Carlson chalks up another victory

Bigfork Eagle

Bigfork High School track and cross country star Kayla Carlson squeezed one more win onto the record books before the 2008-09 school year ended.

Last weekend she took first in the 800-meter with a time of 2:25.22 at the Meet of Champions at Charlie Merrifield Track in Butte.

The race was a tough one, as Carlson had to work against winter-like weather conditions and tough competition. She beat Kayla Neumiller of Colstrip by just .07 seconds and Keli Dennehy of Butte by a little more than half of a second.

At the Class A State Meet Carlson ran the 800 in 2:18.89 and missed taking the first place spot by .49 seconds behind junior Misha Trotter of Hamilton. Neumiller was this year's Class B State Champion with a time of 2:22.24 and Dennehy placed second at the Class AA State Meet in 2:13.04.

The Meet of Champions is an invitational track meet that used to take place annually, but hasn't been held for many years, that brings together the top three athletes from each class' state meet. Carlson also qualified in the 3,200-meter, which she won the state championship in, and the 1,600-meter, which she placed third in. However, she opted to just run the 800-meter because the Meet of Champions is a short meet and there isn't much recovery time between races. Recent BHS graduate Garrett Pewe was invited to compete in the high jump having placed third at state, but decided not to make the trip because of the bad weather. Mallery Knoll qualified for the meet as well in the 100-meter dash and the 300-meter hurdles, but chose not to attend after running nine races, including the trials, at state.