Lady Pirates blow by field, finish first

COLUMBIA FALLS - The Polson boys' and girls' track and field teams finished strong last Saturday at the Columbia Falls Invitational with the girls winning five events and finishing second in five others and the boys winning four events.

The girls swept the invitational with a total score of 134. Bigfork followed in a distant second with a team score of 71.

"One thing that sometimes gets overlooked is the toughness of some of our girls," head coach Robert Gunderson said. "[Senior] Nicole Davey, [junior] Breanne Kelley and [senior] Christa Redcrow do five events in every meet and usually place in all of them."

Kelley finished second in the 200-meter with a time of 27.4, second in the 100 hurdles with a time of 16.6 and second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 47.4. Redcrow placed second in the long jump with a jump of 15-1, fifth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 51.5 and fifth in the triple jump with a jump of 30-10.

Davey placed first in the pole vault with a jump of 9-0, second in the 400 with a time of 1:02.9 and third in the 300 hurdles with a time of 50.3.

"It is rare to see a female athlete double in the 300 hurdles and the 400 as well as run a leg on the 1600 relay," Gunderson said. "These events are back to back in the schedule and you have to be mentally tough to do it. Nicole Davey does this on a regular basis. Her long range goals are more important than her short term marks. I wish that every track athlete had that attitude."

Senior Natasha Lafferty won theshot put event with a throw of 34-8, her personal best.

"Tasha is a senior and has been working very hard this year. I believe this is the first time ever that she has finished first in the shotput in a meet," Gunderson said.

Gunderson said Lafferty has some good competition on her own teammate Senior Loni Havlovick, who placed second in shot put and first in discus with a throw of 106-1 1/2. Lafferty placed second in discus with 97-6 1/2.

The girls' team won both the 1600m relay in 4:19.0 and the 400m relay with a time of 51.9. Junior Katie Finley placed fifth in the 200m with a time of 28.2. Freshman Anna DiGiallonardo finished right behind her with a time of 28.6. Senior Geri Sylvester placed fourth in the 400 with a time of 1:09.6 and placed sixth in the 800m with a time of 2:52.6.

On the boys' end of the meet, the boys trailed Columbia Falls' score of 124 with a score of 84.5. The boys also placed second in the 800-m race and third in the 400 relay and the 1600 relay.

Senior Jason Bowman won the 100 with 11.2 and the 200 with 23.0.

"Jason ran extremely well, and I believe that he has still not reached his full potential," Gunderson said. "He is capable of running in the 22s in the 200 and 11 flat or better in the 100."

Gunderson also praised Senior Colter Bull, who won the 1600 with 4:44.6 and placed second in the 800 with 2:05.9.

"He posted some very good early season marks in the 800 and 1600," Gunderson said. "He is way ahead of where he was last year at this time."

Other top finishers for the boys' team were sophomore Chris Cote, who placed third in the 400 with a time of 56.1. Senior Miles Bieber, placed fourth in the 3200m with a time of 11:02. Sophomore Alex Nystrom wasn't far behind Bieber, with a fifth-place finish at 11:17. In the 300m hurdles, junior Jason Fant placed sixth with a time of 46.9. Senior Trae Fouty won the pole vault with a jump of 12-6 and senior Brock Bleazard finished sixth with a jump of 10-0. Sophomore Clark Rubel finished fifth in shot put with a throw of 44-3.

The next meet is at 10 a.m. Saturday in Missoula.