Hawks compete at Archie Roe Invite

The annual Archie Roe Invitational track and field meet in Kalispell has a well-earned reputation as one of the toughest meets of any in Montana, at any high school classification.

Usually attended by schools large and small from all around western Montana, the Roe Invite is generally regarded as one of the showcase meets of any season in the Big Sky Country. If you can do well in the Roe, chances are you can do well in any meet in Montana.

This season, there were 14 schools represented, varying in size from the very large – Kalispell Flathead and Glacier, and Missoula Hellgate – all the way to smaller schools like Cut Bank, Shelby and Thompson Falls.

On that Kalispell track and field stage, coach Trenna Ferris took her Blue Hawks to perform in varsity, junior varsity and freshmen competition in the Roe meet.

In the varsity portion of the Roe, three Hawk athletes managed to place in their events. With the Hawk boys, Danny Hoisington won fifth place in the triple jump with a best effort of 40 feet, 1.5 inches and Nate Thibeault ran down sixth place in the 400 meters with a time of 53.83 seconds.

For the Lady Hawks, Maya Stiles successfully cleared 8 feet, 9 inches, to win fifth in the pole vault.

In JV competition at the Roe, Parker McConnell won second place in the 3200 meter run, Carson Alexander placed second in the triple jump, Alex Erosa took third in the 800 meters and Kacey VanZanten claimed third place in the girls' discus.

In the freshman portion of the Roe, the efforts of Jody Detlaff and Cody Burk highlighted the Hawks' performance in Kalispell as Detlaff cleared a State B meet-qualifying mark of 5-0 in winning the high, and Burk set a new Archie Roe meet freshman record in winning first in the discus.

Burk also threw down marks good for second place in the javelin and third in the shot put, and Detlaff also won sixth place in the girls' shot and discus throws.

In other freshman action at the Roe, Riley Wilson won second place honors in the high jump and in the 100 meter hurdles , Sierra Hanks tied Wilson for second in the high jump and finished fifth in the 800 meters, Megan Baxter won fourth in the 400 meters and Jolia Buchanan fifth in that race, Josey Neesvig ran down third in the 1600 and 3200 meter runs, Gabriella Pallister won third in the pole vault and Baxter, Buchanan, Hanks and Detlaff teamed up to win third place in the 1600 meter relay.

With the frosh boys, Harrison Hugus won first in the high jump, second in the triple jump and third in the long jump and fifth in the 400 meters, Robert Bonney took second in the 300 meter hurdles and third in the 110 meter hurdles and Derek Anderson fourth in the javelin.