FIELD DAY AT TFHS

The Thompson Falls Lady Hawks took first place at the Thompson Falls Invitational at Previs Field last week where more than a dozen schools threw, jumped and ran for the farthest, highest and fastest distances and times.

The Lady Hawks did it, accumulating 86 points for top honors, and the Blue Hawks took fifth place with 53 points. Thompson Falls finished the competition with 10 first places and four second place medals, said Trenna Ferris, head coach for the last seven years. The Thompson Falls junior varsity girls finished sixth with 25 points and the boys JV athletes placed third with 54 points.

The Plains Trotters varsity team took second place with 82 points. The Horsemen went home with 64 points and third place. The Plains JV girls finished in eighth place with six points and the boys finished ninth with 13 points. The Noxon Red Devils finished in 11th place with 12 points while the Lady Red Devils collected 17 points for 10th place. The girls JV finished in second place with 40 points and the boys took sixth with 20 points.

Thirteen teams and 240 high school track and field athletes participated in the nearly seven-hour meet. Plains had 22 boys and 11 girls at the invite, the largest team there. Thompson Falls had 26 competitors - 15 boys and 11 girls - including 17 first-timers. Thompson Falls High School staff, junior high coaches and athletes helped with the meet.

Deer Lodge traveled the farthest with their 16 competitors. The Wardens varsity finished fourth with 58 points. The girls team took fifth with 40 points. Alberton had the smallest showing with only five athletes. Its varsity boys finished ninth with 22 points and varsity girls finished last with five points.

Troy had 20 athletes at the event. The Trojans captured first place with 104 points, followed by Valley Christian boys in second with 68 points. The Granite varsity girls took third with 76 points behind Thompson Falls and Plains. The Granite boys finished last with one point.

Thompson Falls has two students in the unified program, Kaden Cox, a junior, who did the 100-meter dash, the long jump, and the 4x100 co-ed relay, and Riley Keefe, a freshman, who competed in the 100-meter dash and the 4x100 co-ed relay.

Unified sports is a program sponsored through Special Olympics and provides opportunities for athletes with disabilities to participate in track and field, said Ferris. The unified events include the 100-yard dash, the 4x100-meter relay, the ball throw, and the long jump. In the boys unified contest, Thompson Falls took first place with 20 points. They took second place in the girls unified competition with eight points. Ferris said that not every meet has unified events. "This is a pretty special thing and it is our first year. We are excited to have this be a part of our program," she added.

Freshman Addyson Deal of Thompson Falls took first place in the javelin with a throw of 100 feet, 2 inches, first place in the 4x400 relay (along with Aubrey Baxter, Trinity Riffle and Peighton Kenney) with a time of 4:48.00 and fifth in the 100-meter dash with a finish of 14.38.

There were only 10 pole vaulters at the meet, including two Lady Hawks, the only vaulters of Sanders County. Ferris said both Deal and Kenney are new to pole vaulting, but are doing well. Deal, a freshman, finished in third place with a 7-foot vault. "This is an outstanding accomplishment," said Ferris, who added that Deal works hard in practice to learn a "very technical event." Kenney, a junior, took fourth with a height of 6 1/2 feet, a personal best.

Kenney also took eighth place at the javelin with a throw of 67 feet, 2 inches, followed by Plains Trotter Mackenzie Tulloch, a junior, in 10th place at 44 feet, 4 inches. She took eighth in the 400-meter run, finishing at 1:15.87, a personal record. Baxter also took second in the 1,600-meter run, second in the 400-meter dash, and sixth in the triple jump at 29-07.75. Riffle nabbed first at the high jump at 4 feet, 8 inches. The senior took first in the 200-meter dash, crossing the finish line at 29.58 seconds, and second in the 100-meter dash at 14.08.

Also in the girls events, Plains sophomore Katelyn Subatch took fifth in the high jump at 4-04.00. She also took third in the long jump at 13-10.00 and seventh in the triple jump at 26-09.00. The shot put champion was Trotter Alexis Deming, a junior, with a throw of 35 feet, 5.25 inches and a personal record. Teammates Ireland Corbin, a freshman, finished seventh at 22-01.25, Tulloch in eighth at 21-11.00, and Noxon senior Natasha Fisher in ninth at 19-05.50, a personal record for each of them.

Deming took second place in the discus throw with a distance of 107 feet, 9 inches. In fourth was teammate freshman Ashley Ferlan with a throw of 82 feet, 10 inches. She was followed in fifth by Tulloch at 74-02, Noxon senior Maygan Swanson at 64-05 in seventh, Corbin in eighth at 63-10, and Noxon's Fisher in 11th at 53-10. Swanson also finished seventh in the 100-meter dash at 15.13 and sixth in the 200-meter at 31.14.

In the 200-meter dash, Plains sophomore Kelli Tuma finished third at 30.15. Teammate Aly Roy, a freshman, finished 10th for a personal record of 32.46. Plains senior Amy Hill finished in 11th place at 32.93. Hill captured first place in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 19.37, followed close behind by Fisher, who crossed the finish line at 26.29. Hill was also in the third place 4x100 relay team, which included Corbin, Roy, and Tuma, with a finish of 57.58. Tuma captured first place in the 400-meter run with a time of 1:06.41.

