Take Whitefish junior Colt Idol, who cleared 6 feet, 8/ inches to set a personal and school record, and maybe give the Bulldogs a couple legs up on the State A track and field boys' competition.
“It's been a good day,” said Idol, who hit a personal best for the second straight week, after clearing
There was a steady breeze blowing against runners on the straightaway but mercifully no rain Friday, despite weather reports that called for a 70 percent chance. After seven events, Whitefish was second in the team race to Lewistown, which has 33fi points to the Bulldogs' 31. In third was Laurel with 26.
On the girls' side, two-time defending champion Belgrade had 22 points after six events to 21 for Polson and 20 for Frenchtown.
The Whitefish boys are in solid position, behind Idol's win and that of Aaron Tkachyk, who went 21-8 to take the long jump, plus Drew Coco's second in the 3,200. Corvallis didn't get the points it hoped for in the 300 hurdles and 400, and Laurel's status will almost certainly be hurt by the loss of sprinter Seth Marshall.
The sophomore finished a close second in Friday's open 400 - by .01 to Libby's Zach Rowan - and then sat out the 200 trials because he'll be at his brother's wedding on Saturday.
“Hopefully we'll have some other people step up,” said Laurel's Patrick Casey, who by himself scored 20 points, taking the 3,200 for the second straight year and winning a dual with Polson's Logan Torgison in the 800.
Whitefish, meanwhile, got a couple big points in the shot put from senior Kevin McDowell, and a point from Willie Roche in the long jump. Those could loom big Saturday as the Bulldogs try for their second title in three years and sixth in the last 12.
And Idol certainly did his part.
“This is my fifth meet,” said the junior. “I fractured my back in basketball and had recurring shin splints, and I just tried to hold off as long as I could. I went 6-4 at state last year and took third, and I've been at that same point all year.
“Last weekend at divisionals I was really close to 6-8. What helped me here was I was in the last flight. Some of those guys were out before I even jumped once. Then it was, ‘If I clear this, I win,' and I went from there.”
Another jumper who had little trouble with the wind was Frenchtown's Tasha Huset, who cleared 5-3 to win the girls' high jump. Just a sophomore, it took her three tries at the winning height. At roughly the same time, her teammate Chelsea Bagnell threw a career-best 37-6 to take the shot put.
There were excellent times on the track, too. Corvallis junior Whitney Henderson zipped to a 400 state title in 58.34 seconds, not far off her season best.
“I was really nervous until I got in the blocks,” said Henderson, second in this race a year ago. “Then I was, ‘OK, you can do this.' ”
She did, surging through the wind to edge Polson sophomore Nicole Davey, who came in at 58.88.
“It was really nice with the wind carrying you (on the back stretch),” Henderson said. “Then when you got around the corner and hit it, it was like the worst wall I've ever hit in my life.”
The Polson and Whitefish girls put themselves in position for Saturday. The Bulldogs scored a win from Ashley Ferda in the javelin. Ferda divided her time between that and the trials for the 100 hurdles and open 100. The Lady Griz basketball signee then uncorked a throw of 125-3 on her last attempt to edge Belgrade's Nycole Devers (124-11).
Whitefish's Lauren Kuennen added a third place in the 1,600, which Livingston's Heather Haug won.
Libby's Rowan ran a career-best and school-record 49.55 in the boys' 400, and one of the meet highlights came in the boys' 800, where Casey got the best of Torgison and Lewistown's Logan Mossey.
Torgison seemed on the verge of kicking past Casey with about 250 meters left, but the Laurel senior wouldn't give up the lead. Torgison had the fastest time in the state coming in.
“I saw that 1:56, and I was like, aaah,” said Casey. “I wasn't really that confident coming in.
“I approached it like I always approach it. I just try to take the lead from the beginning and try to control the race. I went out that first 200 meters hard and felt I had control.”
A little more than three hours later, Casey won the 3,200 in 9:46.80. Coco came in at 9:57.22.
State A meet
At Bozeman High
Friday
Boys
Team scores (after seven finals): Lewistown 33.5, Whitefish 31, Laurel 28, Libby 22, Frenchtown 20, Havre 17, Billings Central 10, Anaconda 8, Hamilton 7, Dillon 6, Belgrade 6, Hardin 6, Polson 6, Browning 5, Corvallis 4, Glendive 4, Bigfork 2, Butte Central 1.5.
400 - 1, Zack Rowan, Libby, 49.55; 2, Seth Marshall, Laurel, 49.56; 3, David Beery, Belgrade, 50.19; 4, Myles Jessop, Corvallis, 50.57; 5, Logan Mossey, 50.93; 6, Ryan Turley, Hamilton, 51.13.
