Tudahl, Benedict, Whittaker claim divisional track titles; Girls finish third

By FAITH MOLDAN/Bigfork Eagle

"There were a few surprises," Bigfork track and field coach Sue Loeffler said of Bigfork's results at the Northwestern A Divisional Track and Field Meet in Whitefish last weekend. "I couldn't have been happier."

No surprise was senior Andrew Whittaker's quickness in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. The 2007 Class A 100-meter dash state champion is set to defend his title at the state meet in Bozeman May 23-24. He clocked a time of 11.11 seconds in the finals. Whittaker finished the 200 in 22.61 seconds and took first place in both events. He also qualified for state in the pole vault and 400-meter relay. He vaulted 11-6 and took third.

Whittaker's hustle on the last leg of the 400 relay made up time and ground for the Vikes, who ended the relay in second place and 44.68 seconds. The relay team was comprised of Whittaker, Brad Bell, Stevan Hibbs and Travis Knoll.

"Andrew showed great leadership," Loeffler said.

Phil Sandry beat out Ronan-St. Ignatius' Justin Grandon for fifth place in the 1,600-meter run. He clocked a time of 4:50.79 in the 1,600 and just missed out on qualifying in the 800. He placed sixth in that event with his time of 2:07.65.

Roland Benedict and Donny Tudahl made it to state in two events each. Tudahl took home the divisional discus title, while Benedict was first in the triple jump. Tudahl also placed fourth in the shot put. Benedict was fourth in the long jump. He made jumps of 43-7 1/4 and 19-9 1/4, respectively. Tudahl threw 43-11 in the shot and recorded a personal best in the discus with his throw of 156-10. He goes into state action with the fourth farthest throw.

"He's in position to place," Bigfork coach Nate Hammond said of Tudahl's chances at state.

Garrett Hibbs placed fifth in the discus to earn his first trip to state. He threw 130-0. He also qualified for the finals in shot put with his throw of 40-1. Zac Bruer also made the finals. He threw 40-4.

Bell and Travis Vincent threw 147-2 and 125-7 in the javelin to make finals. Both throws were personal bests.

"They were close to placing, just not quite," Hammond said.

Garrett Pewe cleared 6-2 in the high jump and placed fourth. Also competing for the Vikes was their 1,600-meter relay team. It placed sixth in 3:38.47.

Bigfork improved its team finish, recording 72 team points this year to last year's 28. The Vikes placed fifth.

"We've got quality athletes," Loeffler said. She believes Bigfork's quality, as opposed to some other teams' quantity, will prove beneficial for the Vikes at state. "There's more teams there and fourth through sixth-place finishes don't help team points."

BOYS

Team scores: Polson 53, Whitefish 46, Bigfork 38, Columbia Falls 33, Libby 31, Ronan-St. Ignatius 16.

400 - 1, Zack Rowan, Lib, 50.69. 2, Loran Nelson, Lib, 51.54. 3, Logan Torgison, Pol, 51.55. 4, Drew Coco, Whi, 52.08. 5, Willie Roche, Whi, 52.32. 6, Dalton Rice, Whi, 52.89.

1600 - 1, Drew Coco, Whi, 4:22.77. 2, Logan Torgison, Pol, 4:35.39. 3, Ray Dalke, Pol, 4:48.08. 4, Shawn Whitman, CF, 4:50.00. 5, Phillip Sandry, BF, 4:50.79. 6, Justin Grandon, RSI, 4:52.83.

110 hurdles - 1, Cody Doyle, Pol, 15.42. 2, Jamie Engledrum, RSI, 15.86. 3, Ryan Kelley, Pol, 15.95. 4, Seth Wiley, Whi, 16.64. 5, Sam Wiley, Whi, 17.04. 6, Derek Crittenden, Whi, 17.23.

400 relay - 1, Whitefish (Dalton Rice, Aaron Tkachyk, Tyler Mason, Anto Daoud), 44.59. 2, Bigfork, 44.68. 3, Columbia Falls, 44.70. 4, Libby, 45.37. 5, Polson, 45.55. 6, Ronan-St.Ignatius, 46.42.

Discus - 1, Donny Tudahl, BF, 156-10. 2, Nathan Klug, CF, 149-07. 3, Adam Skogen, RSI, 139-0. 4, Kevin McDowell, Whi, 132-61/2. 5, Garrett Hibbs, BF, 130-0. 6, Justin Livingston, CF, 126-91/2.

