GREAT FALLS — Cascade jumper Caiden Sekuterski and Roberts runner Taylee Chirrick took down a pair of Class C records Friday at the state meet at Memorial Stadium.
Sekuterski leaped 23 feet, 4¼ inches in the long jump to win the event, but his furthest jump was considered wind aided. But on his second attempt the Badger senior went for 22-6½ on a wind-legal attempt to surpass the record of 22-5½ set by Tyler Bucklin back in 1995.
"I'm just so excited I did it. I've worked all year for this, and especially with that wind, I was a little scared because (Great Falls') Scott Klinker had three jumps in the AA event that easily would have beat the state record, but they were all not wind legal,” Sekuterski said. "But after finishing second in the long jump the last few years it was nice to finish my career with a win.”
Chirrick came in to the state meet as the owner of three Class C records in the 400, 800 and 300 hurdles. She won the 800 meter run with a time of 2:13.82, just short of her record from 2023 or 2:12.97. But she lowered her 400 meter record to 56.40, down from 56.69 in 2023.
"I mean, obviously it sucks having the 800 before the 400, but, to be honest, you just got to do what you got to do,” Chirrick said. "Go out and try to get the most amount of points for your team. And that's what I tried to do today.”
Chirrick will try to set more records on Saturday in the hurdles and triple jump, and has led Roberts to a lead in the team standings after one day. The Rockets have 28 team points, outpacing second place Scobey with 24.
Manhatthan Christian’s Oren Arthun was also a multi-event winner with victories in the boys 800 (1:56.43) and 3200 meter runs (9:54.86). Arthun's heroics and high finishes from other Eagles have the Manhattan Christian boys in the lead after day one with 30 points. Belt is in second place with 18.
There were a few near misses at Class C records on Friday. In the girls long jump, two athletes came into the weekend with seed marks better than the class record of 17-7½ but on a windy day it was Sunburst’s Clair Bucklin shocking the field and taking the win with a personal record 17-2¾.
Belt’s Johnny Tingley had a chance to take down the Class C discuss mark of 174- 3 — coming in with a seed mark of 175-8. Tingley fell short of the mark, but claimed a State C title nonetheless with a 166-foot toss.
Other boys winners included Saco’s Blaine Downing in the 400 meter run (50.64) and Lima’s Garet Lesley win the javelin (158-01).
Other girls to win events were Whitewater’s Shelbi Labrie in the 3200 with a time of 11:53.46, Great Falls Central’s Audrey Baker in the discus (133-04) and Valley Christian’s Taevyn Beaudin in the pole vault (10-6).
