Lady Pirate tracksters take division title

POLSON — The Lady Pirate track team won its first divisional title since 2004 when it outscored Whitefish and the rest of Northwest A with 139 points this past weekend in Polson.

One major contributor was junior Christa Redcrow.

Redcrow is headed to state with a gold medal in the long jump, a third place finish in the 300 hurdles and as part of both gold medal relay teams.

She said there is a lot of pressure in the individual events since she is now ranked first in the long jump which she improved in for a personal best this past weekend (16-6.75).

“It’s not really an individual thing though. I’m more looking for the team title. It’s kind of a big deal,” she said.

Last year Polson was the favorite at state with Belgrade right on the Lady Pirates’ heels, Redcrow said. This year Polson needs to catch Belgrade.

Winning the 1,600-meter relay is one of the team’s top goals, she said.

The team is looking to finish a three-year streak of championships in the event.

“There’s not many teams that have done that,” she said. “Everyone is trying to do their part and more.”

The team mentality earned Polson six divisional championships and the Lady Pirates scored points in 15 of 17 events.

“They pulled together and won as a team,” head coach Bob Gunderson said.

Junior Loni Havlovick took an individual gold in the shot put and went silver in the discus. Tara Johnson hit a 10-foot pole vault for the second time this year to take gold and placed fifth in the javelin as well. Sierra Pete was the team’s other gold medalist with a personal best time of 59.1 in the 400. Pete placed third in the 100 and 200 and will represent Polson in both races at state.

Breanne Kelley took silver in the 400 and both the 100 and 300 hurdles.

Mesa Starkey, the squad’s point-getter in the distance races, finished fourth in the 3,200 and fifth in the 1,600.

Jessica Huntley, Nicole Davey, Natasha Lafferty, Phylissa Mathias, Katie Finley and Chelsey Cree will also compete in the state meet this week.

For the Pirate boys, seniors Chris Alfiero and Ryan Kelley were the gold medalists.

“Chris Alfiero probably had the best individual performance of the divisional for the boys winning the 300-meter hurdles in 40.7 seconds,” Gunderson said, adding that the time was a personal best by two seconds.

Ryan took gold in the pole vault, going 13-6. He also placed third in the 110 hurdles.

He is looking for a championship at state in the pole vault, he said.

He said he’ll probably have to hit 14 feet, which he has done in practice but not in a meet.

“It’s coming though, you’ll see,” he said.

Ryan said his team is a ways back going in, but has high hopes.

“If we can all go in there and score points and surprise in some events, we’ll see what happens,” he said.

Jason Bowman placed third in the 100 and fourth in the 200 and Colter Bull earned himself a spot at state with a personal best time of 4:44 in the 1,600 for third place.

Alex Havlovick placed third in the discus and fourth in the shot put. Though Ryan won the vault, brothers Trae and Ty Fouty tied for second to give Polson a big vault presence in the upcoming meet.

Both Pirate relay teams took second.

Tucker Morigeau, Joe Andrews and Brock Picard will be competing in state in relays. Andrews will also compete in the 200.

Polson competes on Friday and Saturday at state in Butte. Competition begins at 9 a.m. on both days.