Holmquist throws to best in state, Whitefish teams show big improvements

Whitefish junior Talon Holmquist threw a distance of 49 feet, 8 inches in the shot put to become the state leader across all classes in Montana on a rainy, chilly day at the Iceberg Invitational in Columbia Falls Saturday.

The achievement happened just a few days after he threw the top mark at a triangular competition in Whitefish when he threw 48 feet even. Whitefish boys track and field head coach Willie Roche said Holmquist is eager to keep pushing in the event too.

“I don’t think that’s happened at Whitefish High School, I don’t think we’ve ever had an all-class shot putter to beat No. 1 so it’s just something special,” Roche said. “He’s excited about it and he’s not going to get complacent, he’s talked about wanting the 50 mark, so he’s building a lot of excitement around that.”

Holmquist wasn’t the only success on the week for the boys track team either. Roche said the week was full of personal bests for many runners and field athletes.

At the Whitefish triangular, the boys team took second behind Glacier in the team scores. Whitefish continues to show strength in its distance running, with Deneb Linton nabbing the first place finish in the 3,200 meter run. Following him in second through fourth place were his teammates Jacob Henson, Nate Ingelfinger and Landon Brown.

Whitefish finished first in the long relay with a time of 3:39.33. Gabe Lund also had a first-place finish in the 800 meter, running it in 2:13.83. Bodie Smith competed well in the 300 meter hurdles with a fast second-place finish and personal best time of 43.11.

Gabe Menicke had a pair of personal bests, recording a 5 foot, 10 inches mark in the high jump as well as 41 feet, 8 inches in the triple jump. He nabbed second in high jump and first in the triple.

“We were finally at full capacity with athletes, so they were actually able to compete in pretty much every event they wanted to,” Roche said of the meet at Whitefish. “We were able to get some good marks on kids, kind of some great starting points for a lot of kids. Now they’re able to gauge themselves, like what can I look to improve in these events by this time.”

The Iceberg Invite was full of personal bests for the boys as well. Menicke ran to first place in the 200 meter in 23.24 seconds. Marvin Kimera came in second in the 100 meter dash with a new season record of 11.79.

Bodie Smith took first place in the long jump with a mark of 19 feet, 8 inches. Bode Wold nabbed third in discus while Jaxsen Schlauch secured second place in javelin.

“At this point in the season we’re pretty goal oriented with personal bests and beating previous records,” Roche said. “The kids did a really good job of that, we had an insane amount of personal bests at that meet. So it’s fun to see the kids get excited about improving their previous bests over time.”

For the girls, the personal best times and marks were soaring as well this week.

At the Whitefish triangular Brooke Zetooney nabbed first-place finishes in both the 100 and 200 meter races; a time of 26.48 seconds in the 200 was a personal record for the freshman sprinter. Her teammates Mikenna Ells was just behind her in the 100 for second place and Tommye Kelly was second in the 200 meter.

Whitefish’s Olivia Genovese was also a double winner, in the 800 and 1600 meter races. She recorded a personal record in the 1600 with a time of 2:35.60.

In the high jump, Erin Wilde led the way for the Lady Bulldogs nabbing first place with a 5 foot mark; in second through fifth place were all Whitefish teammates including Mikenna Ells, Maeve Ingelfinger, Hailey Ells, and Sophia Zohrer.

“We took places one through five in the high jump — so our jumpers are really showing up and competing well,” Whitefish girls track and field head coach Kelliann Blackburn said.

She added that the girls also qualified their 1,600 meter relay for state, coming in at 4:09.61.

“We qualified our long relay for state, that was really important to do,” Blackburn said. “So the team is really coming together as far as kids stepping up in all areas.”

In Columbia Falls, Whitefish had another outstanding showing coming in first in the team scores with 222.5 points and CFalls was second with 111 points.

Zetooney again won both the 100 and 200 meter sprints. Jennifer Patton was a double winner as well, nailing a personal best in shot put with a 30 feet, 11 ½ inches, and a season best in discus — 93 feet and 2 ½ inches.

