Local teams face top competition at Archie Roe

With a strong group of AA, A and B schools on hand, the Archie Roe Memorial track meet at Legends Stadium in Kalispell was a good barometer of Western Montana talent.

As expected, the three AA schools, Glacier (Kalispell), Flathead and Missoula Hellgate topped the boys’ and girls’ team competition. 

And as was expected, Plains High was strong in both classifications representing Class B athletes. 

Glacier boys won the team title, with126 team points, while Flathead High was second with 112.5.  The girls’ teams were topped by Hellgate, which had 104 points.  Glacier was second with 90. 

Meanwhile, Plains finished seventh in the girls’ title chase with 30 points. The Plains boys placed tenth. Thompson Falls was thirteenth in both team pursuits. 

And as expected, the Plains Trotters got a double victory from senior Alexis Deming, who swept the shot put and discus. 

Deming, the two-time defending state Class B discus champ, won the event with a throw of 123-2.  Runner up Brooklen Kopp of Hellgate had a mark of 119-11.5.  The listed meet record for women’s discus is 148-9. 

Deming completed the weight sweep with a winning throw of 35-7, more than two feet better than second-place Eleanor Heaton of Shelby. 

Plains also got team points from junior Kali Tuma, who was third in the women’s 300-meter hurdles (50.34).  The race was won by Flathead’s Alivia Rinehart (44.81), who was just over the meet record of Plains Haley Phillips, who ran a 44.43 in 2015. Plains teammate Katelyn Subatch (54.08) was tenth. 

Tuma placed fourth in the 100-meter hurdle event (16.96) and eighth in the 400-meter run (1:05.25).  Shelby’s Regan Torgerson won the event with a time of 58.40. 

Subatch was also tied for ninth in the women’s high jump with a leap of 4-7.  Event winner Elly Reed of Hellgate cleared 5-4.  Plains distance standout Marina Tulloch was tenth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:37.41.  Glacier swept the top two spots in the 800, with Lauren Bissen posting a winning time of 2:21.04. Annika Ercanbrack, Plains, was thirteenth at 2:45.17. Ercanbrack also had a fourteenth-place finish for the Trotters in the 1600-meter run. 

Also, Plains’ 4X400 meter relay team of Tuma, Hayden Rice, Ercanbrack and Subatch placed seventh. 

Thompson Falls was led by standout sophomore Addyson Deal, who placed second in the javelin with a toss of 111-2.  Glacier’s Charlotte Osler won the event with a throw of 114-5.  Lady Hawks’ teammate Peighton Kenney was thirteenth in the javelin (79-4). 

Deal added tenth place in the pole vault (7-0) and fourteenth in the triple jump with a hop, skip and jump of 29-2.5. 

In the boys’ competition, Plains junior sprinter Luciano Ferranti, an exchange student from Italy, finished fifth in the 100-meter sprint with a time of 11.53.  The race was won by Flathead’s Ben Bliven, who broke the tape at 10.94. 

Ferranti also placed tenth in the 200-meter sprint with a time of 23.94.  Event winner Bliven posted a 21.98, just .01 seconds behind the meet record he set last year.  Plains teammate Darren Standeford was fifteenth in the 200 (24.21) while T Falls’ Ian Myers was nineteenth (25.32). 

Standeford also had a sixth-place finish in the 400-meter run with a time of 52.32.  Flathead’s William Hollensteine won the race with a time of 48.10. 

The Horsemen also got good points from their boys’ distance runners, with Cord Greer place seventh in the 3200 meters at (10.24.04). Teammate Mike Reistroffer was fifteenth at 11:14.58. 

Freshman John Jermyn of Plains was ninth in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:42.93.  Glacier’s Owen Thiel won the 1600 with a time of 4:17.37.  Jermyn finished eleventh in the 800-meter run, posting a time of 2:13. 79.  Flathead’s Kasen Kastner won the event with a time of 1:58.64.  Reistroffer placed fourteenth and Kalem Ercanbrack was sixteenth for the Horsemen. 

Plains sophomore Cody West was eighth in the 300-meter hurdles and tenth in the 110-meter hurdles.  Teammate Cooper Meredith finished thirteenth. 

Also, Plains’ 4X400 meter relay team of Ferranti, Meredith, Reistroffer and West placed eighth. 

Meredith also placed seventeenth in the triple jump (35-0). 

Thompson Falls had three top 12 finishers in the shot put, led by Gabe Hutton’s 46-2 throw.  Braedon Ferris was eleventh (42-2) and Zach Ames was twelfth (41-2).  Ben Winters of Glacier won the shot put with a heave of 52-6. 

Blue Hawks senior Ian Myers was fourth in the men’s javelin with a throw of 153-10.  Choteau’s Kesston Thomas won the event with a mark of 183-6.  T Falls’ Brylon Van Elswyk was thirteenth at 137-2. 

Ferris also posted a fourth-place throw in the discus (156-5) while Ames was tenth at 127-5.  Lane Voermans of Columbia Falls won the javelin with a throw of 173-9.5. 

Myers also had an eleventh-place jump of 5-8 in the high jump and was twentieth (17-11.5) in the long jump, which was won by Hollensteine with a leap of 21-9. 

Next up for Plains and T Falls tracksters is the Western 7B district championship this Friday (May 9) in Eureka. 

    Plains hurdler Cody West powers over a hurdle during the Archie Roe Memorial track and field meet this past Saturday in Kalispell. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)