Lady Vikings take silver

MISSOULA — The Charlo Lady Vikings left it all on the track this past weekend at the Western C divisional and they went home with team silver to show for it.

The only Charlo girl to snag an individual gold was Schaelyn Fell. Fell ran the 100-meter hurdles in 17.08 for first place in addition to placing sixth in the 300 hurdles and sixth in the 100. She was also on the short relay team, which took fourth.

Last year, Fell just missed a chance at state in the 100 hurdles.

“To come back and be a divisional champ says a lot for her,” Charlo head coach Bret Thompson said.

Fell didn’t compete at her best the year before due to a groin injury, she said.

“It just felt really good. I worked really hard to work my way back. It felt really good to finally get what I wanted all along,” she said. “It was awesome.”

She said she hoped to do very well, since her best time of 16.6 puts her in the top two going into state.

“But we’ll see how it really happens once I’m competing against those girls,” she said.

Overall, she’s excited to compete at her individual event and with her team in the short relay.

“It’s exciting to go in and be a part of it,” she said.

This year the team had only nine girls compete in divisionals, down from about 14 the year before, so a silver medal was a serious accomplishment, Fell said.

“Having that low number of girls and placing that high … it’s a good feeling to know we all worked that hard,” she said.

Fell wasn’t the only girl to place in a few events.

Jaris Kelley led the way by placing in five skills.

“She’s very determined,” Thompson said of Kelley. “When you put her in front of things she works hard at it.”

She will compete at state in the pole vault, 300 hurdles, 100 hurdles and in both relays.

Just a freshman, Deondra Brown placed in four of five events and senior Brittany Shaver placed in all three she attempted.

The 1,600 relay team of Brown, freshman Dawn Blevins, Shaver and Kelley took home a gold medal. Three of the four had personal best times on their legs and the final time of 4:22.62, just a couple tenths of a second ahead of Lima, was a team best as well.

“That was kind of the icing on the cake at the end of the meet,” Thompson said.

Seven of the nine girls who competed at divisionals will be headed to state.

The Charlo boys also competed well, finishing in fourth place.

The Vikings earned a good slice of the point pie in the pole vault, where Chance Firestone hit a personal best 13-foot jump to drastically beat out all of the runners up. Jame Petersen finished third and Chance Rosenbaum took sixth.

Rosenbaum also placed in three other events.

Michael Smith surprised even his coach with a personal best 11 seconds-flat in the 3,200 for a silver medal.

Plenty of other Vikings will be headed to state to try their hands at Class C’s best.

Competition begins at 9 a.m. on Friday and Saturday at Bulldog Stadium in Butte.