Charlo runs wild in Corvallis
CORVALLIS — Charlo Vikings and Lady Vikings brought home several individual first-place finishes and each team nearly did the same at Saturday’s 13-team Gene Hughes Invitational in Corvallis.
The boys and girls teams finished second, as five Charlo athletes won their respective events, not including the Vikings 400-meter relay team, which also emerged victorious.
CORVALLIS — Charlo Vikings and Lady Vikings brought home several individual first-place finishes and each team nearly did the same at Saturday’s 13-team Gene Hughes Invitational in Corvallis.
The boys and girls teams finished second, as five Charlo athletes won their respective events, not including the Vikings 400-meter relay team, which also emerged victorious.
“I was really happy for that being our first meet,” head coach Bret Thompson said. “As far as losing seniors, we had questions, not knowing who we would move around. The kids stepped in and did a good job for us.”
Senior Stephen Delaney outran the field in the 110 and 300 hurdles, recording times of 15.09 and 40.24 respectively, while recording a 5’6” high jump, just four inches shy of first place. Webb O’Neill also notched victory in the pole vault with a height of 12’6” and finished just shy of first in the high jump, matching Delaney’s leap, and the triple jump, where his 42’4.5” mark was just over half a foot from first.
Tra Ludeman earned top two finishes in the 110 hurdles (15.72) and long jump (20’8.5”) and a fifth-place time in the 100-meter dash (11.95). Other top individual boys performances included Jacen Petersen, who ended third in the pole vault at 11 feet, Kail Pope, a 44.76 finisher in the 300 hurdles and Tyler Delaney, who ran a 54.9 400 meter dash for fourth place.
The Vikings nearly swept the relays after replacing last year’s pair of seniors, winning the 400 in 45.46 with the Delaneys, Petersen and Ludeman and finishing second in the 1,600 thanks to the Delaneys, Petersen and Pope, with a 3:41, just four-and-a-half seconds off the pace. The Lady Vikings did work as well with a slew of top-six finishes. Madison Foust took down the 400-meter race in 1:07.59 and earned sixth in the 3,200 at 14:44.20.
“Madison winning the 400 was a real bonus for us,” Thompson said.
Dawn Blevins won the javelin, launching a 120’8” throw and finished fifth in the 1,600, running a mile in 6:06.80.
“Dawn had the biggest win with her 120- foot javelin throw,” Thompson said. “Her furthest was 114 last year.”
Blevins was just one of seven Lady Vikings basketball players to bring their talent to the track and field venue. Rachel Hoyt nabbed second-place finishes in the 300 hurdles (52.28) and high jump (4’10”) and fourth in the 100 hurdles (18.08), Jordan Ludeman earned second in the pole vault (8’), third in the 300 hurdles (52.83) and fifth in the 100 hurdles (18.13).
“Rachel probably had our biggest day,” Thompson said.
Aspen Runkel took second in the 100 hurdles (17.23) and fifth in the 300 hurdles (55.61), Deondra Brown raced to fourth in the 200-meter dash (28.5) and sister Sienna locked up sixth in the 100 (13.86). With six top-five finishes in the two hurdle events, Thompson was very happy with how that helped the Lady Vikings.
“Aspen, Rachel and Jordan placed and we got some good points with those events,” Thompson said.
Derika Stipe earned fifth place in the pole vault and the Lady Vikings’ relays brought home a second-place time in the 400 relay (53.07) and third in the 1,600 relay (4:30.9). Overall, Thompson has been very happy with what he’s seen from his teams early in the year.
“Our older and younger kids have really been pushing each other in a positive way,” Thompson said.
Charlo will have a week off until a return to Corvallis in their next meet on Thursday, April 12, followed by the Missoula County meet on Saturday, the 14th.