Freshmen, vets lead Charlo in new week

BIGFORK - The Vikings and Lady Vikings of Charlo competed in two big meets last week. At Thompson Falls on Thursday Charlo sophomore Chico Stipe kicked up some dust on the competition, helping his team achieve a second place finish of 112 points.

Stipe took first in the 100-meter (11.92), tied for first in the 200 (24.60), and helped Charlo race to a gold finish in the short relay. He was joined by senior Brandon Pope, junior Chance Firestone and freshman Josh Lords  in the effort.

The Vikings also took the long relay.

Viking head coach Bret Thompson contends that there is still room for improvement in the speedster, however.

“He’s still not fast enough,” he said with Stipe in the background during an interview.

You can always count on coach to push you one step farther.

The Vikings also took the top honors at the 1,600 relay.

Among Charlo’s other top runners were Zach Dougherty, who took silver at the 800, followed by sophomore Chance Rosenbaum in third and senior Clay Hoyt in fourth.

Rosenbaum also snagged second in the 1,600.

Charlo junior Jame Petersen rose to an astonishing 13 feet for the gold at the pole vault. It makes him the runner up for this year’s Class -C record.

Thompson was pleased with the way his varsity and JV Vikings performed in the meet.

“I just know that we competed well. I am very happy with where we are as long as we keep improving, if we keep improving a little at a time I think we should be in good shape,” he said.

The Vikings also earned a third place finish in Bigfork among the Class-A competition. Again, the team took both relays. This time, the honors at the pole vault went to Firestone, with an 11-foot-6 inch jump.

Rosenbaum placed third in both the 800 (2:14.6) and 1,600 (4:59).

Petersen took silver in the 3,200 and Pope finished  fourth in the 400-meter hurdles.

The Charlo girls finished second at Thompson Falls with 93 points. Freshman Deondra Brown is staring to become a sprinter for the Lady Vikings, Thompson said. Brown captured fourth in the 100 (14.28) and fifth in the 200 (30.21).

Brittany Shaver took third in the 800 (2:45.17) and second in the 1,600 (6:05). She was bested in the longer event by freshman Dawn Blevins who ran it four second faster for gold. Blevins also took second in the 3,200 (13:37:67). Her legs don’t only move on the basketball court it seems. They get going on the track too.

Blevins threw a javelin 98-feet-4 inches for third as well. Senior Kate Coburn took fifth in that event, but sailed the shot put (31-4) for a silver medal.

Senior Rochelle Toussaint hit 4-feet-10 inches on the high jump for first place.

At Bigfork, the Charlo girls didn’t place as high as the boys but still put together 53 points for a fifth place finish. Brown  nabbed second this time in the 200 (28.84), with Toussaint taking fourth (30.22). Shaver took fourth at the 800 (2:40.5) and Blevins finished sixth (6:02.5).

Charlo placed third in the 1,600 relay (4:34.9) and the usual throwers continued to place.

Thompson said Charlo runners Shaver and Blevins are starting to push the envelope.

“Both of those girls have some distance to go before we start talking about state and stuff but as far as locally they’re doing well,” he said.

Charlo competes at the Hot Springs meet today, then goes to the Seeley meet at Missoula Big Sky at 10 a.m. on Saturday.