Whittaker takes title

| May 31, 2007 11:00 PM

By FAITH MOLDAN

Bigfork Eagle

There’s no denying Andrew Whittaker is fast.

Nicknamed “The Gazelle” during football season, the name is fitting for the new Montana Class A 100-meter dash champion.

Whittaker tied for first with Scott Palmer of Columbia Falls in heat one of the 100 time trials with a time of 11.35 seconds May 25 in Missoula. His time qualified him for the 100-meter finals the following day.

“It just kind of happened,” Whittaker said of his good running. His time in the finals, 11.26, was almost 10 tenths of a second faster than his finish in the time trials and more than 30 tenths of a second faster than his third-place finish at the Northwest A Divisional track meet.

“I knew he had a shot at placing,” Bigfork coach Sue Loeffler said. “I knew he’d be right in it.”

Whittaker edged out Dawson County’s Derek Ohs for first in the finals. Whittaker was one second faster than Ohs.

“He kind of passed me and I ran faster after that. I knew it was either first or second,” Whittaker said of his finish. “The wait was hard. They were looking at the video over and over again.”

Whittaker said he hopes to return to the state track and field meet next year to defend his title.

Whittaker also ran on the Vikes’ 400-meter relay team. The team — Dustin Haines, Keenan Evans, Forrest Schiltz and Whittaker — finished fifth in the trials with a time of 44.91 seconds. The relay team did not place.

“I thought we ran good,” Whittaker said. “We cut our best time down by a second.”

Donny Tudahl may have used his best at the divisional meet to qualify for state, as he scratched on all three of his throws.

“He threw out of bounds,” Bigfork coach Nate Hammond said. He added that because Tudahl is a sophomore, he expects him to be able to qualify for state again in the future.

Class A

Friday at Missoula County Stadium

BOYS

Team scores (after 6 events) - Belgrade 22, Laurel 20, Columbia Falls 18, Lewistown 18, Libby 18, Whitefish 16, Polson 15, Hardin 14, Ronan-St. Ignatius 12, Corvallis 9, Browning 8, Miles City 5, Stevensville 4, Butte Central 2, Glendive 2, Hamilton 2, Sidney 1.

400 - 1, Zach Condon, Lau, 49.74; 2, Chris Ogle, Pol, 50.18; 3, Mike Pryor, Har, 50.36; 4, Jesse Potter, Ste, 50.44; 5, Ryan Turley, Ham, 50.69; 6, Zach Rowan, Lib, 50.99.

1,600 - 1, Patrick Casey, Lau, 4:22.25; 2, Marlin Blackwolf, Bro, 4:23.52; 3, Ian Mallams, Whi, 4:26.71; 4, Caleb Bentley, Le, 4:28.96; 5, Ryan Cevnar, Gle, 4:29.35; 6, Logan Torgison, Pol, 4:30.40.

300 hurdles - 1, Brad Smith, Bel, 38.91; 2, Evan Stokken, Lew, 39.31, Ted Morigeau, Pol, 40.35; 4, Josh Ewalt, MC, 40.50; 5, Brett Kamrud, BuC, 40.73; Slater Powell, Cor, 40.81.

Shot put - 1, Kyle Baker, Lib, 53-2 ?; 2, Dalton Sybrant, Cor, 50-6 ?; 3, Keith Catt, CF, 49-1?; 4, Alan Skogan, RSI, 48-10 ?; 5, Tyler Samuelson, Bel, 48-5?; 6, Richard Brumbaugh, Lib, 48-1?.

High jump - 1, Bobby Pearce, CF, 6-6; 2, Cameron Barber, RSI, 6-6; 3, Colt Idol, Whi, 6-4; 4, Kyle Baker, Lib, 6-4; 5, Seth Wright, Lib, 6-2; 6, Sam Meehan, Sid, 6-0.

Long jump - 1, David Beery, Bel, 21-9; 2, Taylor Fitzpatrick, Har, 21-4?; 3, Evan Stokken, Lew, 20-8?; 4, Aaron Tkachyk, Whi, 20-8; 5, Kyle Jangula, CF, 20-6?; 6, Josh Ewalt, MC, 20-4?.