Triple jump - 1, Roland Benedict, BF, 43-71/4. 2, Seth Wright, Lib, 42-71/2. 3, Austin Robbins, CF, 40-91/2. 4, Dean Phillips, CF, 40-13/4. 5, Nate Thompson, CF, 39-91/2. 6, Riley Hoyer, Lib, 39-2.

Pole vault - 1, Ryan Kelley, Pol, 13-0. 2, Kaleb Prestegaard, Whi, 12-0. 3, Andrew Whittaker, BF, 11-6. 4, Ty Fouty, Pol, 11-6. 5, Brandon Calvert, CF, 11-6. 6, Trae Fouty, Pol, 11-0.

Team scores: Whitefish 150, Polson 96, Libby 88, Columbia Falls 84, Bigfork 72, Ronan-St. Ignatius 37.

100 - 1, Andrew Whittaker, BF, 11.11; 2, Stephen Baumgarter, CF, 11.30; 3, Anto Daoud, WF, 11.38; 4, Scott Palmer, CF, 11.43; 5, Tyler Mason, WF, 11.54; 6, Aaron Tkachyk, WF, 11.57.

200 - 1, Andrew Whittaker, BF, 22.61; 2, Zack Rowan, Lib, 22.83; 3, Anto Daoud, WF, 22.99; 4, Makenzy Kelch, RSI, 23.06; 5, Aaron Tkachyk, WF, 23.44; 6, Scott Palmer, CF, 23.46.

800 - 1, Logan Torgison, Polson, 1:56.88 (meet record; old record not available); 2, Drew Coco, WF, 1:57.30; 3, Michael Samdahl, WF, 2:04.70; 4, Ray Dalke, Pol, 2:05.43; 5, Shawn Whitman, CF, 2:06.70; 6, Phillip Sandry, BF, 2:07.65.

3,200 - 1, Drew Coco, WF, 9:51.22; 2, Logan Torgison, Pol, 10:16.64; 3, Shawn Whitman, CF, 10:42.39; 4, Patric Jessat, CF, 10:44.03; 5, Kevin Wroblewski, RSI, 10:53.30; 6, Danny Beavers, RSI, 11:07.15.

300 hurdles - 1, Seth Wiley, WF, 41.79; 2, Chris Alfiero, Pol, 42.15; 3, Jamie Engledrum, RSI, 42.41; 4, Tyler Mason, WF 42.71; 5, Kody Berget, Lib, 42.71; 6, Willie Roche, WF, 44.09.

1,600 relay - 1, Libby (Loran Nelson, Riley Hoyer, Seth Wright, Zack Rowan), 3:26.91; 2, Whitefish, 3:34.18; 3, Polson, 3:34.88; 4, Columbia Falls, 3:36.65; 5, Ronan-St. Ignatius, 3:37.28; 6, Bigfork, 3:38.47.

High jump - 1, Colt Idol, WF, 6-6; 2, Seth Wright, Lib, 6-6; 3, Chase Fairbank, CF, 6-2; 4, Garrett Pewe, BF, 6-2; 5, Willie Roche, WF, 5-10; 6, TJ Benson, Lib, 5-10.

Long jump - 1, Aaron Tkachyk, WF, 21-2; 2, Willie Roche, WF, 20-61/4; 3, Seth Wright, Lib, 20-41/2; 4, Roland Benedict, BF, 19-91/4; 5, Riley Hoyer, Lib, 19-61/4; 6, Cody Doyle, Pol, 19-3.

Shot put - 1, Jordan Gragert, Lib, 46-11; 2, Kevin McDowell, WF, 45-4; 3, Nathan Klug, CF, 44-0; 4, Donny Tudahl, BF, 43-11; 5, Jake Durglo, RSI, 43-4; 6, Loran Nelson, Lib, 42-6.

Javelin - 1, Steven Brennen, CF, 169-3; 2, Seth Wright, Lib, 166-4; 3, Brock Picard, Pol, 165-10; 4, Adam Skogen, RSI, 158-6; 5, Dustin Beck, WF, 157-1; 6, Alex Elespuru, WF, 148-5.

Bigfork's female track and field athletes were on a mission at the Northwestern A Track and Field Divisional Meet in Whitefish last weekend. That mission is now complete.

