Saco girls second in 3C meet

The Dodson, Saco, and Whitewater track teams participated in the 2022 District 3C meet in Glasgow last Saturday, May 14.

Each school will have athletes in the Eastern C Divisional that is set to take place on Wednesday, May 18, in Glasgow.

In the girls' meet, Saco was second with 115 points, Whitewater was third with 107 points, and Dodson was sixth with 11 points. Scobey won the meet with 211 points.

The Saco boys team was fourth with 30 points, only three points away from a third-place trophy. Dodson was sixth with 21, and Whitewater was eighth with 8. Scobey also won the boys' meet with 257.

Athletes that finished in the top eight of their events at districts, punched a ticket to the Eastern Divisional this Wednesday. To qualify for the state meet, athletes must place in the top five.

The State C meet is scheduled to take place in Great Falls starting on Thursday, May 26, and ending on Saturday, May 28.

SACO

Every Saco student (seven girls and two boys) that participated in the District tournament will see action in the divisional meet in at least two events.

"It was just an awesome experience to see the kids compete like they did," Saco Head Coach Barry Malone said. "It was a complete team effort from all kids."

Saco has already prequalified three athletes for the State C meet including Jaycee Erickson, Teagan Erickson, and Blaine Downing.

In the 3C District meet, the Panther boys were led by Downing, a freshman, who won the 400 with a time of 1:00.32. Downing was also third in pole vault with a personal best of 12-6, third in javelin with a PR of 115-01, and fifth in triple jump with a mark left at 35-08.

Sophomore Marshall Caves was fourth in the 400 with a time of 1:07.19, and fifth in pole vault by clearing 9-6.

The Lady Panthers were led in scoring by sophomore Teagan Erickson who won all three jumping events. Erickson won high jump by clearing 5-4, long jump with a leap of 16-7, and triple jump by hitting a mark of 34-3.

Senior Jaycee Erickson won javelin with a throw of 112-0 and pole vault after clearing 8-6. She also took third in the 800 with a time of 2:42.32.

Sophomore Josie Brown won the 100 and 200-meter dash races with a personal best of 13.32 in the 100 and a time of 28.16 in the 200. Brown was also third in the 400 with a time of 1:07.50.

The short and long relay teams both qualified for the Eastern C. The short relay consisting of Brown, eighth-grader Ireland Mears, J. Erickson, and T. Erickson won first place with a time of 59.20 seconds.

"It's going pretty good," Brown said. "Our handoffs are kind of iffy and we were an inch away from disqualifying ourselves. I think we scared our coach, but I think that we got it together after these past couple of weeks of working hard. It's finally starting to pay off."

The long relay consisting of Brown, Mears, Jessa Erickson, and Abby Yeska took third place with a time of 5:30.01.

"Improving our times, our handoffs, and getting faster is a good feeling," Mears said. "As an eighth-grader, having a chance to make it to state is a good feeling."

Freshman Jessa Erickson qualified in three events. She was fourth in discus with a throw of 86-3, sixth in shot put with a throw of 28-4, and eighth in javelin with a personal best of 28-4.

Sophomore Abby Yeska placed fifth in shot put with a throw of 28-5.25 and fifth in discus with a throw of 84-4.

WHITEWATER

The Whitewater Penguins and Lady Penguin athletes qualified in all but three of the events that they participated in. Kendra Cummings was not able to compete due to an injury.

"We did a good job of staying focused in such a long meet," Coach Wasson said. "Went into our events with the mindset to advance and we did that."

For the boys, Korbyn Skubinna took fifth in the 400 with a personal best of 1:10.68, sixth in the 800 with a time of 2:55.44, and sixth in pole vault with a personal best of 6-6.

Hunter Ellis was seventh in discus with a personal best of 83-10.

The Lady Penguins were led by freshman Shelbi LaBrie who won the 1600 with a personal best of 5:26.53.

Sophomore Paige Wasson was second in the triple jump with a length of 30-4, second in the 400 with a time of 1:07.07, and third in javelin with a throw of 108-2.

Sophomore Kendall Scheffelmear was second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 52.53, second in high jump after clearing 4-6, and third in triple jump after leaving a mark at 30-2.5.

Samantha Wisher was second in the 3200 with a time of 12:46.61 and third in the 1600 with a time of 5:55.01.

"It's pretty good, I would say," Wisher said. "It's just 2 seconds off of my PR (personal record), so hopefully I will get that in my next race."

Wisher said that the key to her run was not rushing the start, being patient with the corners, and using the wind to her advantage.

Senior Hannah Hanley was third in the 100 with a season record time of 14.63, third in the 100 hurdles with a time of 19.39, third in the 300 hurdles with a time of 58.46, and sixth in the 200 with a time of 32.47.

Kora LaBrie was fourth in pole vault after clearing a personal best of 6-0 and fifth in javelin after posting a new personal best of 96-10.

The Lady Penguins relay teams both made it to divisionals. The long relay consisting of K. LaBrie, Scheffelmear, S. LaBrie, and Paige Wasson was second with a time of 4:29.23. The short relay was third. That team had S. LaBrie, Wasson, K. LaBrie and Scheffelmear and posted a time of 56-10.

DODSON

Dodson qualified three Lady Coyotes and two Coyotes for the Eastern C Divisional meet.

"They all did great!" Coach Tianna Bloomer said. "They set new personal bests in almost every event. It's always bittersweet because right when they finally get it and are confident and don't need as much "coaching" the season ends. Five of my six made it to divisionals! I am very proud of them for giving it their all."

Dodson sophomore Sebastian Best led Dodson, qualifying for the Eastern C in four of his five events. Best took third in the 400-meter run with a personal best of 1:04.01. He also took third in the 800 with a new best of 2:34.89, third in triple jump with a best of 36-1.75, and was seventh in long jump with a mark left at 16-3.

Junior Conan CutsTheRope was fifth in the 1600 with a personal best of 5:41.82, sixth in the 100-meter dash with a personal best of 12.79, seventh in the 200 with a time of 27.66, and seventh in triple jump with a length of 33-4.

The Lady Coyotes were led by Sophomore Imagin Fox who took fourth place in long jump with a season's best of 12-5. Fox was also fifth in the 100 hurdles with a time of 21.93, fifth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 1:01.02, and fifth in triple jump with a season's best of 26-10.5.

Kim IronBear was sixth in the 100 hurdles with a personal best of 22.18.

Sophomore Akiyah James took seventh in the 100 with a time of 15.81 seconds.