Schye, Manoukian lead M-ettes to fourth place finish

It was a cold and windy start for the Malta M-ettes and Mustangs who were able to participate in the Glasgow Invitational last Saturday.

A few team members were missing due to not having the minimum amount of practices, including freshman Sophia Stiles, Jada Nicholson and Sarah Ware.

M-ettes

The Malta M-ettes scored 64 points on their way to fourth place. Glasgow won the day sweeping both boys and girls team scores. The Lady Scotties scored 147 points, followed by Plentywood and Chinook who scored 96 and 94 respectively.

Sophomore Marley Manoukian and Junior Darby Schye started off on good feet, both earning first place finishes in their top events.

Schye won shot put, looking solid, even in warm ups. She had a throw of 34’10” almost having a two foot gap between her and Glasgow’s Dana Hughes, who finished second. Even though she has won the meet, Schye was mildly disappointed and knows she can throw further.

“I’m kind of disappointed with how I did because it wasn’t as far as I wanted it to be,” Schye said. “Lately at practices I’ve been throwing 37’s, so today was kind of disappointing.”

Schye admitted that nerves were part of her throwing three feet less than her target, but she also said she needs to work a little harder in practice.

She threw the weighted ball right after her 200 meter dash, which she showed versatility placing third with a time of 29.53 and fifth in the 100 meter dash, with a time of 13.81.

“It really helps running the 200 before, because I felt more warmed up, way more warmed up,” she said.

Manoukian, who performed at state in the 300 meter hurdles last year was feeling pretty confident before the event, saying that she felt pretty good and was warmed up. Manoukian posted a time of 53.25, which was nearly two seconds faster than her closest opponent Taylor Neibauer, of Chinook, who posted a 54.97.

“It feels good to win, but there is always room for improvement,” Manoukian said after the event.

Sophomore Mary Grace Kalal finished third behind Neibauer in the 300 hurdles with a time of 56.03. Freshman Rheanna Messerly finished fourth in the event with a time of 59.97.

Before the long jump Manoukian had no idea how she would fare.

“I haven’t long jumped ever, so I’m not sure (how far I will jump),” she told the PCN.

Manoukian finished fifth in the girls long jump after she leapt 13’10” and sixth in the 100 meter hurdles posting a 19.5 time.

The M-ettes placed third in the 4 X 400 relay with a time of 5:23.15. The team consisted of Messerly, Jenise Amestoy, Riley Mortenson and Adrianna Bibeau.

The short relay (4 x 100) team placed fourth with a time of 57.16. That team consisted of Manoukian, Schye, Messerly and Kalal.

Kalal finished fourth in the javelin throw with a distance of 86’3”. Teammate Adrianna Bibeau was right behind, posting a distance of 83’11”, which was good enough for fifth.

Sophomore Riley Mortenson finished fourth in the 3200 meter run, posting a time of 14:28.5. She also placed fifth in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:57.47.

Mustangs

The Malta Mustangs placed seventh as a team at the meet scoring 27.50, which is really good considering the youth of the team. The winner was Glasgow who scored 140 points, nearly double the amount of their closest competition Garfield County who scored 74.50.

The relay teams fared well for Malta. The 4X400 meter relay team consisting of Ostin Welsh, Kyle Mitchell, Caleb Green and Tyson Carney placed second in the event posting a time of 4:09.04. The 4X100 meter team, including Welsh, Mitchell, Green and Jalen Lamb placed third with a time of 48:57.

Nathan Veit had a pretty good outing for the Malta Mustangs team, leading the young team in individual events and picking up the team’s only top three finish. Veit placed third in the javelin throw with his longest being 144’1”. He also placed sixth in discus, belting out a 108’1” effort.

Tyson Carney, a sophomore fared well at the meet, placing in two events the long jump and javelin throw. He placed fourth in the long jump with a 35’9” effort and fifth in the javelin with a toss of 138’4”.

Freshman Ostin Welsh placed in the long jump with a jump of 17’4”.

For his first meet of his career Kody told the PCN he was “pretty excited.” Holding a javelin in his hand he indicated that he would be participating in all throwing events. For his very first event, shot put, Cody thought he did well throwing a 32, but like many other athletes noticed something he could improve.

“I did alright for the first try, but I need to improve my strength,” he said.

The top throw in the event was nearly 50 feet by Chinook’s Zach Molyneaux.

Though Malta is young, they will improve with experience.

Norstar is hosting a meet today in Havre. The next action Malta will see will be back in Havre Saturday by the Havre Lions Club.

Malta may be missing a few athletes, due to the district music meet in Poplar this weekend