Spartans Place 20th For Boys, ….
Spartans Place 20th For Boys, 22nd For Girls At State Meet
As was expected the two favorites heading into the Class C State Track & Field Meet in Missoula emerged the champions, with both doing so by healthy margins.
For the girls, in their 49th annual State C, defending state champion Seeley-Swan Blackhawks (from the 2019 season as there was not one in 2020) tallied 72 points, 30 better than runnersup Hinsdale Raiders led by Kaitlyn McColly. With athletes like senior Klaire Kovatch (first in discus, second in javelin and shot put), junior Sariah Maughan (wins in 400 and 800) and having both relays placing first, they were a tough act to beat. Kovatch and Maughan were on top or near the top of Class C times and distances throughout the season.
It was the exact same story on the boys’ side where the Fort Benton Longhorns had athletes like seniors William “Billy” Ullery on the track and Hayden Diekhans in the field consistently get ting it done at or near the top of the Class C times and distances throughout the regular season. Toss in seniors Jace Thompson (first in pole vault) and Nick Marais (first in long jump) plus first in the long relay and second in the short relay and one has a clear winner. In fact, the Longhorns were so dominate during last week’s 65th annual State C, they outscored runnersup Belt 7445, and the Huskies defeated the Longhorns 139-118 at the North C Divisional Meet in Great Falls!
Meanwhile, the two Scobey- Opheim teams weren’t anywhere near securing a top-3 trophy, but that certainly doesn’t mean there was a lack of very solid performances.
For the Lady Spartans, who tallied four points to finish in a two-way tie for 22nd place out of 36 teams cracking the scoreboard, senior Gracee Lekvold placed fifth in the 1,600-meter
run in a personal-record
2:24.78. She finished sixth in the 800-meter run in a seasonal-record 5:26.14.
Opheim High School sophomore Carrie Taylor earned the other point with a personal-record 109-feet, 9-inch heave in the javelin for sixth.
On the boys’ side, where the Spartans tallied nine points for 20th place out of 31 teams that scored, junior J.P. Braut earned eight of them in the pole vault when clearing 12 feet, 6 inches for second place. His fellow vaulter, junior Devon Southland, cleared 11 feet, 6 inches for sixth place and one point in a field of 24.
While neither Scobey-
Opheim team finished near the top, one positive takeaway from the meet in Missoula is this: the Spartan boys had eight underclassmen experiencing the State C and the Lady Spartans four, which will go a long way in the 2022 season.
The Lustre Christian Lions earned 10 points for a two-way tie at 18th when sophomore Jasiah Hambira cleared the high-jump bar at 6-foot, 3-inches to become an individual state champion.
