Saco girls second in Eastern C

The Dodson, Saco, and Whitewater track teams competed in Glasgow last Wednesday, May 18, for the Eastern C Divisional, and the Saco Lady Panthers took second place in the meet for the second year in a row.

"It was a tremendous accomplishment by these young ladies and what grit and mental toughness that they showed us last Thursday," Saco Head Coach Barry Malone said. "Getting second place at the Eastern C Divisional track meet two years in a row is a tremendous feat for us and I will take that any day."

The Lady Panthers scored 88 points, and were only five points behind the Scobey Lady Spartans who won with 93 points. Plentywood was third with 85 points, Savage was fourth with 73 points, Fairview and Circle tied for fifth with 45 points, Whitewater was seventh with 36, Culbertson was eighth with 18, and Nashua and Froid-Medicine Lake tied for ninth with 12 points.

The boys meet was won by Richey-Lambert who had 103 points. Plentywood was second with 98 points, Scobey was third with 93 points, Culbertson was fourth with 65 points, Circle was fifth with 61 points, Fairview was sixth with 22 points, Bainville and Savage tied for seventh with 20 points.

Saco will be sending a total of five athletes to state, while Whitewater will send four athletes.

SACO

The Lady Panthers were led in scoring by sophomore Teagan Erickson who won three events including high jump, long jump, and triple jump. She was also third in javelin.

"I'm definitely excited," Teagan said. "State is so fun because there are people from all over and it is fun to get out and compete."

T. Erickson cleared 5-6 in the high jump event, a new Eastern C Divisional Meet record height. The previous record of 5-5 was set by Lustre Christian's Charity Stowers in 2003. Erickson will try to win the State high jump event for the second year in a row. She won the 2021 title by clearing 5-4.

She will be challenged by Plentywood's Audrey Sampsen who has also reached 5-6 earlier this season at the Whitewater-Saco Invitational. Sampsen took second at the Eastern C by clearing 5-4.

T. Erickson won long jump with a leap of 16-7.75. She won triple jump after leaving a mark at 34-4.

Senior Jaycee Erickson won the javelin and pole vault events. Erickson and her sister Teagan both surpassed the previous "New Javelin" record of 120-10 set by Scobey's Courtney Nelson in 2019. Jaycee won the event with a throw of 122-8, while Teagan took second with a throw of 121-9. Ja. Erickson has had the top javelin throw in Class C, a personal of 128-0 set at the Whitewater Invitational in late April.

"I feel pretty good," Erickson said. "I'm getting up in the 120's again, so it's giving me more confidence for state. I've been throwing down in the 110's, so throwing in the 120-s out there is helping to boost my confidence a lot."

Ja. Erickson also took third in the 800 and posted a time of 2:41.13.

"I haven't been on the Great Falls track before, so I am super excited," Jaycee said. "My pole vault and javelin are at the same, so I will run back and forth but that will just keep me warmed up and I am really excited."

The relay team of sophomore Josie Brown, eighth-grader Ireland Mears, Ja. Erickson and T. Erickson won the Divisional Title with a time of 53.27 seconds.

Brown was asked how it felt to bring a Saco girls relay team to the state meet for the first time in 30 years. Their time also broke the school record of 53.38 seconds set by Dori Bergtoll, Mardy Caves, Robyn Menge, and Debbie Jacobson in 1980.

"It feels pretty great considering we had never done it before," Brown said. "I think the whole team is really excited to go and I hope that we do really great there."

Individually Brown took second place in the 200 with a time of 27.94 and third in the 100 with a time of 13.44 seconds.

Freshman Jessa Erickson took ninth in discus with a throw of 84-11, fourteenth in shot put with a throw of 25-8, and sixteenth in javelin with a throw of 74-10.

Sophomore Abby Yeska was tenth in discus with a throw of 74-10 and thirteenth in shot put with a throw of 26-2.75.

Freshman Blaine Downing led the Panther Boys with a fourth place finish in pole vault by clearing 11-6, a foot shorter than his personal best.

