Heat host Tripp meet

Dave Tripp would have been proud of what his name has wrought.

The Hot Springs Savage Heat track and field team hosted 14 western Montana schools in the latest edition of the Dave Tripp Memorial in Polson Friday. A 1970 graduate of Hot Springs who reportedly loved the sport of track and field, Tripp was memorialized forevermore when his name was attached to Hot Springs' annual invitational years ago, and he would have undoubtedly been proud of all the effort and action his name helped to inspire in Polson last week.

As detailed in last week's Ledger, Tripp died in a tragic boating accident in the summer of 1971.

Athletes from his alma mater in Hot Springs certainly put in the effort in Tripp's namesake meet as the Savage Heat boys scored 25.5 points and the girls scored 24 more. Freshman standouts Jack McAllister and Katelyn Christensen led the Savage Heat in Polson.

McAllister placed in three events – winning third place in the triple jump and javelin, and placing sixth in the 300 meter hurdles – to lead the Hot Springs boys. Kyle Lawson and Kawika Ilac finished fourth and fith in the 110 meter hurdles to close out scoring for the Hot springs boys.

McAllister marked 36 feet, 8 inches in the triple jump, chucked the javelin 134-7 and timed out in 47.56 seconds in the 300 meter hurdles. Lawson clocked 19.23 seconds and Ilac 20.65 in the 110 hurdles.

For her part, Christensen scored all of the Savage Heat girls' points in Polson, winning second in the long jump (with an outstanding early season jump of 15 feet. 11.25 inches) and 200 meters, taking fourth in the 100 meters and sixth in the javelin.

Charlo won the girls Tripp title with 105.5 points and Deer Lodge claimed the boys crown with 105 points. Hot Springs finished ninth on both sides of the meet.

The Savage Heat had warmed up for the Tripp meet by attending the Florence/Darby Invitational in Corvallis last Tuesday, April 9. That meet featured Class A, B and C schools with about 20 teams competing.

Christensen again went long to win the long jump, this time with a mark of 15-11, and placed sixth in the 200 meters, scoring all 11 of Hot Springs' points in the girls meet.

McAllister won second place in the triple jump, placed fourth in the high jump, fifth in the 300 meter hurdles and sixth in the javelin. Lawson finished sixth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 47.90, just behind McAllister and his clocking of 47.38.

Coach Bethany White and her Savage Heat thinclads were to have competed in the Thompson Falls Invitational Tuesday, and will participate in the Seeley-Swan Invitational at Missoula Big Sky High School Saturday.