar with a new personal best leap of 6-2.

Fellow Bobcat Lucas Kovalsky, the Superior school record holder in the pole vault, placed second in the vault with a jump of 13-feet even. Jake Jamieson of Loyola was first with a vault of 13-6.

Braxton Dorscher of T Falls qualified for state in the long jump with a leap of 18-11.25. The event was won by Loyola’s Malik Lyttle, who jumped 20-6.50. And in the triple jump, Loyola jumpers swept the first three places, led by Jack Clevenger, who had a jump of 42-3. Superior’s Avila was fifth with a jump 39-8.5.

    Thompson Falls triple jumper Aubrey Baxter flies through the area during a jumping event this past Saturday at the Western Divisional B track and field meet at Missoula County Public Stadium. (Chuck Bandel/VP-MI)