In the 800-meter run Peyton Wasson took second place at 2:50.34. In the 1,600-meter run, Sophie Pizzini finished fifth for a personal record of 6:48.23, followed by Lady Hawk Evy Edwards, a freshman, in sixth at 7:01.63, also a personal best. Edwards took second place in the 3,200-meter run, finishing at 16:01.00. Noxon's 4x400 relay team, consisting of Emma and Maygan Swanson, Pizzini, and Seanna Richter, took fourth with a time of 5:21.92. The 300-meter hurdles were won by Ferlan, finishing at 55.80 and a personal best. Fisher finished fifth at 1:15.84.

On the Blue Hawks team, senior Cael Thilmony took first place in the 3,200-meter run, finishing at 11:19.01. Mike Reistroffer, a junior with Plains, placed second at 11:32.78. In fourth place was Horseman sophomore Kalem Ercanbrack at 12:22.00. Thilmony also placed third in the 1,600-meter run at 5:08.07. Noxon's Chance McDaid took eighth and Asher Seymour of Plains finished 11th in the event.

In the boys 100-meter dash, Nick Hill of Plains took top honors with a finish of 12.03 seconds. Senior Owen Ramsey of Noxon finished seventh in the event at 12.26, followed by senior Braxton Dorscher of Thompson Falls in eighth at 12.29, Red Devil Shamus Wheeldon in 10th at 12.76, Horseman Matt Thurston in 12th at 12.93, and teammate junior Aiden Silva in 14th at 13.08.

Dorscher took third place in the 200-meter dash at 25.56 and McDaid finished fifth at 25.69. Hill finished the 200 in ninth and Wheeldon finished 10th. McDaid finished fifth at 59.24 in the 400-meter dash, teammate Ian Myers, a junior, took sixth at 1:00.52, and Reistroffer finished seventh and at 1:01.47 it was a season record for him. In the 800-meter run, senior Joe Martin of Plains took second place with a time of 2:13.59. In the 300-meter hurdles, Ethan Geisbusch, with the Blue Hawks, captured first place at 48.84, a personal record for the junior.

The Horsemen team - Hill, Matt Thurston, Greg Tatum, and Zander Czifro - took second in the 4x100 relay at 48.95, and the 4x400 relay team - Darren Standeford, Aiden Silva, Martin, and Czifro - nabbed second at 3:55.33. "We had changed up the relay a bit this week and this team made a strong showing," said Rachel Chenoweth, head coach for the Plains team. The Blue Hawks team - Dorscher, Thilmony, Geisbusch, and Myers - took fourth in the 4x400 relay at 4:05.00.

"I'm always pleased when I see our athletes putting in their best efforts," said Chenoweth. She added that several athletes made notable improvements to their previous season marks. "The way each of these athletes attacked their races was impressive," said Chenoweth, who has 11 returning athletes, seven that competed at state last year.

For the shot put event, Ramsey, a senior, heaved the 12-pound ball 38 feet, 10 1/2 inches for a personal record and second place. Noxon head coach Matt Havens, also the school's athletic director, said he was "super proud" of his 18 athletes at the meet. "Our throwers dealt with the conditions the best," said Havens, who's led the team for 12 years and is assisted by Jared VanVleet.

Blue Hawk Zack Ames finished third in the shot put with a distance of 38 feet. Ames had personal bests in the shot put, discus, and javelin. Brenden Vanderwall, a senior with Plains, took fourth in the shot put with a throw of 37 feet, 10 inches. Senior James Schmidt of Thompson Falls finished in eighth place and junior Ricky Williams of Noxon took 10th.

Myers grabbed the championship in the javelin with a throw of 139-07 feet and a personal best. Ferris said he has the second best record in the district. Martin took third at 127-02. Freshman Greg Tatum of Plains took eighth at 118-09, followed by Noxon junior Shane Murray at 116-08.

Standeford, a junior, took fourth with a discus throw of 107-02, followed by teammate Vanderwall in sixth at 106-06, Blue Hawk Ames in seventh at 101-04, Noxon's Williams in 13th place, Schmidt in 14th, and Horseman Gabe Rasmussen, a senior, in 18th. Vanderwall also took fifth in a 18-02.00 long jump, followed by Dorscher in seventh with a distance of 17-07.00. In the high jump, freshman Cooper Meredith finished in sixth at a height of 5-04.00.

"An athlete's best can vary from day to day, but as long as they put in that effort, they need to be proud of the results. As well, when they do so, they will continue to see personal records improve," said Chenoweth. "With every athlete, my aim is that they continue on a trajectory of improvement so they reach their season peak when it comes to qualifying meets at the end of the season. When athletes each pursue their best efforts, they also spur one another on toward improvements and this makes the whole team better," she said.

"We were happy with how the athletes performed today. It is hard coming off from a Saturday meet and then competing again on Tuesday, but they did well," said Ferris. Thompson Falls and Plains will compete at Whitefish on Saturday, April 27.