P.C. teams at Top Ten Meet

With the track season winding down, the North-East Top Ten Meet gave local coaches a good glimpse of how their top performers fared against other top athletes.

The meet was held despite cold and rainy conditions at Glasgow High School on Tuesday, May 2.

In the girls’ action, Malta’s Sophia Stiles was able to take first place in the long jump, leaving a mark at 17-0. Stiles also placed second in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.93.

“We’re getting everything going again,” Malta Head Coach Tad Schye said. “She always competes and she’s always coachable. She works hard in practice, is very coachable and listens.”

Stiles has already met the State Qualifying standards for Class B in High Jump, Long Jump, Triple Jump and the 100 hurdles. Freshman Jillian O’Brien has qualified for high jump by clearing 4-10.

Saco’s Bailey Funk took first place in the triple jump with a personal best of 32-6 ½. Funk also placed third in the pole vault clearing 9-0, a new personal best. Funk met Class C State Qualifying Standards by clearing 8-6 earlier this season.

“It just kind of baffles me because every time she gets a new personal best, it’s in inclement weather,” Saco Head Coach Barry Malone said. “It was kind of rainy, windy and she just gets after it in the strangest of weather event. She had a very successful day.”

Coach Malone has been impressed with Funk, who has worked admirably to improve, though he still wants to push the junior.

“I’ve seen her working a lot harder this year,” Coach Malone said. “I would still like to see her do a little more running events but we are going to do the 100 at districts. Then we will see what we want her to focus on at divisionals.”

Trace Simonson of the Whitewater Penguins took second place in discus with a throw of 145-3. Simonson also took fourth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 44.24.

“Trace has been having a solid year,” Whitewater Head Coach Charlene Wasson said. “He’s been staying with his average in all of his throwing events but he has thrown the discus extremely well.”

Simonson has qualified for state in discus earlier this season.

Malta’s Jace Bishop took fifth in high jump with a personal best of 5-10. He was unable to throw javelin at the meet due to the team’s early departure from the event.

“He’s really matured and we are getting more responsibility out of him,” Coach Schye said. “He’s always been someone who works hard and competes even harder.”

Coach Schye is concerned about an elbow injury that Bishop picked up last weekend in Havre.

“We’re just waiting to see,” Coach Schye said. “He’s got other events other than javelin but he’s qualified for state fortunately. He doesn’t necessarily have to throw provided whatever the extent of his injury is.”

Malta’s TaChante Cole was able to take fifth place in the 1600, while posting a new personal best of 5:55.52.

“TaChante’ works very hard,” Coach Schye said. “She does a great job and we’re happy to see her times dropping. She’s getting faster.”

In shot put, Whitewater’s Kayleigh Cummings took fifth with a throw of 33-1.

“She threw a little bit better than her previous meet,” Coach Wasson said. “It was cold but I think she got in all of her throws before the rain actually hit, so that was good.”

Coach Wasson praised Cummings for her work ethic.

“She works extremely hard,” Coach Wasson said. “She doesn’t have a lot of athletic ability to work with but she is one of those kids that puts more time in because she knows she needs to put more time into it. She’s got some goals and she has three weeks left.”

She went on to say that Cummings’ goal was to win the district meet’s shot put event this weekend.

Dodson’s Christina Jaynes took seventh in the event with a throw of 32-2 and Malta’s Shay Garfield took tenth with a throw of 30-0.

Garfield also placed seventh in discus with a throw of 94-1. Carly Garfield, her younger sister, took tenth with a throw of 85-10.

“I’m sure Shay lends some help being the older sister but they have Coach Reintjes and Coach Flatt coaching them,” Coach Schye said. “Carly had a great meet in Havre (The Havre, Malta, North Star Meet). She PR’d in shot put by about a foot and in discus she’s back in the mid nineties. Shay this year has PR’d in Shot Put by two feet over her previous best.”

Saco’s Ty Murphy took fifth in pole vault by tying his personal best of 11-6.

“He was close to getting fourth at 11-6 but it just went down to misses,” Coach Malone said. “He’s still experimenting with different poles because as he has been progressing as a freshman he has already blown through.”

Saco’s Brady Albus took tenth in the 800 with a time of 2:13, a new personal best.

Malta freshman Tanner Smith wasn’t able to compete due to illness but he was scheduled to compete in triple jump.

“With Tanner, we are just working on getting things going,” Coach Schye said. “He is a great competitor who works hard in practice. It’s difficult to compete as a freshman because you are competing with sophomores, juniors and seniors. So I’m really happy to see his competitiveness. I think we’ve got some really good things out of Tanner and we are expecting some great things in the future.”

All local teams will be at their respective District Meets in Wolf Point on Saturday.