A total of seven Valkyries qualified for the state meet in nine events. The top five in each event qualified for the state meet in Bozeman May 23-24 at Van Winkle Stadium.

"They came to do what they set out to," Bigfork coach Sue Loeffler said.

Under the bright, hot and constant sunshine, the Vals prepared themselves for their events by keeping hydrated and staying out of the sun and under the team's tents but the sun shined more like spotlight on the Vals. Four of them — Hattie Bowen, Mallery Knoll, Jen Egdorf, and Jill Hamilton — qualified for the 100-meter dash finals with good times on the first day. Three placed in the finals. Knoll took the division title with her 13.02 finish. Hamilton was close behind in a time of 13.33 seconds. Egdorf clocked a time of 13.52 for sixth place.

Both Knoll and Egdorf placed in the 200 as well. Knoll took second in 26.88 seconds, while Egdorf was less than a second behind her in 27.64 seconds. Knoll wasn't done there. The freshman qualified for state in two more events — the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. She placed third and fourth in the hurdles, respectively, clocking a 16.21 and 47.12.

"She'll only get stronger," Loeffler said of Knoll's state experience.

The same four Vals who made the 100-meter finals ran the 400-meter relay for Bigfork. They beat out Ronan-St. Ignatius' team by more than two seconds for fifth place with their 51.87 finish.

While that group of Vals did their share of work in the sprints and relay, Quinci Paine and Kayla Carlson took on the distance events. Paine edged out Ashli Fairbank of Columbia Falls for fifth place in the 800-meter run. She kept within striking distance the entire race and finished in 2:26.26. Paine also qualified for the finals in the javelin with her throw of 87-11. Carlson took home first-place honors in the 3,200-meter run and settled for second in the 1,600. She clocked times of 11:52.98 and 5:19.34 in the events.

Alyssa Fierro cleared 5-0 to take home first in the high jump. Her fellow senior Cecily Whistler made the finals in the discus with her throw of 88-6.

Bigfork's 1,600-meter relay team was just shy of qualifying for state. The team ran a 4:18.63, almost three seconds behind the fifth-place Columbia Falls team. The Vals finished third as a team with 70 points.

"They really stepped up," Loeffler said.

GIRLS

Team scores: Polson 66, Whitefish 62, Columbia Falls 33, Libby 24, Ronan-St. Ignatius 18, Bigfork 14.

100 - 1, Ashley Ferda, Whi, 14.97. 2, Emily Stoltz, CF, 15.90. 3, Sadie McMillan, RSI, 16.01. 4, Mallory Knoll, BF, 16.21. 5, Breanne Kelley, Pol, 16.22. 6, Jade Hansen, Whi, 17.21.

400 - 1, Breanne Kelley, Pol, 58.59. 2, Nicole Davey, Pol, 59.00. 3, Lauren Kuennen, Whi, 59.74. 4, Sierra Pete, Pol, 1:00.01. 5, Merilee Mowbray, Pol, 1:00.79. 6, Carly Schwickert, Whi, 1:02.24.

1600 - 1, Lauren Kuennen, Whi, 5:18.57. 2, Kayla Carlson, BF, 5:19.34. 3, Stella Holt, Whi, 5:34.20. 4, Bailey Eaton, Whi, 5:36.00. 5, Clare Miller, Whi, 5:42.43. 6, Ashli Fairbank, CF, 5:49.15.

400 relay - 1, Polson (Breanne Kelley, Sierra Pete, Nicole Davey, Merilee Mowbray), 51.36. 2, Libby, 51.55. 3, Columbia Falls, 51.70. 4, Whitefish, 51.79. 5, Bigfork, 51.87. 6, Ronan-St.Ignatius, 54.07.

Discus - 1, Loni Havlovick, Pol, 110-6. 2, Olivia Nagler, Whi, 100-4. 3, Samantha Ladenburg, CF, 95-6. 4, Anna Downen, CF, 94-2. 5, Phylissa Mathias, Pol, 92-4. 6, Kirsten Taylor, Lib, 91-10.

Triple jump - 1, Adessa Durgla, RSI, 33-1. 2, Shantell McLinden, Lib, 32-8. 3, Heather Melcer, Whi, 32-6. 4, Rachel Sweedman, Lib, 32-4. 5, Colyne Hislop, CF, 32-21/2. 6, Kelsey Cable, RSI, 31-73/4.

