MISSOULA — Astonishingly, Billings West didn’t have a single state track and field champion last season. In fact, it’s been a down couple of years for the Golden Bears, who have historically fielded some of the best teams in the state.
It’s too early to project if West will crown any champions at the state meet in May, but the Bears got some encouraging performances at the Billings Invite last week at Lockwood High School, headlined by long jumper Sean Klem.
Klem, a junior, launched a jump of 22 feet, 8½ inches to win the event and record a personal record by nearly three feet. His mark is the best in what figures to be a competitive field of long jumpers in the state, as Kalispell Flathead’s William Hollensteiner marked 22-01½ at the MCPS Invitational last week and Billings Senior’s Josiah Coelho (21-10½), Gallatin’s Sam Kilwein (21-10¼) and Billings Skyview’s Boaz Mckinney (21-10) are flirting with 22-foot jumps.
In addition to Klem, West features one of the state’s most interesting athletes in Matt Ludwig, the highly rated football prospect who has narrowed his top four college choices to Georgia, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas Tech. Ludwig has qualified for state in the 100-meter dash after running an 11.23-second time to start the season, and he has the third-best shot put mark (53-02) in Class AA and fourth-best discus throw (156-02).
The deepest Class AA boys team, at least on the track, is without a doubt Kalispell Flathead. The Braves set the all-class records in the 400- and 1,600-meter relays last year on their way to a second-place team finish at the state meet. If early results are any indication of what’s to come this season, Flathead is again going to impress.
The Braves ran the spring’s fastest times in the 400 and 1,600 relays at the MCPS Invitational last week, clocking times of 42.47 and 3:27.46. Individually, Ben Bliven won both the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the MCPS Invite and has the state’s top times in both at 10.86 and 22.02 seconds, respectively.
Hollensteiner is another multi-event standout for Flathead, as he’s among the state leaders in the 100, 200, 400 and long jump. His 48.88 400 at the Kalispell Time Trials is tops in the state.
Kasen Kastner (1:53.97 in the 800) and Lane Chivers (39.03 in the 300 hurdles) also own top times for the Braves.
On the girls side, Gallatin is off to a strong start with Isabella Donaghey posting fast times in the 100 (12.35) and 200 (25.14), Hazel Cooper doing well in the 400 (1:00.40), 800 (2:15.93) and 1,600 (5:11.77), Isabel Ross performing in the 800 (2:11.64) and 1,600 (5:09.13) and Claire Rutherford continuing to excel in the 1,600 (5:14.48) and 3,200 (10:56.27). The Raptors also have some of Class AA’s best in the field with Kate Breeding in the shot put (40-05), Ava Dierolf in the javelin (128-11) and Dylanne Free in the triple jump (35-10¼).
Ross and Rutherford recorded their times in the 800 and 3,200, respectively, at the annual Arcadia Invitational last week in California. While Montana didn’t have its traditional powerful presence, the Treasure State still had a few strong showings:
- Reid Bartholomew, a Gallatin junior, placed 31st in the 800 with a time of 1:56.27.
- Helena’s Elliot Stimpson and Henry Sund placed 12th and 14th in the 1,500 meters, as both broke the 4-minute barrier. Stimpson had a time of 3:58.91, and Sund wasn’t far behind at 3:59.52. The pair ended up with 4:14.03 and 4:15.27 times in the 1,600.
- In the 3,200, Kalispell Glacier’s Owen Thiel recorded a time of 9:08.32 and Bozeman’s Miles Halvorsen had a time of 9:20.73.
- Aayden Simmons, another Helena Bengal, finished ninth in the triple jump with a personal-best mark of 46-04¼.
The Montana spring weather finally cooperated last week, allowing a number of larger meets to run, including the Lockwood SCAD, MCPS Invitational, Billings Invite and Choteau Acantha Invitational.
Other notable results from the past week of the high school track and field season:
- Helena freshman Quinlyn Simmons blazed to a 12.19-second time in the 100-meter dash at the Helena High/Big Sky/Hellgate Triad. That’s the fastest time in the state this spring and just .13 seconds off the state record of 12.06 seconds set by Helena High’s Logan Todorovich at last year’s state meet.
- Kyla Meissner of Townsend cruised to a win in the 3,200 at the Gallatin Valley Invite, finishing in a meet-record time of 11:38.39. The sophomore has Class B’s fastest time in the event and is also state-qualified in the 1,600.
- Alexis Deming of Plains and Lillian Boyd of Seeley-Swan each had solid discus throws in northwest Montana last Saturday. Deming, the two-time reigning Class B state champion in the event, hit a PR of 130-01 at the Libby Invitational, while Boyd threw 129-00 at the Dave Tripp Track Meet in Polson.
- Five Class C girls cleared 17 feet in the long jump last week, including three at the Watford City (N.D.) Early Bird. Bainville’s Elsie Wilson won with a jump of 17-08, followed by Plentywood’s Mallory Tommerup (17-07) and Circle’s Kate Nasner (17-04). Montannah Piar of Philipsburg went 17-02¼ at the Dave Tripp meet, and Richey-Lambert’s Brynne Hill 17-00 at the Baker Small Meet.
- Nasner might be one to watch. Just an eighth grader, she helped Circle win the Class C state volleyball championship last fall. This spring, she has Class C’s top time in the 100-meter hurdles (16.95 seconds), ranks third in the long jump (17-04) and sits seventh in the triple jump (33-07¾).
- Manhattan Christian’s Shaphan Hubner is the only Class C boy to so far hit the qualifying standard in the 800 meters, and he has the fastest time in the class by more than 11 seconds. He ran 1:57.90 at the Gallatin Valley Invite. Gardiner’s Tyler Stermitz has Class C’s second-fastest time in the event at 2:09.09.
- Kaden Juhnke of Joliet marked Class B’s best javelin throw of the season at the Red Lodge Classic with a PR of 172-08.
- Six boys have now run the 110-meter hurdles in less than 15 seconds this season, with Missoula Hellgate senior Corbin Weltzien leading the way with a blistering 14.03 PR at the Helena High/Big Sky/Hellgate Triad last week.
- Butte’s Sam Henderson is the first boy to hit 47 feet in the triple jump this spring, marking a 47-01 jump at the Butte/Capital dual last week. It’s the best mark in the state and just off his PR of 47-02¼ set last season.
Note: All marks are compiled from Athletic.net, the official database of Montana High School Association track and field results.
