Track team hoping for strong showing at divisional meet

Street breaks school

javelin record, again

By JEREMY WEBER

Hungry Horse News

The Columbia Falls High School track team is peaking at the right time, according to head coach Jamie Heinz.

As the team prepares for this weekend’s divisional meet in Butte, the squad already has a number of athletes who have qualified for the state meet with many more looking to punch their tickets in Butte.

“Things are looking good for us right now. Our main goal for divisionals is to try to get as many kids to state as possible,” Heinz said. “Everything all season has been preparing for this. Our motto right now is ‘get your butt to state.’ My coaches do an outstanding job year in and year out of making sure their kids are ready to go at this time of year. I really feel like we are peaking at the right time.”

Columbia Falls added four more state qualifiers at Thursdays’ dual at Glacier High School in Kalispell as Danny Henjum qualified in the 100, Drew Morgan did in 400, Stella Bistodeau did in the high jump and Alexis Purcell qualified in the pole vault.

Henjum finished third in the 100 with a personal best time of 11.31 seconds, finishing behind Glacier’s Dyllyn Stabler and teammate Morgan, who has already qualified for state in the event. Morgan set a new personal best with a time of 11.24 seconds.

Morgan qualified for state in the 400, finishing first with a personal best time of 50.95 seconds. Bistodeau cleared five feet in the high jump to finish first and Purcell cleared 9 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault to win her event.

Angellica Street once again blew away the competition in the javelin, besting her school record with a toss of 158 feet, 8 inches, moving her into fourth place among all high school javelin throwers in the nation this season.

Zack Pletcher was a winner in the 200 with a personal best time of 23.84 seconds while Kaedan Clewien was a close second at 23.90 seconds. Pletcher also won the 110 hurdles with a time of 16.83 seconds.

Aidan Jarvis won the 3,200-meter race with a time of 11:00.41 while Beau Umbriaco was third.

The Wildcats won both the 400 and 1,600-meter relays and Chance Adams won the long jump with a personal best leap of 20 feet, 2 inches.

Isaac Balla was second in the long jump, Jackob Beich was second in the high jump, Tyler Langton was second in the discus, Brad Nieves was third in the shot put, Allec Knapton was third in the discus and Russell Albin took third in the pole vault.

The Wildkats took the top four places in the 400 as Josie Windauer won the event with a time of 1:00.63 while Green was second, Genevieve Delorme took third and Maddie Robison was fourth.

Lara Erickson was the winner in the 1,600 with a time of 5:45.32 and the 400 relay won with a time of 53.16 seconds.

Flora Jarvis took second in the 100 hurdles while Cheyanne Johnston-Heinz was third. Jarvis also took third in the 300 hurdles. Kiera Brown was second in the shot put and third in the discus while Street was third in the shot put and second in discus and Robison was second in the long jump.

Both teams picked up second place finishes in Polson over the weekend as they competed at the Nelson-Thomas ABC Meet.

The Cats earned 10 top-three places, including three first place finishes, to pick up 91.5 points to finish only behind Frenchtown’s 107.

Morgan was a winner in the 200 with a time of 22.61 seconds and also finished second in the javelin with a toss of 166 feet, 11 inches. Seth Umbriaco won the 3,200 with a time of 10:28.53 and the 400 relay team also won with a time of 43.40 seconds.

Henjum took second in the 100 and third in the 200, Pletcher was second in the 300 hurdles, Balla was second in the long jump, the 1,600 relay team was also second and Parker Greene was third in the discus.

The Wildkats were first in five events and had nine top-three finishes to pick up 95 points, second only to Corvallis, which finished with 119.5.

Erickson was the winner in the 3,200 with a time of 12:36.44 while Jarvis won the 100 hurdles with a personal best time of 16.66 seconds. Jarvis was also second in the 300 hurdles.

Street won the shot put with a personal best throw of 38 feet and also won the javelin with toss of 146 feet.

The 1,600 relay team of Green, Delorme, Robison and Windauer won with a time of 4:09.86.

Robison took second in the long jump, Windauer was second in pole vault and Brown was third in the shot put.