Saturday at Missoula County Stadium

BOYS

Team scores - Libby 61, Laurel 60, Belgrade 57, Columbia Falls 44, Lewistown 41, Whitefish 36, Ronan-St. Ignatius 34, Polson 29, Hardin 28, Miles City 18, Browning 17, Corvallis 17, Glendive 16, Hamilton 15, Stevensville 14, Bigfork 10, Dillon 8, Anaconda 6, Butte Central 6, Billings Central 5, Havre 4, Eureka 1.

100 - 1, Andrew Whittaker, Bfk, 11.26; 2, Derek Ohs, Gle, 11.27; 3, Scott Palmer, CF, 11.36; 4, Dustin Hanson, Ana, 11.46; 5, Tylar Espinosa, RSI, 11.53;

200 - 1, Tylar Espinosa, RSI, 22.95; 2, Brad Smith, Bel, 22.96; 3, Scott Palmer, CF, 23.14; 4, Derek Ohs, Gle, 23.23; 5, Bryce Picard, Pol, 23.23; 6, Jesse Potter, Ste, 23.25.

800 - 1, Zach Condon, Lau, 1:54.09; 2, Jesse Potter, Ste, 1:55.49; 3, Nigel Neaves, Ham, 1:56.03; 4, Patrick Casey, Lau, 1:56.39; 5, Chris Ogle, Pol, 1:56.76; 6, Logan Mossey, Lew, 1:57.46.

3,200 - 1, Patrick Casey, Lau, 9:45.65; 2, Marlin Blackwolf, Brw, 9:46.14; 3, Caleb Bentley, Lew, 9:51.60; 4, Andy Keim, Hav, 9:56.44; 5, Ryan Cevnar, Gle, 9:57.46; 6, Luke Montgomery, BiC, 10:02.32.

110 hurdles - 1, Brad Smith, Bel, 14.55; 2, Evan Stokken, Lew, 14.60; 3, Josh Ewalt, MC, 15.06; 4, Brett Kamrud, BuC, 15.27; 5, Cort Rogers, Wfh, 15.37; 6, Slater Powell, Cor, 15.38.

400 relay - 1, Columbia Falls (Jason Sternad, Brian Merseal, Kyle Jangula, Scott Palmer) 44.34; 2, Whitefish 44.39; 3, Belgrade 44.50; 4, Hamilton 44.56; 5, Polson 44.63; 6, Dillon 44.65.

1,600 relay - 1, Laurel (Chris Oistad, Kole Olsen, Patrick Casey, Zach Condon) 3:25.10; 2, Polson 3:25.21; 3, Belgrade 3:26.80; 4, Miles City 3:28.32; 5, Hamilton 3:28.58; 6, Corvallis 3:28.98.

Javelin - 1, Richard Brumbaugh, Lib, 187-0; 2, Kyle Baker, Lib, 180-3; 3, Scot McKinney, Lau, 174-1; 4, Christian Lehnert, Lib, 173-1; 5, Steve Antonich, Ana, 172-10; 6, Tanner Newell, Eur, 171-4.

Discus - 1, Alan Skogan, RSI, 160-9; 2, Kyle Baker, Lib, 158-7; 3, Chris Jessop, Cor, 147-11; 4, Caasey McMillian, BiC, 147-7; 5, Tyler Samuelson, Bel, 142-4; 6, Wes Running Crane, Brw, 141-2.

Triple jump - 1, Seth Wright, Lib, 43-8; 2, Evan Stokken, Lew, 42-10?; 3, Taylor Fitzpatrick, Har, 42-10?; 4, Kyle Jangula, CF, 42-9; 5, David Beery, Bel, 42-7?; 6, Isaac Hunter, Ste, 42-4?.

Pole vault - 1, Cort Rogers, Wfh, 15-6 (Class A record: old record 15-4, Otto Snajder, Belgrade, 1997); 2, Jake Bowman, Har, 14-6; 3, Tucker Vezina, Dil, 14-0; 4 (tie), Porter Nelson, Lib, and John Kassner, MC, 14-0; 6, James Armstrong, Bel, 13-6.