Season Ends for Malta Track Teams at Rainy State B Meet

A track and field season marred by snow postponements, rainy meets, and smokey conditions, came to an end for Malta's track teams last Saturday, May 27, at the State B Meet.

"I think that they performed well," Malta Head Coach Desiree Egger said. "It was super hard. The Northeastern athletes had a hard season as far as weather, then there was smoke, and we don't have an all-weather track to practice on. There are some things that are hard for us in Phillips County, as far as getting out and practicing. It was just one of those years for us."

Coach Egger believes that the teams did as well as they could given the circumstances.

Despite bringing a total of 17 athletes between the teams, the Mustangs and M-ettes were unable to reach the podium at the rainy meet in Butte this past weekend.

Two juniors, Kyle Darrington of the Mustangs, and Giona Lamb of the M-ettes were the closest to reaching the podium with Darrington taking seventh place in the 200 meter dash and 400 meter run and Lamb taking seventh in shot put.

Darrington was fourth in the 200 preliminary with a personal best of 23.07 seconds, but placed seventh in the finals with a time of 23.19.

He had a time of 52.55 in the 400, and was .02 seconds behind sixth place finisher Kougar Kappel of Red Lodge. Darrington was also ninth in the 100 finals with a time of 11.75, after qualifying with a personal best of 11.61 in the preliminaries.

"For Kyle, he will be awesome because he has the desire to come back and do better next year," Coach Egger said. "He was upset but I think that is what propels good athletes forward."

Lamb set a personal best of 35-7.25 in the preliminaries of the girls shot put event, a mark that would ultimately give her a seventh place finish.

Three of four M-ettes qualified for the shot put finals on Saturday afternoon. In addition to Lamb's seventh place finish senior Tia Siewing had a throw of 33-9.5, earning her ninth overall, freshman Denvyr Tuss was tenth with a throw of 32-8, and senior Lauren Tuss was fifteenth with a throw of 30-6.25.

Siewing was also tenth in the girls shot put event with a throw of 96-05 and L. Tuss was eleventh with a personal best of 95-11.

"It just wasn't their day," Coach Egger said as far as placing. "You can't really be upset because they made it. We kept trying to tell the kids; Look! You are in the top ten in Class B, one of the biggest classes in the state of Montana. Think of all the kids that would do anything to be where you are."

Mustang sophomore Ivan Lefdahl was ninth in high jump after clearing 5-08.

"He had cards stacked against him because he hasn't practiced in three weeks," Coach Egger said. "He had an injury that prevented him from practicing."

Due to those injuries, Lefdahl was unable to compete in the district and divisional meets, but he had pre-qualified for state in the team's first meet of the season.

"He had been able to participate in those early meets, he might've been able to do better," Coach Egger said. "For coming off of an injury, he performed the best that you could've asked for."

The Mustangs had three competitors in shot put, The group was led by freshman TJ Siewing who had a throw of 39-5 and finished fifteenth. Senior Draven Lageson was seventeenth with a throw of 38-05 and junior Gavin Slade was twentieth with a throw of 37-10.50.

Freshman Dawson Hammond was thirteenth in the 400 with a time of 53.80 and eighteenth in the 200 with a personal best of 24.21 seconds.

The Mustang short relay consisting of Hammond, Darrington, freshman Rylee Brusse, and Slade was sixteenth with a time of 46.52.

M-ette senior Allison Kunze was thirteenth in triple jump with a personal best of 31-7.5, fourteenth in long jump with a personal best of 15-4.25, and eighteenth in the 200 with a personal best of 28.85.

Junior Gracie Honey was thirteenth in the 800 with a time of 2:30.30 and fourteenth in the 400 with a personal best of 1:03.60.

M-ette junior Addison Ulrich was nineteenth in the 100 with a personal best of 13.72.

Freshman Brooklyn Knowles was nineteenth in javelin with a throw of 88-02.

Freshman Karlie LaBrie was nineteenth in the 800 with a time of 2:40.86.

The M-ette short relay consisting of Knowles, Ulrich, freshman Neva Jacobson, and Kunze was twentieth with a time of 54.87.

The M-ette long relay consisting of Knowles, Jacobson, Honey, and LaBrie was twentieth with a time of 4:33.64.

The Mustangs and M-ettes featured plenty of talent in the freshmen class.

"They are going to be a class to watch," Coach Egger said. "They are kind of like this outgoing senior class; Just a class full of really talented kids. They seem to really work hard and want to do it."

Coach Egger and her family will be transferring to Ralph Witters Elementary School in Thermopolis, Wyoming, next fall. And though she has coached track and field for 17 straight seasons, she is unsure if she will in 2024.

Coach Egger, a Whitewater graduate, shared what it was like being a track coach for Malta.

"It was great," Coach Egger said. "It was fun to come back and see kids of people that I knew when I was younger and to be a part of Malta's legacy. We have a third place trophy for the girls (Northern B) and that is not something that every team can do."

She also expressed gratitude to Malta's assistant coaches including Shyla Clausen, Andy Schell, Jennifer Rickett, Ryan Wilson, and Partick Sargent, who she student taught under.

"It's just a group of really good people," Coach Egger said. "If they stick together, the program is going to get a lot better."