Pole vault - 1, Tara Johnson, Pol, 9-6. 2, Ketti Wilhelm, CF, 9-0. 3, Nicole Davey, Pol, 9-0. 4, Alexa Day, Whi, 8-0. 5, Breanna Adamson, Lib, 7-6. 5, Tricia Noble, Lib, 7-6.

Team scores: Whitefish 151, Polson 142, Bigfork 70, Columbia Falls 60, Ronan-St. Ignatius 54, Libby 50.

100 - 1, Mallery Knoll, BF, 13.02; 2, Ashley Ferda, WF, 13.30; 3, Jill Hamilton, BF, 13.33; 4, Carly Schwickert, WF, 13.47; 5, Logan Best, Lib, 13.48; 6. Jen Egdorf, BF, 13.52.

200 - 1, Breanne Kelley, Pol, 26.68; 2, Mallery Knoll, BF, 26.88; 3, Merilee Mowbray, Pol, 27.09; 4, Heather Melcer, WF, 27.57; 5, Jen Egdorf, BF, 27.64; 6, Logan Best, Lib, 27.68.

800 - 1, Lauren Kuennen, WF, 2:22.49; 2, Carly Schwickert, WF, 2:25.26; 3, Sierra Pete, Pol, 2:25.27; 4, Stella Holt, WF, 2:25.60; 5, Quinci Paine, BF, 2:26.26; 6, Ashli Fairbank, CF, 2:27.07.

3200 - 1, Kayla Carlson, BF, 11:52.98; 2, Lauren Kuennen, WF, 12:20.98; 3, Bailey Eaton, WF, 12:22.77; 4, Clare Miller, WF, 12:24.44; 5, Loni Hanson, WF, 12:25.16; 6, Jackie Cassidy, WF, 12:27.74.

100 hurdles - 1, Ashley Ferda, WF, 14.97; 2, Emily Stoltz, CF, 15.90; 3, Sadie McMillan, RSI, 16.01; 4, Mallery Knoll, BF, 16.21; 5, Breanne Kelley, Pol, 16.22; 6, Jade Hansen, WF, 17.21.

300 hurdles - 1, Nicole Davey, Pol, 45.91; 2, Breanne Kelley, Pol, 47.02; 3, Mallery Knoll, BF, 47.12; 4, Sadie McMillan, RSI, 47.94; 5, Ariel Ducote, WF, 48.31; 6, Christa Redcrow, Pol, 49.35.

1,600 relay - 1, Polson (Sierra Pete, Breanne Kelley, Merilee Mowbray, Nicole Davey; meet record; old record not available), 4:03.65; 2, Ronan-St.Ignatius, 4:12.37; 3, Libby, 4:13.18; 4, Whitefish, 4:15.18; 5, Columbia Falls, 4:15.82; 6, Bigfork, 4:18.63.

Shot put - 1, Loni Havlovick, Pol, 34-9; 2, Ishan Wylie, RSI, 34-0; 3, Samantha Ladenburg, CF, 33-6; 4, Erin Baker, Lib, 32-5; 5, Natasha Lafferty, Pol, 30-11; 6, Katelinn Rutherford, Lib, 30-4.

Javelin - 1, Ashley Ferda, WF, 132-6; 2, Olivia Nagler, WF, 114-2; 3, Stephany Kluver, Lib, 110-6; 4, Brittany Martin, Lib, 104-1; 5, Lisa Larsson, RSI, 103-8; 6, Loni Havlovick, Pol, 102-4.

High jump - 1, Alyssa Fierro, Bigfork, 5-0; 2, Ishan Wylie, RSI, 4-10; 2, Sadie McMillan, RSI, 4-10; 4, Emily Stoltz, CF, 4-10; 4, Ketti Wilhelm, CF, 4-10; 6, Alex Kulbeck, Lib, 4-10.

Long jump - 1, Christa Redcrow, Pol, 15-8; 2, Alyssa Ladenburg, CF, 15-11/2; 3, Hailey Farmin, WF, 15-03/4; 4, Jylisa Fields, CF, 14-91/4; 5, Tara Johnson, Pol, 14-9; 6, Shantell McLinden, Lib, 14-81/4.