Bigfork's Makena Morley has stellar week in track
<p>Makena Morley runs during track practice last week.</p>
Sophomore Makena Morley had a stellar week for the Bigfork Valkyries track team.
Morley pulled off a trifecta in winning the 800, 1,600 and 3,200 meter events on Saturday at the Whitefish ARM Tournament. She also won the 3,200 meters against the top runners from western Montana the Top 10 meet in Missoula on April 23.
The Valkyries totaled 40 points, which left them seventh out of 14 teams.
Coach Sue Loeffler said Morley ran well especially considering the weather was terrible.
Morley’s time of 11:02.56 in the 3,200 meters set a new course record. In doing so, she beat second-place finisher Geneva Plakke of Superior by 1:25. Morley’s time bested the previous mark of BHS graduate Kayla Carlson by nearly 36 seconds. Morley also won the 800 meters by more than five seconds and the 1,600 by 25 seconds.
The Valkyries’ 1,600-meter relay team took third place. Morley anchored that team, which included Megan Pancoast, Maddie McAnally and Marissa Hiza. The Valkyries finished nine seconds behind Whitefish and three behind Frenchtown.
Tessa Robertson accounted for the remainder of the Vals’ points with fifth-place finishes in the shot put and discus events with distances of 33-9 and 104-11.
Logan Morley led the Vikings with a third-place finish in the 3200 meters. His time of 10:19.80 was 16 seconds behind Glacier’s Kade McCutcheon but only four-tenths of a second behind Whitefish’s Jace Kalbfleisch.
Chance Kittle took fourth in the 800 meters.
Sixth-places finishes were recorded by: Cameron Nissen in the 200, Josh Sandry in the high jump and the 400-meter-relay team of Boyd Rieke, Kittle, Colton Woll and Vinny Quirk.
The Vikings’ total of 13 points was good enough for 10th out of 14 teams.
Morley wins
at Top 10 meet
Makena Morley was the only BHS competitor to place at the 15th annual Russ Pilcher Western Montana Top 10 track meet.
Her time of 10:51.12 was 41 seconds ahead of second-place Isabella Pape of Corvallis.
Paige Gilchrist of Missoula Hellgate broke BHS graduate Carlson’s 2010 record in the 1,600 meters.
Gilchrist’s time of 5:02.97 eclipsed Carlson’s mark by more than two seconds.