Decade of dominance for Charlo track

POLSON — If the question is, “What didn’t Charlo athletes do at the District 14-C Track and Field Championship on Thursday, May 10?” you’d be pretty hard-pressed to come up with a suitable response.

The Vikings and Lady Vikings took home first place overall by dominating margins as they prepare for this weekend’s divisional meet in Corvallis. Oh, and the teams each won their 10th-consecutive district titles.

POLSON — If the question is, “What didn’t Charlo athletes do at the District 14-C Track and Field Championship on Thursday, May 10?” you’d be pretty hard-pressed to come up with a suitable response.

The Vikings and Lady Vikings took home first place overall by dominating margins as they prepare for this weekend’s divisional meet in Corvallis. Oh, and the teams each won their 10th-consecutive district titles.

The boys’ 196-point outburst was 71 points better than second-place Hot Springs as Charlo cruised to victory. Senior Stephen Delaney won five events, including the 200 and 400 sprints (22.55, 52.45), the 110 and 300 hurdles (15.27, 40.36) and teamed with Jacen Petersen, Tra Ludeman and Tyler Delaney to take down the 400 relay in 45.50 seconds. His 200 time set a new school record.

“That’s the last race of the day as well,” Charlo head coach Bret Thompson said.

Ludeman finished just behind Stephen Delaney in the 110 hurdles (15.85) and he and Webb O’Neill joined Stephen Delaney as individual winners, as Ludeman’s 19’8” long jump was good for victory, while O’Neill continued his pole vault success with a 13’ jump and defeated the field in the triple jump by 17 inches thanks to his 39’11” mark. O’Neill also teamed with Tyler Delaney, Kail Pope and Connor Daugherty to win the 1,600 relay in 3:52.20 and had a high jump of 5’6” to finish second.

“We’ve got kids on that relay who I think will step up,” Thompson said. “Aside from Webb, there are three sophomores who can get us to state if they improve.”

Eleven different Vikings helped the team score in Hot Springs, including Pope, who finished third in the 300 hurdles (44.67) and triple jump (38’2.25”) and fifth in the 110 hurdles (18.08) and Petersen, who nabbed second to O’Neill in the pole vault (11’6”) and third in the javelin at 139 feet.

Daugherty took second in the 800 at 2:18.28, less than a second behind Arlee’s Donovan McDonald, while taking sixth in the 400 (56.00) and Trinceton Brown notched two fourth place finishes in the 1,600 (5:16.49) and 3,200 (11:37.87). Tristan Santee also took home two top-six finishes, thanks to his fourth-place performance in the 800 (2:20.54) and fifth-place 1,600 run of 5:20.09.

Third-place finishers for the Vikings included Dalton Delaney in the 3,200 (11:34.65) and Cade Thompson in the 1,600 (5:16.25).

Charlo had three fifth-place finishers, including Tyler Delaney in the 400 (54.66), Kyle Couture in the 800 (2:29.49) and Devin Soukkala in the discus (108’6.5”). Jesse Long rounded out the scoring for the Vikings with a sixth-place 300 hurdles time of 47.17.

The Lady Vikings were equally as impressive, more than doubling second-place Superior’s 103.5 point total with a 226.5-point effort to breeze to victory.

Eight girls placing in at least three events aided Charlo. Rachel Hoyt pulled off the hat trick, with individual wins in the 100 and 300 hurdles (16.96, 50.51) and the high jump (5’), while Aspen Runkel won the 400 (1:05.98) and contributed to both relay teams’ wins.

“Rachel’s three wins were all season bests and the high jump was a new PR for her,” Thompson said. The 400 relay, featuring Runkel, Sienna Brown, Deondra Brown and Michaela Krahn, won in 54.01 and the 1,600, with Runkel, Dawn Blevins, Mackenzie Foust and Jordan Ludeman, raced to a 4:27.57 finish. Runkel also took second to Hoyt in the 300 hurdles (51.13) and third in the 100 hurdles (17.27).

In addition to her relay win, Blevins took first in the 800 (2:40.73) and continued to dominate the javelin, winning Thursday with a 120’3” throw while taking third in the 1,600 (6:08.95).

Ludeman backed her relay win with a second-place finish in the pole vault (7’) and fourth-place efforts in both hurdle races (17.87, 53.34). Deondra Brown earned first in the 200 (27.84) and fourth in the 100 (13.58) while her sister Sienna took third in both the long jump (14’5”) and 200 (28.68), fifth in the pole vault (6’) and sixth in the 100 (13.85).

The Fousts also did work for the Lady Vikings, with Mackenzie taking third in the 3,200 (13:57.92), fifth in the 1,600 (6:31.69) and sixth in the javelin (86’3”) while Madison earned third in the 400 (1:07.94) and fourth in the triple jump (28’5”).

Krahn took second in the 100 (13.51) and 200 (28.47) and fourth in the discus (90’8.5”), Haley Berkram finished fourth in the pole vault (6’6”), fifth in the 300 hurdles (54.44) and sixth in the 100 hurdles (18.85) and Brittany Evalo nabbed fourth in both the distance races (6:24.37 in the 1,600 and 14:11.78 in the 3,200).

“We had several multi-event winners,” Thompson said. “The kids getting first and second will need to step up and that’s the idea of team track – to have kids perform better and get to state.”

Other scorers for the Lady Vikings included Derika Stipe’s second-place pole vault (7’), Lisa Cox’s sixth-place 400 time (1:12.71) and Lindsey Tryon’s sixth-place shot put (28’5”).

One thing Thompson liked seeing was the large number of contributors to the teams’ success.

“The idea is that we’re improving,” Thompson said. “I think for districts, the kids did a good job. With the two-day divisional coming up, we’re hoping we see huge improvements.”

Charlo heads to Corvallis this weekend for the divisional tournament, in the hopes of advancing to state next weekend in Butte.

“Our goal at the beginning of the year is to get on the podium for trophies,” Thompson said. “That’s the team part of it. All the kids are looking for PRs and to get their times moving in the right direction. We use the team as a way to build toward that.

“We’re also looking to get kids from divisionals to state,” Thompson added.