TWO IN A ROW FOR CHARLO
BUTTE — Back-to-back in track. For the Charlo Vikings, that definitely has a nice ring to it.
The Vikings were crowned co-champions with Darby, who are also back-to-back champs after taking the Class B title last year, thanks to a 63-point effort in Butte last weekend.
BUTTE — Back-to-back in track. For the Charlo Vikings, that definitely has a nice ring to it.
The Vikings were crowned co-champions with Darby, who are also back-to-back champs after taking the Class B title last year, thanks to a 63-point effort in Butte last weekend.
“It really reflects the hard work they put in and I hope it helps the program down the road,” said Charlo head coach Bret Thompson. “We had great kids and leaders and this is a first in school history.”
Senior Stephen Delaney might have needed a neck brace when he came back from Butte, as he lugged home six medals in running events.
“That’s a lot of running, with six state medals,” Thompson said. “It doesn’t happen a lot.”
Delaney swept the hurdle events, winning the 110 in 15.11 and the 300 in 40.40, took second in the 400 (50.17) and in both relays (44.88 in the 400, 3:34.98 in the 1,600) and finished third in the 200-meter dash (22.86).
“The kids on the relay really stepped up,” Thompson said.
Webb O’Neill once again came up huge in the pole vault, taking home the gold with his second-consecutive 13-foot mark. Because of the snowy conditions in Butte, the pole vault was moved indoors, but it didn’t matter, as O’Neill had no intentions of anything short of victory.
Tra Ludeman and Kail Pope also scored in individual events for the Vikings, with Ludeman finishing fifth in the 110 hurdles in 16.41 and Pope, who squeezed into state at the divisional tournament, raced to sixth once again in the 300 hurdles in 43.57.
“He got us a really fortunate point,” Thompson said. The Lady Vikings also had a terrific tournament, earning 24 points to finish in fifth place at the 21-team state tournament, despite a slow start to the scoring. After Friday’s events, Charlo’s girls were still looking to get on the board.
“The girls performed really well,” Thompson said. “It was definitely night and day from Friday to Saturday. The girls all stepped up.”
Dawn Blevins reached back in the javelin and launched a 123’1” throw to take third place, and was part of the 1,600 relay team, along with Deondra Brown, Aspen Runkel and Jordan Ludeman to finish second in 4:16.59. It was the second straight week in which the 1,600 team underwent changes. This time around, Rachel Hoyt was injured in her 100-meter race, but the girls stepped up to the plate anyway.
“That was the seventh-fastest state time in the long relay,” Thompson said.
The short relay team also had a great race, taking third in 52.73, while Aspen Runkel sprinted her way to fourth in the 300 hurdles in 48.27 to cap the scoring for the Lady Vikings.
“Both teams had a great season and performed well,” Thompson said. “They put on a great meet at the end of the year.”
With yet another successful campaign in the books, Thompson made it a point to thank his three assistant coaches, Jared Miller, Jim Petersen and Mike Krahn, for their contributions to the athletes and the program.
“The kids depend an awful lot on them,” Thompson said. “Those three put in a lot of extra hours for this team.”
Also at the state meet, Arlee’s Zack Carver got his team on the scoreboard by racing to a sixth-place finish in the 200 meters in 23.82 seconds, just over a second off the pace from the state champion’s time.