M-ETTES WIN NORTHERN B!!!

Though it was rainy throughout, a thunderstorm did not stop the Malta M-ettes from winning the North/East B Divisional at Memorial Stadium in Great Falls last Saturday. The M-ettes qualified 13 athletes for the 2016 State B meet in Bozeman this Thursday through Saturday.

The team won the meet with 189.83 points. Glasgow took second with a total of 108.33. Bigfork won the Western B last Friday in Missoula with 110 points. Roundup won the Southern B last Thursday in Laurel with a total of 78.5 points.

After ten events Coach Tad Schye was happy with the team's performance.

"With the lead they have now, more than likely we should be able to finish this out, especially with the shot put and triple jump finishing up," Coach Schye told the PCN. "We're really hoping with Mystic, Riley and TaChante we can get three into the 1600."

Malta was led by Sophia Stiles who won a meet of high five events including triple jump with a length of 35-6, long jump with a leap of 17-2, high jump after clearing 4-10, the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 16.18 seconds and the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 48.66.

Stiles will have the opportunity to pull a hat trick in the triple jump, returning to State as the 2014 and 2015 champion. She will also have a chance to repeat as the 2015 long jump champion.

Stiles wasn't the only M-ette to retain her crown from last season's divisional meet. Kaitlyn Smith retained her javelin crown that she won last year at divisionals.

Smith won in both javelin with a throw of 136-11 and in shot put with a throw of 38-6, a new personal best. Smith described the shot put pit the day of the meet.

"It's a little muddy," Smith said. "It looks kind of like a pool."

Her previous best in shot put was 37-11 ½. She had a strategy going into the throw.

"Be quick and get height on it," she said.

She will work on a few things in shot put this week.

"Being quicker, getting it higher and making sure my feet stay under me," Smith said.

Mystic Striker also won multiple divisional crowns as she took first in the 1600 with a time of 5:50.71 and first in the 3200 with a time of 12:38.32.

Mary Grace Kalal took first in discus with a throw of 88-9. She also took third in javelin with a throw of 100-4.

Marley Manoukian took second in the 300 hurdles while also posting a new best of 48.98. She took second in the triple jump with a leap of 33-5 1/4, third in the long jump with a leap of 15-0 ½, fourth in the 100 hurdles with a new best of 17.69 and sixth in pole vault after clearing 7-0.

Kyleigh Schipman took second in javelin with a throw of 111-3; giving Malta the top three spots in the event.

Jada Nicholson took second in high jump after clearing 4-8. Hailey Nicholson took fifth in the event after clearing 4-6.

Ella Schye took second in discus after posting a throw of 83-11.

"Everybody that we've had here has competed well," Coach Schye said. "There haven't been any surprises because that was our goal. We have that expectation that we're going to compete well."

Riley Mortenson took third in the 800 with a time of 2:33.20 and fourth in the 1600 with a time of 6:02.91.

"It was very rewarding," Mortenson said of placing in two individual events. "At the same time painful because I've been having problems with my hips and stuff but I just broke through it and got after it."

Mortenson had a plan going into the week to help her deal with her injury.

"I will still work hard at practice but not push myself to the point where I hurt extremely bad," she said. "Ice and Advil."

She then talked about the 800.

"The 800 was really fast but at the same time it was really fun," Mortenson said. "During the mile, since the track was wet from the raining, you would continually get sprayed from the people in front of you from their shoes. It wasn't too bad but it wasn't comfortable and warm."

Adrianna Bibeau took fourth in shot put with a throw of 30-04 which was a new best. She also took fourth in discus with a throw of 81-3.

TaChante Cole took fifth in the 1600 with a time of 6:03.48.

The long relay team consisting of Smith, Kalal, Mortenson and H. Nicholson took forth with a time of 4:30.92. The short relay team consisting of Smith, Kalal, Janessa Malmend and J. Nicholson took sixth with a time of 55.73.

Malmend and Mariah Green just missed placing in the triple jump with Malmend taking seventh with a length of 29-8 ¾ and Green taking eighth with a length of 28-5 ¾.