Pirates, Lady Pirates improve as they head down-the-stretch

The Polson boys and girls track team showcased their skill winning a total of 14 events Thursday afternoon at the Lake County Meet at Ronan High School.

The Pirates’ track team won six of its 18 events and the Lady Pirates won eight of the 18 events held at the County meet that featured every team from the Mission Valley that also included Ronan, Charlo, Mission, and Arlee.

The Pirates, Lady Pirates will host one regular season meet, the ABC Meet, on May 12, prior to hosting the MHSA Class A Northwestern A Divisional track meet on May 18-19. They are looking to fine-tune their team’s skill set prior to heading into the postseason.

Pirates, Lady Pirate’s co-head coach Melinda Winthrow said she felt her team coming together as a team this season.

“We are very pleased with how our team is doing in general,” Winthrow said. “We seem to keep getting better and better every single day. The best is yet to come.”

Pirates’ runner Trenton Adler emerged to capture two first-place finishes at the Lake County meet winning both the 100-meter and 200-meter dash. In the 100, Adler recorded a time of 11.54 seconds and set a personal record in the 200 with a time of 23.49 seconds.

Pirates’ hurdler Colton Cote continued his statistical dominance as a hurdler. Cote, who recently captured first place in the 110-meter hurdles at prestigious Western Montana meets in Missoula, continued his pace at the Lake County Meet.

Cote captured first in the 110-meter hurdles recording a time of 15.67 seconds and also won the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 41.24 seconds.

The Pirates relay team also captured first place in the 4X100 recording a time of 45.06 seconds and Colby Soderquist set a personal record in the pole vault clearing a first-place distance of 12 feet, 6 inches.

Winthrow expressed her optimism about her team chemistry as they enter the final portion of the season.

“The nice part about both our girls and boys team is that we have a lot of kids and leaders on and off the track,” Winthrow said. “We have some nice vocal leaders that lead by example.”

Lady Pirates excel in Lake County Meet

The Polson Lady Pirates’ team captured eight of the 18 Lake County events.

The Charlo Lady Vikings showcased their speed and dominated in the speed events, but the Lady Pirates, as expected, showcased their talent in the distance events.

Lady Pirates’ Bea Frissell finished first in the 1,600-meter race and won it by nearly 20 seconds with a time of 5 minutes, 33.48 seconds.

Frissell’s nearest competitor in the 1,600-meter race was teammate Molly Sitter. Sitter finished with a time of 5 minutes, 52.1 seconds.

Bea’s teammate and one of the other top Lady Pirate distance runners Naima Crowl also showcased her ability in the distance events recording a time of 12 minutes, 43.39 seconds. Crowl, who continues to improve her ability in endurance events, defeated her teammate Gwen Seeley, by 47 seconds in the 3,200.

Lady Pirate Shayla Olson set a personal record in the 300-meter hurdles. Olson recorded a time of 49.75 seconds and defeated her nearest competitor, Charlo’s Allie Delaney, who finished second, by nearly six seconds in the competition.

Polson’s Kyla Blixt got an opportunity to showcase her throwing skills. Blixt captured first in the shot put and set a personal-record in the discus, both first-places Blixt threw for 30 feet, 4 inches in the shot put and 90 feet, 11 inches in the discus.

Lady Pirates Mikaela Ducharme finished first in the triple jump levitating to a distance of 33 feet, 4.5 inches.

The Pirates, Lady Pirates will be home this Saturday at the ABC at Polson High School and the Northwest A Divisional on May 18-19.

“It’s been exciting to load the kid’s system and reload their system as they head towards Divisionals and State,” coach Larry Smith said. “It’s great seeing that they start to get excited and where they will get to and a lot of these kids have put in the time this track season.”