800 - 1, Patrick Casey, Laurel, 1;55.31; 2, Logan Mossey, Lewistown, 1:57.39; 3, Logan Torgison, Polson, 1:57.62; 4, Caleb Bentley, Lewistown, 1:58.00; 5, Ben Jessop, Hamilton, 1:59.31; 6, Wyatt Lawrence, Hamilton, 2:00.26.
3,200 - 1, Patrick Casey, Laurel, 9:46.80; 2, Drew Coco, Whitefish, 9:57.22; 3, Logun Norris, Dillon, 10:05.02; 4, Caleb Bentley, Lewistown, 10:07.26; 5, Ben Jessop, Hamilton, 10:16.36; 6, Dylan DesRosier, Browning, 10:20.44.
300 hurdles - 1, Jason Mudrow, Havre, 40.86; 2, Nick Kozub, Lewistown, 41.01; 3, Darin Olyete, Hardin, 41.60; 4, Matt Block, Frenchtown, 41.77; 5, Colton Dyer, Lewistown, 42.01; 6, Allen McCarty, Hamilton, 42.03.
Shot put - 1, Casey McMillian, Billings Central, 55-1þ; 2, Joe Raymond, Anaconda, 47-10; 3, Robert The Boy, Havre, 47-8; 4, Willy Wells, Browning, 47-7fi; 5, Kevin McDowell, Whitefish, 46-7; 6, Grayson Winsor, Havre, 46-1fi.
High jump - 1, Colt Idol, Whitefish, 6-8/; 2, Matt Block, Frenchtown, 6-2; 3, Seth Wright, Libby, 6-2; 4, Keithon Walter, Lewistown, 6-2; 5, Pat Burt, Butte Central, 6-2; 6, Nick Kozub, Lewistown, 6-2.
Long jump - 1, Aaron Tkachyk, Whitefish, 21-8fi; 2, Tyler Wilde, Frenchtown, 21-3; 3, Seth Wright, Libby, 21-2; 4, Derek Ohs, Glendive, 21-0; 5, Roland Benedict, Bigfork, 20-8fi; 6, Willie Roche, Whitefish, 20-8/.
Girls
Team scores (after six finals): Belgrade 22, Polson 21, Frenchtown 20, Miles City 18, Lewistown 18, Whitefish 16, Hardin 14, Corvallis 10, Livingston 10, Billings Central 6, Laurel 6, Columbia Falls 5, Glendive 5, Dillon 5, Bigfork 4, Libby 4, Sidney 2, Ronan/St. Ignatius 1.
400 - 1, Whitney Henderson, Corvallis, 58.34; 2, Nicole Davey, Polson, 58.88; 3, Justine Simons, Laurel, 60.00; 4, Mariah Litton, Billings Central, 60.09; 5, Gio Raffatto, Sidney, 60.19; 6, Breanne Kelley, Polson, 61.03.
1,600 - 1, Heather Haug, Livingston, 5:16.80; 2, Brook Rodgers, Lewistown, 5;19.16; 3, Lauren Kuennen, Whitefish, 5:21.00; 4, Kayla Carlson, Bigfork, 5:21.87; 5, MacKenzie Maki, Miles City; 6, Nocona Frame, Glendive, 5:40.24.
Shot put - 1, Chelsea Bagnell, Frenchtown, 37-6; 2, Jami Kittelmann, Miles City, 36-10; 3, Brittney Harvey, Belgrade, 36-7; 4, Loni Havlovick, Polson, 35-7fi; 5, Natasha Lafferty, Polson, 34-2fi; 6, Ellie Fjeseth, Dillon, 32-10fi.
Javelin - 1, Ashley Ferda, Whitefish, 125-3; 2, Nycole Devers, Belgrade, 124-11; 3, Josie Sweeney, Lewistown, 124-2; 4, Stephany Kluver, Libby, 119-3; 5, Abbi Hoerning, Dillon, 118-0; 6, Maggie Warren, Dillon, 115-11.
High jump - 1, Tasha Huset, Frenchtown, 5-3; 2, Jamie Greany, Belgrade, 5-2; 3, (tie) Emily Stoltz, Columbia Falls, and Lillian Temple, Glendive, and Charis Hugs, Hardin, 5-0; 6, Sadie McMillan, Ronan/St. Ignatius, 5-0.
Long jump - 1, Charis Hugs, Hardin, 16-0fi; 2, Jennifer Hartman, Miles City, 15-10/; 3, Christa Redcrow, Polson, 15-8; 4, Kenzie Allen, Lewistown, 15-6fi; 5, Maggie Powell, Billings Central, 15-4; 6, Jylisa Fields, Columbia Falls, 15-3fi.
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