“Jennifer Patton won both the shot and the discus,” Blackburn said. “And I was really proud of all my throwers in Columbia Falls. They are all improving and they’re right where they need to be at this point in the season; we’re midway through.”

This week, Whitefish was set to host another triangular after press time on Tuesday. Then the Bulldogs host the Whitefish ARM Invitational on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. Due to COVID-19 the teams coming are limited and include Bigfork, Polson, Columbia Falls and Frenchtown.

Whitefish Invite

Tuesday, April 20

GIRLS

Team Scores: Whitefish 73, Glacier 63, Bigfork 45

100 — 1, Brooke Zetooney, Whitefish, 12.68. 2, Mikenna Ells, Whitefish, 12.75.

200 — 1, Brooke Zetooney, Whitefish, 26.48. 2, Tommye Kelly, Whitefish, 27.78.

400 — 2, Maya Lacey, Whitefish, 1:06.20. 3, Brooklyn Roberts, Whitefish, 1:06.29.

800 — 1, Olivia Genovese, Whitefish, 2:35.60. 4, Raiya McCutcheon, Whitefish, 2:48.29.

1600 — 1, Olivia Genovese, Whitefish, 5:56.60. 3, Margaret Pulsifer, Whitefish, 6:17.68.

3200 — 2, Paetra Cooke, Whitefish, 13:03.53. 3, Morgan Grube, Whitefish, 13:03.89.

100 hurdles — 3, Kristina Shestak, Whitefish, 17.99.

400 relay — 1, Whitefish 49.75. 2, Bigfork 51.09. 3, Bigfork ‘B’ 51.36.

1600 relay — 1, Whitefish 4:09.61. 2, Bigfork 4:20.25. 3, Glacier 4:32.46.

Javelin — 4, Jennifer Patten, Whitefish, 90-6.

High jump — 1, Erin Wilde, Whitefish, 5-0. 2, Mikenna Ells, Whitefish, 5-0. 3, Maeve Ingelfinger, Whitefish, 4-8. 4, Hailey Ells, Whitefish, 4-6.

Long jump — 2, Tommye Kelly, Whitefish, 15-4.

Triple jump — 1, Erin Wilde, Whitefish, 33-4.

Pole vault — 3, Maeve Ingelfinger, Whitefish, 7-6.

BOYS

Teams Scores: Glacier 74, Whitefish 55, Bigfork 52

100 — 3, Marvin Kimera, Whitefish, 11.85.

200 — 3, Marvin Kimera, Whitefish, 23.63.

800 — 1, Gabe Lund, Whitefish, 2:13.83.

1600 — 3, Mason Genovese, Whitefish, 4:58.98.

3200 — 1, Deneb Linton, Whitefish, 10:36.19. 2, Jacob Henson, Whitefish, 10:42.58. 3, Nate Ingelfinger, Whitefish, 11:14.53. 4, Landon Brown, Whitefish, 11:14.82.

300 hurdles — 2, Bodie Smith, Whitefish, 43.11.

400 relay — 1, Glacier 43.07. 2, Bigfork 43.60. 3, Whitefish 44.54.

1600 relay — 1, Whitefish 3:39.33. 2, Bigfork 3:43.39. 3, Glacier 3:45.21.

Discus — 2, Bode Wold, Whitefish, 110-3. 4, Talon Holmquist, Whitefish, 105-5.

Shot put — 1, Talon Holmquist, Whitefish, 48-0.

High jump — 2, Gabe Menicke, Whitefish, 5-10.

Long jump — 1, Marvin Kimera, Whitefish, 19-4. 3, Morgan Kyle, Whitefish, 17-5. 4, Trey Hunt, Whitefish, 17-0.

Triple jump — 1, Gabe Menicke, Whitefish, 41-8.

Iceberg Invitational

Saturday, Columbia Falls

BOYS

Team scores — Whitefish 162, Columbia Falls 108, Ronan 101, Libby 95.5, Polson

85.5, Browning 46.

100 — 2, Marvin Kimera, Wfh, 11.79; 4, Colter Gaertner, Wfh, 12.00;

200 — 1, Gabe Menicke, Wfh, 23.24; 6, Dawson Muth, Wfh, 26.38.

