Hawks, Lady Hawks win T-Falls Invite titles

One shining moment to cap one shining day.

The Thompson Falls track and field program enjoyed a rare day in the sun this cooler-than-normal spring during the school's annual Thompson Falls Invitational at Previs Field last Thursday, and ended up coming away with titles in all four divisions – boys varsity and junior varsity, and girls varsity and JV – of team competition.

Enjoying her first season as head coach for Thompson Falls this spring after stepping in behind the legendary Randy Symon, Trenna Ferris was ecstatic about how well her charges did in Thompson Falls' showcase track and field meet.

"It has been a good season so far, but my favorite moment is seeing us sweep the T-Falls Invite," Ferris said. "It was awesome to see our athletes compete on their home field and win. We celebrate all our success and that was a big one for us as a team."

On the varsity field of play Thursday, the Thompson Falls boys scored 152 points and the Lady Hawks 147 in running, jumping, throwing and vaulting their way to the team wins. St. Regis was second to the Hawk boys with 84 points and Clark Fork (the co-op between Alberton and Superior) third with 63, while Plains took second to the Lady Hawks with 89 points and Mission third with 82.

The Hawk boys ran away with their team title in part due to an almost total domination of the distance runs, with Colby Lantz leading the way with wins of the 1600 and 3200 meter runs.

Lantz just edged out teammates Alex Erosa and Parker McConnell for the win in the 1600, timing out in 5:01.50 to Erosa's 5:01.62 and McConnell's 5:01.98, and ran the 3200 in 12:33.67 to hold off McConnell (12:36.68) and also win that race to the finish.

Brad Lantz added to the Hawks' point total by tracking down fourth in the 3200 and Nate Thibeault ran down fifth place points in the 1600. Erosa also won third place in the 800 meters.

Thibeault turned in another event win for the Hawk boys by claiming first place in the long jump and also joined up with Erosa, Danny Hoisington and Cody Garrison to win the 4 by 400 meter relay.

Hoisington also won the 110 meter hurdles, placed second in the triple jump, third in the high jump and fifth in the long jump, and Garrison won second place in the 300 meter hurdles, pole vault and javelin, in addition to running down fifth place in the 400 meter run.

Nick Veira (fourth in the 200 meters), Brad Lantz (fourth in the 3200) and Cody Burk (third in the shot put and fourth in the discus) chipped in with more valuable points.

On the girls side of the Falls Invite, Josey Neesvig continued her outstanding freshman season by winning the 800 meters (2:41.58) and the 1600 (5:55.00), besides joining up with Rachel Ribeiro, Sarah Detlaff and Haley Morgan to place second in the 4 by 400 meter relay. Ribeiro also impressively strode to first place in the 3200 meters and won fourth place in the 1600.

The Lady Hawk relay team of Morgan, Gabriella Pallister, Maya Stiles and Sarah Detlaff won third place in the 4 by 100 meter race.

Freshman Jody Detlaff won the high jump with a best mark of 4-9 and Morgan motored to victory in the 400 meter run.

Morgan also placed third in the 200 meters and fourth in the 100, and Pallister took fifth in the 100 and sixth in the 200.

Stiles won second place points in the 100 meters and pole vault and fourth place points in the long jump, Riley Wilson won second place in the 100 meter hurdles, fourth place in the high jump and triple jump and sixth in the long jump, Pallister won third in the pole vault and Sarah Detlaff sixth in the high jump, and Kacey VanZanten placed third in the 300 meter hurdles.

Back on the track in Missoula Saturday at MCPS Stadium for the Seeley-Swan Invitational, the Hawk boys won third place with 61 points and the Lady Hawks again performed well.

Up this week for the Hawks (after many team members participated in the Eureka Top 8 meet Tuesday, results were not available from that meet) is the Whitefish ARM meet Saturday.

Ferris happy to be a part of the Blue Hawk tradition after helping start up the Mission track and field program in her previous coaching life several years ago.

"Randy Symon built a solid program here and I am very fortunate to be able to step in and now be a part of it," she said, adding that she is receiving lots of quality help in her first season at the helm. "The assistant coaches (holdovers Amy Gilbert, Jake Susic and Sarah Naegeli from the Symon era) are amazing, they have such talent and experience. We are excited about the potential of our team this year."

At the heart of Ferris's maiden voyage as Thompson Falls coach are the athletes she has on board. "All of the athletes are working hard for the coaches," she said. "We are now turning our focus, along with staying in shape, to fine-tuning and working the technical aspects of their events, and the assistant coaches are invaluable in helping us achieve those goals."