Bigfork track and field off to strong start with two meets
Bigfork High School’s track and field
team faced its first competition last week as the Vikings and
Valkyries competed in the Florence-Darby invite Thursday in
Corvallis and then the Columbia Falls invite Saturday.
“We had a really good start at
Corvallis,” said Sue Loeffler, Bigfork’s head track and field
coach. “The kids were kind of panicked because they didn’t think
they were prepared, but they did really well. I was looking at our
times from last year and we are sitting pretty well. The kids
always remember where they were at at the end of the season rather
than looking at it in the sense of where they were at at this time
last year. Then I show them and they see how much they have really
improved.”
The Bigfork girls took top honors at
Thursday’s meet with a combined point total of 98. Hamilton was
second with 95 points and Florence took third with 54.
The win was a group effort as five
individual Bigfork girls — in multiple events — and two of the
school’s relay teams placed in the top five. Senior sprinter
Mallery Knoll took first in the 300-meter hurdles in 49.24, second
in the 100-meter hurdles in 16.49 and second in the 100-meter in
12.98. Senior Quinci Paine placed first in the 200-meter in 27.54
and was second in pole vault with 7-6. Sophomore distance runner
Chelsea Olson placed first in the 800-meter (time unavailable) and
second in the 1600-meter in 6:03. Senior Jenna Egdorf took third in
the 100-meter in 13.14 and third in the 200-meter in 28.22.
“Jenna is really sprinting well,”
Loeffler said. “This is what I’ve been waiting for for a few years.
She’s finally come to me not injured this season and that has made
a world of difference.”
Senior Caitlin Charlebois placed second
in the javelin with 112-.5 and fifth in pole vault with 7-6.
The Valkyries’ 1600-meter relay team
earned first place in 4:28 and their 400-meter relay team earned
second place in 53.26.
Bigfork’s boys team earned just 11.5
points and placed 12th at the meet in Corvallis.
Senior Travis Knoll was the only
individual to place in the top six at the meet. He finished fourth
in the 200-meter in 23.86 and sixth in the 100-meter in 11.57. In
past years, Knoll has also competed in the pole vault; however,
that is unlikely this year as he is recovering from a broken left
wrist, an injury he incurred during the alumni basketball game last
month.
In addition to taking him out of the
pole vault, his cast is also presenting some challenges with his
track events. He’s had to adjust his starting stance and the baton
pass was altered for him in the boys relay.
“We have Travis and the cast worked
out,” Loeffler said. “We have to pass right to right... It’s a
little awkward, but he’ll get his cast off before Archie Roe (one
of the team’s biggest meets leading into the postseason). He’ll be
a dark horse because he’ll run even faster when he gets that cast
off.”
The Bigfork boys’ 400-meter relay team
earned third place in 45.95 at its first meet.
Columbia Falls
After a jam-packed inaugural meet,
Bigfork competed in Columbia Falls’ contest two days later. Due to
the short amount of time between the two, Loeffler had many of her
athletes compete in fewer events.
“I loaded Mallery, Quinci and a couple
of our boys up pretty well on Thursday so they were tired come
Saturday,” Loeffler said. “But it was really good weather so we
decided we might as well take advantage of it.”
The Vals came away with 28 points,
which earned them ninth place, and the Vikes finished in 11th place
with 19 points. The girls’ top finish came from the short relay
team, which earned first place in 52.49.
“The girls knocked almost a full second
off of their time just from Thursday to Saturday. That’s a real
good time,” said Loeffler of the team made up of Paine, Egdorf,
Charlebois and Knoll.
Additionally, Charlebois took third in
the pole vault with 8-6, Paine took fourth in the pole vault with
8-0, Olson earned fourth in the 3200-meter with 13:18.52 and Knoll
earned fourth in the 100-hurdles in 16.54.
“What they did is they got to
specialize a little bit more,” Loeffler said. “Quinci and Caitlin
did better in pole vault because that was pretty much all they did,
so they got to focus more on that. Then the younger kids got to get
some more experience.”
As for the Bigfork boys, their
400-meter relay team earned third with a time of 46.19. Knoll and
Ryan Hayes tied for third place in the 100-meter, having both
finished in 12.02. Hayes, a junior, also placed fifth in the
400-meter in 56.31. Junior Austin Cantrell finished sixth in the
discus with 116-0.
Up next
Bigfork was scheduled to compete in
Flathead High School’s meet on Tuesday. Those results will be in
next week’s Eagle.
The Vikes and Vals host their
invitational at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Bigfork High School
track.