Ludeman, Blevins and relay place at Top Ten

by Dylan Kitzan & Leader Reporter
| May 3, 2012 12:00 PM

MISSOULA — Among some of the top athletes in Western Montana, Charlo athletes experienced a degree of success at the Top Ten Invitational on Tuesday, April 24 in Missoula.

Tra Ludeman, known for his prowess jumping hurdles, busted out one of his longest leaps of the year, a 19’2.5” long jump to finish in fifth place and also recorded a sixth-place finish in the 110 hurdles in 15.9 seconds.

“He’s only jumped a couple times this year,” said head coach Bret Thompson.

Dawn Blevins continued her run of success with a fifth-place javelin toss of 119 feet. While it doesn’t rank among Blevins’ longest of the season, Thompson was OK with that.

“I think she was a little disappointed, but personally, I’d rather have her wait until May at the state tournament for a big throw,” Thompson said.

The girls relay team also posted one of its fastest times of the season in the 1,600 relay, crossing the line in 4:20.54, just under 13 seconds off first-place pace and they did it without one of their top runners Madison Foust, who was out sick.

“That’s a great time for this time of the year,” Thompson said.

Rain washed out some of the Arlee Invitational on Thursday, April 26, but Charlo athletes did get to participate in some events. Thompson estimated that roughly half the jumping events, half the throwing events and two-thirds of the running events took place before another storm wiped out the rest of the day.

“We got a good practice meet in,” Thompson said.

The Vikings visited Polson for the Lake County meet on Tuesday and will head to Missoula on Thursday as they prepare for the district tournament on May 10.

“We need to start getting people into the events they’ll compete in come district time,” Thompson said. “We’ll use this week to find out where we’re at.”