Charlo girls take divisional title

Zach Urness

Leader Staff

Two-time state champion Amanda Murphy added two more divisional titles to her resume last week as the Charlo girls took first place at the western C divisionals. The boys took fourth at the meet, scoring 49 team points.

“We put a great meet together for the most part,” said head coach Bret Thompson. “The older girls came through with some big points where we needed them and some of the younger girls stepped up as well.”

Murphy hit a personal best in the discus and demolished the meet record with a toss of 127’ 8” to beat the previous record of 121’ 2” by over six feet. She also took the shot put, winning easily with a heave of 38 feet and 11 inches, beating her closest competitor by five feet.

Adri Hammond continued to dominate class C pole vaulting, winning with a mark of nine feet. She also qualified in the 800 meters (2:35.34).

Hayley Carr scored points for the Vikings and qualified for state with a second place finish in the 100 hurdles (17.24), and a fourth place finish in the javelin (107’ 7”) and the discus (94’ 6”).

Rochelle Touissant qualified in the high jump with third place (4’ 10”) and Stephanie Murphy took third in the shot put (33’ 11”) to qualify as well.

Jaris Kelly took third in the pole vault (8’ 6”) and Stephanie Maughn took fourth (8’), while Megan Harriman grabbed the final spot for state in the discus, taking fifth (92’ 11”).

“I was happy with how the two Stephs (Murphy and Maughn) and Jaris (Kelly) stepped up for us,” commented Thompson.

Both girls relay teams qualified with fifth place finishes for Charlo, as the 400 team of Mary Barnette, Rochelle Touissant, Jaris Kelly and Stephanie Murphy ran it in 54.79 and the 1600 team of Barnette, Touissant, Kelly and Adri Hammond finished with a time of 4:28.04.

For the boys J.P Touissant and Chance Firestone led the way, sweeping the top two places in the pole vault, with Touissant taking first (12’) and Firestone taking second (11’ 6”) to lead the boys team.

“The boys gave themselves a good chance,” said Thompson, noting that the boys were in second place after the first day. “We just couldn’t quite get it done. But they came to compete and it certainly wasn’t for a lack of effort.”

Jeff Bucholz qualified for two events, taking fourth in the 1600 meters (5:01.14) and fifth in the 800 (2:06.17).

Freshmen Cody Nitschke also qualified by taking third in the 300 hurdles (44.29).

“I was very happy with our freshmen boys, Chance and Cody,” noted Thompson. “It’s tough to do well in events like the hurdles and pole vault when you are young because the events are usually dominated by older kids, but they did great.”

T.J Kerr took third in the javelin (172’ 7”) and Shadow Deveraux also qualified at fifth place in the javelin (142’ 6”).

“T.J had a huge day,” commented Thompson. “He had a personal best in the javelin and had the school’s top mark since they’ve switched to type of javelin used.”

The boys 1600 relay of Chance Firestone, Cody Nitschke, J.P Touissant and Jeff Bucholz also qualified for state with a second place finish (3:47.07).

“Our whole team did a good job of stepping up and competing,” noted Thompson. “Hopefully we can carry that into state.”

Charlo will travel to Missoula to compete in the state meet beginning on Friday.