"The wind is really a bugger when it comes to pole vault," Downing said. "I am probably one of the heaviest vaulters here, so it doesn't push me around much."

He felt like prequalifying in the event took some of the pressure off but he knows he has some work to do.

"I need to turn earlier, get a pike and not collapse," Downing said.

Downing was eighth in the 400 with a time of 1:01.84, ninth in triple jump after posting a mark at 36-11.50, and thirteenth in javelin with a throw of 90-9.

Sophomore Marshall Caves was twelfth in pole vault after clearing 8-6.

Whitewater

At the District Meet, freshman Shelbi LaBrie set a new meet and Whitewater High School record of 5:26.53 in the 1600 and at the Eastern C, LaBrie improved on her record a new personal best of 5:24.93.

Heading into state, there are only two runners that have posted faster times than LaBrie. This includes Lindsey Paulson of Belt (PR of 5:08.18) and Sariah Maughan of Seeley Swan (PR of 5:24.86), both seniors.

Samantha Wisher was third in the 3200 with a time of 12:50.82 and fourth in the 1600 with a time of 5:51.66.

Sophomore Paige Wasson was third in javelin with a new personal best of 121-3. She took seventh in the 400 with a time of 1:05.91 and eighth in triple jump with a mark set at 30-10.

Sophomore Kendall Scheffelmear qualified for the State C triple jump by clearing 32-2.25 and placing fifth. She was seventh in the 300 hurdles and eighth in high jump by clearing 4-6.

Junior Kora LaBrie was eighth in pole vault after clearing 6-0 and eleventh in javelin with a throw of 90-5.

Both of Whitewater's relay teams earned a spot in the State C. The long relay consisting of K. LaBrie, Scheffelmear, S. LaBrie, and Wasson posted a time of 4:24.46 and took third place. The short relay consisting of S. LaBrie, Wasson, K. LaBrie, and Scheffelmear was fifth with a time of 55.94.

"I am really excited because I get to go to state now," Scheffelmear said. "I wasn't quite sure if I was going to make it in anything and now I am."

Scheffelmear said that the adrenaline of running in the divisional race helped the relay teams.

Though junior Hunter Ellis and freshman Korbyn Skubinna did not qualify for state, they competed hard. Skubinna had a personal best of 7-6 in pole vault and took thirteenth. He was eleventh in the 400 with a time of 1:10.78 and thirteenth in the 800 with a time of 2:54.58.

Ellis was fifteenth in discus with a throw of 81-00.

Dodson

Though Dodson did not qualify any of their athletes for state, the Coyote Track teams were well represented.

For the boys, sophomore Sebastian Best was the closest to qualifying, taking ninth place in the 800 with a personal best of 2:30.54. He was also tenth in long jump with a leap of 16-5.50 and thirteenth in triple jump with a mark at 34-5.50.

Junior Conan Cuts the Rope participated in four of his five events. He was eleventh in the 100 with a time of 13.32, eleventh in the 200 with a time of 27.55, twelfth in long jump with a leap of 15-6, and fourteenth in triple jump with a mark at 34-00.

He said that of all his events, the triple jump is his favorite.

"I just like the way you can go further with those two jumps," Cuts the Rope said.

This season was Conan's first high school year of competition in track, but he did participate in his junior high years.

"I like it," Cuts the Rope said. "There is more competition."

For the girls, Imagin Fox took ninth in the 100 hurdles, with a new best of 21.17. She feels that she could have done even better than her time indicated.

"I could've done a lot better and ran a lot faster," Fox said.

Though she didn't make it to state, she was thankful for her time at divisionals.

"It's pretty cool," Fox said.

Fox was tenth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 1:01.96,

Fox knows that she has teammates that could compete at the State C meet if they push themselves.

She also knows that she can make it to state in 2023.

"Working harder next year," Fox said. "I am going to work on my form and my speed and we are going to go all the way."

Sophomore Kim IronBear was eleventh in the 100 hurdles with a time of 22.38.

Sophomore Akiyah James posted a personal best of 15.49 in the 100.