Polson track teams take fourth in Bigfork

The Polson track teams turned the corner into the regular season last week, finishing fourth at the Bigfork Invitational as the team gears up to head to Missoula Saturday.

The girls finished with 59 points, putting them behind Bigfork, Whitefish and Columbia Falls, but ahead of five other teams.

Karelia Mowbray's return to action was a welcome addition to the team, as she took first place in the pole vault with a nine foot vault.

"She stopped (her attempts) when she won, but could have gone higher," girls coach Bruce Thomas said. "That was nice to see."

"I'm so excited to be able to compete," Mowbray said last week before the meet. "I've been working on it (her pole vault) all summer."

Mowbray's sister Marilee took first in the 400 and fifth in the javelin.

"She's improving every week," Thomas said of Marilee. "We had three girls place in the 400 so that's going to be a good event for us."

Tanna Bull took third and Kali Cook took sixth in the 400.

Danielle Rowe turned in a speedy 13.2 in the 100 meter dash, and Thomas said he's got high hopes for Rowe in that event.

"We were very pleased with that (her time). She'll do that regularly," he said.

Kara Walker took second to Wildkat Bekah Stoltz, last year's state champion in the shot put. Walker missed Stoltz by about a foot, and the two will probably be at the top of the event throughout the year, Thomas pointed out.

"She'll be chasing Bekah Stoltz all year. She's a tough competitor," Thomas said.

Alex Noble looked good this week in the long distance, getting sixth in the 1,600 and second in the 3,200 behind Bigfork's Brooke Andrus.

"Alex took 30 seconds off her two-mile run and 25 seconds in her mile. That's a tremendous improvement over last week," Thomas said.

Brittany Gardner and Merilee Mowbray had big improvements on their javelin throws, too.

"Brittany improved by 10 feet and Merilee by 14 feet over last week," Thomas said. "Obviously they can't improve that much every week, but that's tremendous."

The only downside was that some of the girls left the meet early to get ready for prom — a factor other teams didn't have to worry about — which hurt the Lady Pirates in the later events, including relays.

"We're a long relay team, and we didn't get to run people in the later events, a couple of them," Thomas said. "That hurt us a little."

For the boys, four points separated four different teams, as Polson finished fourth but everyone was a distant second to leader Thompson Falls.

Andy Nelson continued to make a name for himself in the 110 meter hurdles, finishing third, while Cody Doyle took sixth — a great showing for a frosh.

"That was a better time for Andy (over last week), and Cody did great for a freshman," head coach Bob Gunderson said.

Chris Ogle took first in the 800, the only Polson gold on the day, but the team had good showings form Grant Casey in the 3,200 and Ogle again in the 400.

Isaiah Thomas took fourth in the javelin with a personal best of 162-5, and he's still waiting on a better sized javelin.

"That was the best he's ever thrown," Gunderson said.

Terry Lundeen took second in the long jump, while Kevin Love, Ted Morigeau and Thomas took third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the pole vault.

The boys shaved six seconds off their time in the 1,600 relay — another good sign, Gunderson said, as the team continues to improve each week.

Both teams will head to Missoula this weekend for a non-conference invitational. Each event has qualifying times, and teams are allowed four students per event, Thomas said, so its a good chance to see how Polson will match up against AA and A teams from around the state.

Results of Tuesday's non-conference action in Kalispell were unavailable by press time.