Thunder and lightning

There was thunder, there was lightning, it may have been a little bit frightening.

And, oh yeah, there was precipitation too, some of it in solid, icy form, and a not-so-comfortable cold wind.

It all came down in Whitefish Saturday at the annual ARM meet, and 11 teams went on to endure and live through the latest edition of the ARM in spite of Montana's erratic spring weather.

"Yes, it was terrible weather," coach Trenna Ferris said. "There was rain, snow, hail and lightning at different times, and a lot of cold wind! A few kids were still able to set new personal records, but the weather certainly did play a role."

One particularly nasty push of weather during the day forced the cancellation of the boys pole vault competition.

In spite of the February-like weather, both Hawk teams gamely competed, with many of the Falls athletes competing in the junior varsity portion of the meet.

Still, a good number of Hawk boys and Lady Hawks did manage to show well in the varsity meet.

For the Hawk boys, sophomore Cody Burk continued his outstanding spring by winning second place in the discus (with a best throw of 118 feet, 10 inches) and placing third in the shot put (42-9.5).

Teammates Trey Fisher (sixth in the discus, seventh in the javelin), Cameron Lee (fifth in the javelin) and Derek Andersen (eighth in the discus) completed the Hawks' effective team effort in the throwing events.

On the track, Ben Beauchman ran down eighth place in the 800 meters, and the Hawks' 400 meter relay team placed seventh in that race.

In the girls meet of the A.R.M., Josey Neesvig impressively won fourth place in the 800 (in a time of 2:46.96) and tenth in the 1600 (6:00.85), Maya Stiles won third in the pole vault (8-6) and eighth in the javelin (96-9), Jody Detlaff took eighth in the high jump (4-6) and ninth in the discus (91-2) and both Lady Hawks relays place (the 400 squad placed fifth and the 1600 quartet sixth).

Hoping for better weather, the Hawks are set to compete in another large meet, the Archie Roe, at Legends Stadium in Kalispell Saturday.