Ronan marks personal bests

LIBBY - The Ronan-St. Ignatius girls' track and field team saw a long list of personal best marks Saturday at the Libby Invitational. Nine girls surpassed their old marks in both the running and jumping events.

Regardless of the rainy weather, girls' head coach Crystal Pitts said the team pushed through and overcame the storm, not allowing the wet ground to impact their performances.

Junior Adessa Durglo won the high jump with a leap of 5-0. Sophomore Jenny Larsson jumped the same height but came in second place because of previous missed attempts. Both girls tied the school record, set last year by alumna Kelsey Cable.

Durglo also won the long jump with a jump of 14-10.

"It's exciting to see the hard work pay off," Durglo said. "I know now that I can improve as the season goes on."

Durglo said that she is hoping to break the Mission High School record in the 200-meter race. She placed third in the 200 with a time of 28.14, less than a second behind the school record.

Junior Mackenzie Trudeau placed fifth in the 200 with a personal best time of 29.86. Trudeau, along with Durglo, sophomore Christina Williams and junior LaGlen Mitchell, placed fifth in the 400 relay, beating the old Mission school record, with a time of 54.28. The old record was 54.85.

Pitts said many of the girls who competed in the junior varsity meet did well enough to place at the varsity level.

Sophomore Sierra Mahseelan won the JV 100 hurdles with a personal best time of 19.05. She would have placed sixth in the varsity level, Pitts said. Sophomore Rachel Hardy placed third in the same event with a time of 19.30, her personal best.

In the 300 hurdles, freshman Mariah Cheff placed fourth with a personal best time of 59.27. Sophomore Sarah Lucero placed third in the 200 with a personal best time of 30.72. Sophomore Christina Williams placed fourth in the same event with a time of 31.05, her personal best.

The adverse weather didn't spare the boys' results as it had done the girls'.

During the boys' 100, a strong headwind started and the racers were forced to race right into it, boys' head coach Noelle Decker said.

Regardless of the strong wind, junior Jordan Franklin was able to place third with a time of 13.12. Franklin was able to clinch the high jump event with a leap of 6-0. He also placed second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 42.45.

Sophomore Marcus Hungerford placed third in the 400 and 800 with times of 56.15 and 2:11, respectively.

"Marcus just needs to be patient," Decker said. "He works hard every week in practice and it is only a matter of time till he starts dropping his time."

Top junior varsity finishers on the boys' team were senior Nicolai Jensen and sophomore Danny Romero. Jensen placed first in the 200 with a time of 25.15 and first in the triple jump with a jump of 34-3. Romero placed second in both the 1600 and the 3200 with times of 12:24 and 5:17.

Ronan-St.Ignatius' next meet is at 3:30 p.m. on Friday at Missoula Big Sky before traveling to Whitefish on Saturday.