There was a lot of clean-up needed

There was a lot of clean-up needed after last Saturday's Akey, Rosenberg, Murphy (A.R.M.) Invitational track meet at W-H-S considering ten records were broken - six girls' and four for the boys.

Whitefish freshman Ashley Ferda set new marks running the high hurdles in 15.41 seconds and 46.95 in the 300-meter lows.

Cousin Courtney Ferda zipped through the 100-meter dash in 12.50 seconds, and clocked 25.87 in the 200. She broke her own personal best (12.60) in the 100, as well as Sammy Freeman of Libby's 6-year-old A.R.M. record of 26.65 in the 200.

Courtney also won the 400 to complete a sprint sweep and assisted in the Lady Bulldogs' sweep of the long and short relays.

"We ran pretty well in both of those (the relays) even though it wasn't our best times of the year," said Bulldog head coach Derek Schulz.

By the time things wrapped up, the Whitefish girls had 102 points, to 70 for Bigfork. Havre was third with 60.

Bulldog Chris Hicks set a standard in the triple jump, 43-7, to best the mark set (42-4 3/4) in 2001 by Chase Halland of Libby. Although he didn't set a record in the high jump Saturday, Hicks won the event with an impressive leap of 6-6 (a personal best this year, at last year's A.R.M. he cleared 6-7). Libby's Blaine Baker was second @ 6-2.

"The conditions were pretty good," said Schulz of the meet last Saturday. "It was cool (temperature) in the morning and later in the afternoon it got fairly warm. Just about ideal, in the upper 50s to right about 60."

Other records set Saturday include Baker of Libby in the javelin, 204-9. He shattered the record he set at last year's A.R.M. Invite, 183-5. Ronan's Jana Smith's record in the long jump (16-4) lasted just six years as Troy's Elisha Kampfe lept past @ 16-8 to break it. Brooke Andrus of Bigfork won the 800 in a record 2:19.56. Plains' Dane Steward won the 3,200 in a meet-record 9:57.09, and Noxon's Daniel Beaudin is the new record holder in the discuss by heaving the weighted circumference 168-3 1/2. Beaudin was first in the shot put, albeit not an A.R.M. record throw, 49-8.

"The competition was excellent, a real high class meet," said Schulz. "I think all the records were a result of the atmosphere and the effort being put forth by all the athletes."

The Thompson Falls boys won the meet. The Bluehawks piled up 116 points, Libby was second with 66 1/2 while Whitefish was third with 52.

Class B T- Falls got wins from Greg Schenevar (pole vault), Ryan Broyhill (800), Ryan Dorrian (400) and both relays.

"They (Thompson Falls) have a great core of sprinters, guys who are willing to run the 400 relay," said Schulz. "Thompson Falls is a lot like we were (the boys) last year in terms of depth, quality guys, good sports etc."

Back to the Bulldog girls, solid performances were recorded last Saturday from Marnie Hale in the 100 & 200, she was fourth in both, she also placed in the triple jump.

"She came out late for track this year (she's a cross-country skiier) and has gotten her track legs progressively thru the season which has and will really help us," said Schulz.

Emily English, running personal bests in both races, placed in both the 100 and 300 hurdles. Erin Greiner, third in the triple jump, 33-4, and Alex White, shaving a few seconds off her best 400 time thus far, was fourth in the 400, 1:03.86. Lauren Kuennen, took 7 or 8 seconds off her 800 time was third in the event, 2:27.92.

"There's a lot of talent there (the girls), they are competing really well," said Schulz. "We're trying to get more depth in our event coverage which we will be working with some girls in the coming weeks in attempts to accomplish that."

The boys got two seconds from Hicks in the 110 and 300 hurdles last Saturday, Luke Haberkern was third in the long jump, 18-1 3/4. Todd Harthan was fourth in the shot put, 46-4. Jason Schmidt and Bjorn Peterson placed in the 300 hurdles.

There was a Whitefish junior-varsity meet on Tuesday of this week @ W-H-S. The Ken Good Invitational was set to field athletes from Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Bigfork, and Frenchtown high schools. No results were available at deadline.

Recapping prior to the A.R.M., Whitefish had a number of tracksters in Missoula for the 7th Annual Russ Pilcher Western Montana Top 10 track and field meet the week of April 25th.

Courtney Ferda posted the fastest time to win the 100 (12.76), to go along with a second in the 200 (26.71). Ashley won the 300 hurdles (46.95). The two also ran on the Lady Bulldog winning 4 x 100 relay team (50.85), A. Ferda, C. Ferda, Hale, Kuennen.

Chris Hicks was second in the long jump, 20-11, and placed in the 110 and 300 hurdles as well as high jump.

Other area athletes fared well in Missoula. Bekah Stoltz of Columbia Falls won the shot put (37-9 1/2) and discuss (141-10) and Bigfork's Brooke Andrus set a new meet record in the 3,200 (11:27.43). Andrus shattered the old mark of 11:59.1, which was shared by Casey Campbell of Lincoln and Robin Wemple of Victor, set in 1999. The top five finishers in the 3,200 that day all bettered the old standard.

The meet invited the Top 10 athletes from Eureka to Ennis and in between based on their best season marks through April 23rd.

The prestigious Archie Roe meet is on tap at Legends Stadium @ Rawson Field in Kalispell this weekend.

"We love the meet it's just a spectacle," said Schulz. "It's a great opportunity for young kids, we call it the freshman state meet where turn all our freshman loose in freshman events so they can compete against kids their own age."

"The caliber of competition is parallel, perhaps exceeds the state track meet," said Schulz. "To place in any event at Archie Roe is to be cherished."

Between 20 and 30 schools are slated to compete.

Also, this coming Monday is the last day of the Youth Track Program at Whitefish High. Coach Schulz says around 264 kids have participated with the assistance of 38 current track athletes from W-H-S helping tomorrow's next batch of Bulldog sprinters, hurdlers, pole vaulters, and distance runners. Monday will mark the fourth consecutive Monday of the program and will be a fun day of ribbon presentations, popsicles etc.