Arlee track back in action

THOMPSON FALLS — The Arlee Warriors and Scarlets kicked off the track season with two meets this past week. It started with a team-based competition at Loyola on April 14, where scores were combined among the team’s different athletes.

Arlee senior Veronica Nelson led the Scarlets with a 29-foot-1-inch toss in the shot put.

“That was a good little toss for her,” Arlee head coach Sue Carney said.

Veronica also recorded an 87-foot discus throw at the event.

Another Arlee senior, Warrior Wyatt O’Neill, who was recently selected to the all-state basketball team, leaped up 5-feet-10 inches to start things out – the highest jump at the meet.

“That was a nice opening meet distance, but his plant foot kept slipping,” Carney explained. “I expect him to be in that 6-foot range.”

On Thursday at Thompson Falls, many of Arlee’s best found their marks.

The Scarlets scored 15 points to take seventh place by the time the athletes unlaced their track shoes.

In the 400-meter relay, the Scarlets raced to a fourth placed finish with a time of 1:01. Nelson struck again, this time at the javelin throw, releasing for a 107-foot toss, good enough to win the gold medal. Her sister, freshman Becca Nelson, took sixth with an 83-foot-9-inch chuck, a distance that impressed Carney.

Veronica finished sixth in the shot put, perhaps saving her energy for the discus which she threw 97 feet for her second gold.

Arlee sophomore Cassandra Cline was the final Scarlet to place going fifth at the pole vault with a 6-foot-2-inch jump.

On the boys end, Arlee scored 24 points to take seventh like the girls. Arlee freshman Brady Potts took sixth in the 800-meter run, an athlete sports fans might remember from the mats this past wrestling season.

Arlee’s star wrestler, senior Jake Trujillo finished a few seconds shy of third place with a time of 5:11.20 in the 1,600.

Arlee also pulled out a fifth place finish in the 400-meter-relay (48.56).

Struggling with the loss of senior Cubby Pierre, who is nursing an ankle injury, the team finished last in the 1,600-meter competition.

O’Neill went big on the high jump again, 5-10. It was good enough for second place. And he didn’t stop there, taking bronze in the triple jump with a total of 40-feet-10-inches.

Trujillo earned one more medal for the Warriors with a 9-foot-8-inch pole vault.

Carney ran three freshmen in the long relay, Clayton Trimble, Zach Tameler, and Zach Carver.

Carver pushed it so hard he was sick after the meet, Carney noted.

“In true freshman style they gave it their all. Zach Carver ran his heart out,” she said.

Carney was pleased with her girls after the distance events. With senior Niche Brown at the helm, freshmen Meerim Dix and Raini Phelps will have experienced footsteps to follow in.

Overall, things have progressed well since practice began for Arlee, Carney said.

“I’m definitely seeing improvement overall as a team and in their ability to work toward a common goal. They’re starting to come together. The kids are starting to gel,” she said.

Arlee competes at Hot Springs today then goes to Big Sky at 10 a.m. on Saturday.