Pirates take County

KALISPELL — Polson hosted all of the local sprinters, leapers, throwers and vaulters for a little cold and windy but healthy competition on May 5, and the home team took the majority of the honors.

Finishing first among the county’s girl tracksters, the Lady Pirates snagged 171 points.

Junior Christa Redcrow led the way with 28 points.

Redcrow went gold in the 800-meter, the long jump, triple jump and as part of the short relay.

It was all Lady Pirates in the sprints.

In the 100, sophomore Katie Finley, an understated hero on the team, took second, with sophomores Sierra Pete and Breanne Kelley right behind her for third and fourth.

“One girl that works hard and doesn’t get mentioned very often is Katie Finley,” Polson head coach Bob Gunderson said. “She had a PR in the 100-meter.”

Finley was also on the first place short relay and finished with 18 points.

The same trio swept the 200, this time with Breanne in first place. Pete took second and Finley took third.

In the 400, it was Pete’s turn to go gold, with Finley in second and freshman Chelsey Cree in fourth.

Breanne put out a second-place overall performance for the team with 24 total points, finishing second at the 100 and 300 hurdles.

Pete and senior Tara Johnson had 22 points each, with Johnson doing most of the damage in the field events. She finished first in the pole vault and second at the javelin with a 99-foot toss.

Sophomore Mesa Starkey took control of the distance events with a first place finish in both the 1,600 and 3,200-meter contests. 

Junior Loni Havlovick went gold twice in the shot put and discus.

Overall, the girls took 10 wins in 17 events.

The Pirates also took first, capturing 146 points to beat out the runner-up Charlo Vikings who finished with 114 points on the day.

Senior Ryan Kelley kept the score keepers busy, vaulting his way to first place and picking up points here and there for a team-leading 20.

Just half a point behind him was junior Jason Bowman, who kicked up the usual dust in the sprints to finish first in both the 100 and 200 as well as help lead the way to a first place Pirate finish in the short relay.

Other individual Pirate winners were senior Tucker Morigeau in the 400, junior Colter Bull in the 1,600 and junior Alex Havlovick in the discus.

The Lady Pirates went on to finish fifth at the Archie Roe Invitational in Kalispell on Saturday and the boys finished ninth in the massive meet.

It was a long time coming for Johnson when she finally nailed a 10-foot pole vault for second place, a personal record for the senior vaulter.

Havlovick threw the shot put for a personal record of her own (36-08.5) in addition to finishing second in the discus, and Finley, Pete, Redcrow and Breanne foraged a season best time in the 400-meter relay (4:19). Starkey set a season best time of 12:22 in the 3,200 and the 1,600 relay team also recorded the best time of the season.

Pete took fourth in the 400, and Breanne took third in the 100 hurdles.

Bowman took third in the 200 for the Pirates and junior Trae Fouty pole vaulted 13 feet for a silver medal. 

Although it didn’t place him, junior Bleazard improved his discus toss by 15 feet with a 126-foot toss.

Polson hosts the Nelson/Thompson Athletic Booster Club Invitational at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at Polson High School.