400 — 3, Colter Gaertner, Wfh, 54.55; Azure Stolte, Wfh, 58.37.

800 — 4, Mason Genovese, Wfh, 2:12.26; 5, Gabe Lund, Wfh, 2:12.63;

1600 — 6, Jacob Henson, Wfh, 4:59.30.

3200 — 2, Jacob Henson, Wfh, 10:49.92;

110 hurdles — 3, Bodie Smith, Wfh, 17.90;

400 relay — 1, Polson 45.64; 2, Whitefish 47.37; 3, Ronan 48.99; 4, Browning 49.41.

1600 relay — 1, Whitefish (Gaertner, Kimera, Menicke, Genovese) 3:41.17; 2, Libby 3:52.20; 3, Polson 3:52.73.

Discus — 3, Bode Wold, Wfh, 115-2;

Javelin — 2, Jaxsen Schlauch, Wfh, 137-4; 4, Cody Berry, Wfh, 132-5; 5, Trey Hunt, Wfh, 131-0;

Shot put — 1, Talon Holmquist, Wfh, 49-8;

Long jump — 1, Bodie Smith, Wfh, 19-8; Trey Hunt, Wfh, 18-0.75.

Triple jump — 3, Barrett Garcia, Wfh, 37-11; 4, Morgan Kyle, Wfh, 37-0.5; 5, Vadim Abrumchuk, Wfh, 36-3.5;

Pole vault — 4, Dennis Shestak, Wfh, 8-6; 5, Bowdrie Krack, Wfh, 8-6; 6, Cody Berry, Wfh, 8-0.

GIRLS

Team scores — Whitefish 222.5, Columbia Falls 111, Libby 92, Polson 61.5, Ronan 61, Browning 18.

100 — 1, Brooke Zetooney, Wfh, 12.85;

200 — 1, Brooke Zetooney, Wfh, 26.88; 3, Tommye Kelly, Wfh, 28.06; 4, Madelyn Alexanders, Wfh, 30.52;

400 — 1, Mikenna Ells, Wfh, 59.47; 2, Hailey Ells, Wfh, 62.12; 5, Tommye Kelly, Wfh, 65.86; 6, Brooklyn Roberts, Wfh, 68.03.

800 — 3, Mikenna Ells, Wfh, 2:42.27; 4, Morgan Grube, Wfh, 2:42.76; 6, Raiya McCutcheon, Wfh, 2:56.86.

1600 — 6, Morgan Grube, Wfh, 6:01.14

100 hurdles — 1, Hailey Ells, Wfh, 17.23; 2 (tie), Bailey Smith, Wfh, and Aurora Smith, Lib, 18.97; 4, Rebekah Walker, CF, 19.36; 56, Kate Hatfield, C

300 hurdles — 1, Hailey Ells, Wfh, 49.62; 3, Bailey Smith, Wfh, 53.43;

400 relay — 1, Whitefish (H.Ells, Zetooney, Wilde, M.Ells) 51.71; 2, Polson 56.58.

1600 relay — 1, Whitefish (Zetooney, Kelly, Smith, Alexander) 4:34.13; 2, Polson 4:43.61.

Discus — 1, Jennifer Patten, Wfh, 93-2.5; 5, Brooklyn Smith, Wfh, 84-4.5;

Javelin — 3, Jennifer Patten, Wfh, 91-11; 5, Ashlyn Finley, Wfh, 63-4;

Shot put — 1, Jennifer Patten, Wfh, 30-11.5; 2, Brooklyn Smith, Wfh, 29-2; 4, Drew Steele, Wfh, 28-7; 5, Brooke Zetooney, Wfh,28-4;

High jump — 1, Sophia Zohrer, Wfh, 4-10; 2 (tie) Rylee Boltz, Lib, and Lindsey Brooks, Ron, 4-8;

Long jump — 1, Erin Wilde, Wfh, 17-5.25; 4, Tommye Kelly, Wfh, 15-1.25;

Triple jump — 3, Katya Abramchuk, Wfh, 27-2.

Pole vault — 5 (tie) Lucy Toelcke, WF, and Lucy Violett, Pol, 6-6.