Red Devil rising

by John Hamilton

Red Devil rising; and he is not finished yet.

Goal-oriented Noxon junior Levi Brubaker went well past a couple of his personal goals in the triple jump and won the State C title in the event Saturday in Great Falls with an NHS school-record effort of 44 feet, 3 inches.

Soaring well past several goals he had set for himself in the triple jump this spring, Brubaker will have one very big one in mind when he starts lifting off again next year – the State C record of 45-7.

Also winning fifth place in the long jump – with another outstanding effort of 20 feet, 6.5 inches – Brubaker scored all 12 of Noxon's points in Great Falls. Ennis won the boys' meet with 59 points, Scobey took second with 57 and Seeley-Swan third with 44.

Manhattan Christian won the girls' State C crown with 58 points, Fort Benton (54.5) took second and Twin Bridges (48) third.

In only his second year of high school track and field – he did not compete during his freshman year and competed as one of many in a large Pennsylvania high school last spring – Brubaker came up with his biggest efforts in the triple jump this season right when he needed them most.

"I think I first realized my potential in Pennsylvania, at a high school with over 800 students," he said. "We focused more on technique there but, with Scott (assistant coach Richardson) coming in to help out at Noxon this year, we started working more on conditioning and exploding out on the jumps."

Now the most explosive triple jumper in Noxon school history, Brubaker made his biggest jumps when the stakes were highest in the event Saturday.

After Richey-Lambert's Casey Cayer nailed a 43-10.75 jump on his final qualifying jump in the prelims to take the lead, Brubaker promptly matched and passed that distance on his final preliminary jump, marking 43-11 to take the best mark into the finals.

In those finals Brubaker went above and beyond again with his winning jump of 44-3.

Brubaker's goals floated higher and higher as this spring went by. His first goal was to surpass his previous best of 41-1 from last year – and he checked that one off his list early this season. After that he marked 42-4 as a new personal best and set his sights on the Noxon school record of 42-5.5, which he surpassed with his Western C-winning jump of 42-9.5.

Looking ahead to next season, Burbaker is, well, jumping to go.

"Getting 44-3 last week is crazy, it's like almost two feet better than my previous best," he said. "I am really excited for my senior year and seeing how much farther I can go."