Seniors earn gold at state

The Bigfork track and field team capped off a season filled with top finishes with a handful of hardware at last weekend's Class B State Track Meet in Laurel.

Leading Bigfork in the first-place medal count was senior Keenan Evans. He beat Baker's Kodee Varner in the 100-meter by 0.35 seconds with his time of 11.32. Evans also beat Charlie Knapp of Thompson Falls in the 200-meter by nearly a full second by finishing the race in 22:68.

"He ran real well. What really impressed me was his focus," said Sue Loeffler, Bigfork High School head track and field coach. "From the time we got there, he was focused and knew exactly what he wanted to accomplish and he held that focus the entire two days we were in Laurel. It's real neat to see him mature the way he has."

Part of what kept Evans so focused was his desire to beat Knapp in the 200-meter after the Thompson Falls runner edged him out of first place two weeks ago at the Western B Divisional Meet in Missoula.

"I was really proud of myself," Evans said. "All that hard work finally paid off."

This was Evans' third trip to state for track, but his first time qualifying in individual events.

He was on Bigfork's state 400-meter relay team his freshman and junior years. Although Evans showed promise on the track in previous years, he showed immense improvement during his final season on the team.

"I worked a lot harder this year," Evans said. "Basketball definitely helped me out this year. Coach (Paul) La Mott's workouts really helped me with track. I was already use to his workouts being really intense so track practice didn't seem too tough."

Going from occasionally placing in previous years' meets to leading the pack was as shocking to Evans as it was to those who watched his transformation.

"I really surprised myself this year," he said. "I think it's a combination of it being my last year so I took it more seriously and having a different kind of basketball season this winter. It was definitely fun being the hunted instead of the hunter this year."

Evans said his success at state has yet to fully sink in, but he is already getting stopped by friends and even strangers who want to pass on their congratulations to him. The support he is getting makes the wins at the end of his high school career even more thrilling for Evans, who credits his teammates and coaches for his standout season.

"Mrs. L (Loeffler) got my head screwed on right at the right time," Evans said. "I am really thankful to her for working with me the way she did. A lot of it was her and my teammates and other coaches. Travis (Knoll), Derek (Minemyer) and Ian (Lorang) pushed me in practice and were a real contributing factor in me improving so much this year."

Evans and those three teammates also picked up a first-place medal in the 400-meter relay as they beat out their competition by nearly a full second.

Minemyer led the Bigfork team on the first lap, Evans took the second, Lorang ran the third and Knoll was the anchor for them as he crossed the finish line at 44.07.

During the qualifying race Friday, the Bigfork boys had a bad hand-off from Minemyer to Evans, which Evans said was due to some miscommunication between them, that led to the team placing second in its heat, but the boys used it as a learning experience.

"The boys took it upon themselves to warm up early and go down to the track and work on their hand-offs," Loeffler said. "They knew what they wanted to do. They had it in their hearts that they didn't want anything but No. 1. They had one goal and it was really neat to see them achieve it."

The win Saturday gave the Bigfork boys a sweep for the 400-meter relay in the post season. The Vikes also won that race at the District 7B Track Meet and at divisionals.

"It couldn't have gone any better," Evans said of his weekend. "That's the perfect storybook ending. That's the perfect way to end high school and to finish out high school sports — getting three state championship medals."

Overall, the boys earned 30 points from the three first place finishes and placed seventh. Columbus won it among the boys teams with 61 points.

The Bigfork girls earned 53 points and placed third behind Cut Bank which was first with 72 points and Three Forks which was second with 62.

Loeffler said that she was especially proud of her athletes because of the number of schools they were up against at the meet. There are nearly 40 Class B schools in the state that compete in track and field.

"What the girls alone accomplished is really great and even the boys getting seventh is really great," Loeffler said.

Senior Kayla Carlson led the Valkyries with a first-place finish in the 1600-meter. Her time of 5:11.09 was slightly slower than her goal of five minutes flat, but it was more than eight seconds faster than her closest competition, Heather Demorest from Darby.

Demorest went on to beat Carlson the next day in the 3200-meter by nearly 10 seconds.

Demorest's time was 11:30.11 and Carlson finished in 11.39.89.

"I'm pleased with how I did," Carlson said. "I wish I would've placed a little higher in some of my events, but overall I'm happy with how I did."

Carlson broke the school record in the 800-meter with her time of 2:16, but she was one second behind winner Bobbi Knudsen of Malta. Brooke Andrus set the previous Bigfork record in 2006 at 2:16.04.

"She hasn't been pushed in the 800 all year," Loeffler said. "There's a lot of strategy in that race and experience really helps you in that one and she doesn't have a lot of experience with it."

Also adding to the challenge for Carlson was the fact that she was the only distance runner to compete in all three races.

Knoll brought in a big chunk of points for the girls as well with her second-place finishes in the 100-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles. Cut Bank's Deni Fitzpatrick won both races with times of 15.89 and 45.68, respectively. Knoll was right on her heels, though, as she completed the 100 hurdles in 15.94 and the 300 hurdles in 26.07.

"She almost beat Deni in the 100-meter hurdles," Loeffler said. "It was a really fun race to watch. She had one of her best times ever in the 300 hurdles. She ran really well both days. I couldn't have asked for any more from her."

Knoll also placed sixth in the 100-meter dash in 13.31. Fitzpatrick won that race as well in 12.66.

Knoll was the lead runner for the Val's 1600-meter relay team as well. The Bigfork team, which also consisted of Quinci Paine, Jen Egdorf and Carlson placed second in 4:09.22. Three Forks' team edged the Vals out for first place with their time of 4:07.14.

The Vals also placed fifth in the 400-meter relay. The team of Knoll, Egdorf, Paine and Caitlin Charlebois finished the race in 51.54.

The state meet concludes the season for the Bigfork track team, and ends the high school careers of Evans, Carlson, Minemyer and Garrett Hibbs, who competed in discus and shot put this year.

"It's really hard to say goodbye to them," Loeffler said. "You get so close to them it's hard to imagine not having them there next year. It's neat to have them have so much success and get to end their senior year on a good note, though."