Plains girls, boys track teams thrive at districts

Plains boys and girls track and field coach Denise Montgomery said she tries to minimize the amount of pressure she and her athletes deal with in the postseason races.

For Montgomery and her relatively inexperienced team this season, she really tried to minimize that they were participating in Class-C Districts Thursday afternoon at Polson High School.

“There is a psychological component at the end of the year,” Montgomery said. “You have to minimize the fact that we are going to Divisional and focus on the fact that we can do the best we can as individuals and hope things just work out for themselves. We focus on making sure they take care of themselves because I won’t be there for the last day of school. I just kind of line things out for them and not give them too much info ahead of time so that they are not overwhelmed. My coaching staff and I just try to take care of the small details for them.”

The Horsemen, Trotters’ track team qualified virtually their entire team for state with their performances at Districts but Montgomery said she hopes for continued improvement as more individuals make a push to qualify for state at Divisionals Thursday and Friday at Big Sky High School.

“In track, it’s all about timing and you want your very best meet to be your last, and hopefully that is your state meet,” Montgomery said. “Sometimes during the postseason, you have to find something else to focus on. You have to focus on improving in every meet, whether you place or not, in order to build that continuity and then get the speed that we are after.”

In the District meet, the Horsemen’s top-caliber and most experienced competitor, Sinjin LeDeaux was hampered by sickness and ankle injury in the competition.

LeDeaux participated in five events at district: 400 meters, high jump, long jump, triple jump and 4X100 relay.

“Sinjin jumped well coming off a week of being sick and injured with his ankle,” Montgomery said. “He ended up being sick and came to practice Thursday and Friday. His lungs were not able to give him what he needed in the 400 to do as well he would have liked.”

LeDeaux finished with one PR in the meet and PRed to finish second in the long jump leaping to a distance of 19 feet, 11.5 inches. LeDeaux, along with teammates Luke Lile, Malachi Paulsen, and Nathan McNulty, finished second in the 4X100 relay with a time of 49.01 seconds.

LeDeaux finished 7th in the 400 with a time of 58.86 seconds, 5th in the high jump recording a 5 feet, 4 inch leap, and fourth in the triple jump levitating to 38 feet, 5 inches.

Sophomore Rusty Stuart was another Horsemen competitor that Montgomery said “had a good meet” and is starting to “peak” at the end of the season.

Stuart participated in three events including shot put, discus, and javelin. In javelin, Stuart PRed and finished fourth with a throw of 126 feet, 7 inches. He placed fifth in shot put with a throw of 36 feet, 11.5 inches, and sixth in discus throwing 97 feet, 11 inches.

“He is doing really well considering he has never gone out for track before and he is starting to get kind of hooked to the sport,” Montgomery said. “He is having fun and is really doing a great job. This has just been a really positive experience for him.”

Trotters finish third, Thompson qualifies for state in javelin

The Plains Trotters’ team finished third overall as a team and thrower Jessica Thompson qualified for state in the javelin.

Thompson finished first in shot put, discus, and javelin at the Class-C District meet Thursday at Polson High School.

Thompson recorded a throw in shot put of 35 feet, 4 inches, recorded a cumulative distance of 119 feet, 0 inches in discus, and threw 123 feet, 9 inches in the javelin. Thompson ended up throwing ten feet further in the javelin portion of the competition than in her previous competition at the Kim H. Haines Memorial track meet on May 6 at Frenchtown High School.

Thompson’s teammate, Kara Altmiller, finished well in the shot put, discus, and javelin. Kara Altmiller placed second in discus, recording throws that accounted for 97 feet, 10 inches.

Kara Altmiller also finished fourth in shot put throwing 29 feet, 6 inches and sixth in javelin with a throw of 100 feet, 4 inches.

Hailey Coe finished third in shot put throwing 29 feet, 11 inches, third in discus with recording a total of 90 feet, four inches and seven in javelin with throws totaling 87 feet, 1 inches.

Rachel Heunink, who struggled with injuries all season, competed in Districts. In spite of being injured, Montgomery said Heunink did “well” in the meet. Heunink finished sixth in discus throwing 80 feet, 9 inches and 10th in javelin with a throw of 77 feet, 8 inches, a personal record.

“Heunink was injured all season and it was good to see her do well at the end of the season,” Montgomery said. “Her injury healed up nicely and she sure got healthy.”

The other performer that stood out in District was freshman Kylie Altmiller. Altmiller competed in a total of four events. In the javelin she placed 9th with a throw of 84 feet, 9 inches. In the high jump, she recorded a throw of 4 feet, 4 inches to a fourth place finish.She finished third in the long jump leaping to 14 feet, 10.5 inches and 8th in triple jump with a leap of 28 feet, 10 inches.

“She really jumped well and she is becoming more consistent which is great to see,” Montgomery said. “How she did in Districts was a nice confidence booster and good for her that way. She is still a growing freshman and is all legs and is still trying to fit into her body.”

As Plains prepares to head into Divisional May 19-20 at Big Sky High School, Montgomery is hoping she gets more of her athletes state qualifying times.

“Because of our recent success, we’ve had so much pressure,” Montgomery said. “We’ve been blessed with so much talent and a lot of our kids this year are new. Because of that, us coaches have to have a whole new look on that and we need to remember that we are dealing with people who haven’t been through this experience. We try to minimize the fact that we are going to a bigger event.”

Plains also hopes to sustain its recent track tradition, according to Montgomery.

“We hope to take a whole bus load of kids to Laurel,” Montgomery said. “We don’t just want a small van load.”