Mustangs at State Meet

The Malta Mustangs fielded a pair of athletes for the 2017 Class B meet but the duo was able to fight through injuries to post marks in the final meet of the year.

Fairfield won the meet with 60.11 points. Baker took second with 42 and Broadwater took third with 37. Forsyth was fourth with 35 and Glasgow and Huntley Project tied for fifth with 34.

Senior Jace Bishop placed fourteenth in javelin with a throw of 155-0. It was his fourth year at state.

Having qualified in the event earlier in the season, Bishop did not throw in the district or divisional tournaments due to an elbow injury.

“He hadn’t thrown since he was at the triangular in Havre, so we were going to see where he was at and his first throw looked like it was taking off real well and then you could see him grimace in pain and it took him to his knees,” Malta Head Coach Tad Schye said.

Clearly hurt Bishop wasn’t able to compete at his normal level.

“He wasn’t able to throw but he is definitely a 175 to 180 foot thrower on any given day,” Coach Schye said. “With everything that Jace had put into this season, I feel bad for him that his favorite event ended that way.”

Bishop wasn’t able to clear the opening height of 5-10 at state but he was close.

“He probably would’ve placed had he gotten up there,” Coach Schye said.

Sophomore Andres Lopez posted a throw of 41-3 ½ in shot put, placing seventeenth in the event despite a leg injury.

“His knee has been bothering him and that affected him a little bit,” Coach Schye said. “But last week he was over 42 feet and this week he was over 41 and he has been over 40 feet for four of five weeks in a row, which is a good thing to have going on with a sophomore, so we were really pleased with that.”