George Ferguson
Havre Daily News sports editor
gferguson@havredailynews.com
The city of Helena is a long way from the small community of Big Sandy. But on Saturday afternoon, at Vigilante Stadium, Montana's capitol city became a celebration stage for Big Sandy and its boys and girls track teams.
The Pioneers swept the Class C state track and field team titles on Saturday, and both teams did it in dominate fashion. The Big Sandy boys finished the meet with 69 points, 37 points ahead of second-place Drummond. Sheridan was third with 24 points.
Meanwhile, the Big Sandy girls first Class C state track championship came after the Pioneers scored 64 points, which was more than enough to defeat Northern C rival Chester/J-I. The Hawks finished in second place with 48 points, and Harlowtown was a distant third with 29 points.
Although the scores in both the boys and girls meets wound up lopsided, Big Sandy head coach Roy Lackner was quick to point out that the feat of sweeping the Class C titles this weekend was no easy task.
“We knew we had a good chance to do well and we would have a shot at both state championships if we ran well this weekend. We didn't run any better than we have all season, but we ran well enough,” Lackner said. “It is a pretty special feeling too because it is something that doesn't happen very often. A lot of things have to go right to win one state title, let alone two. So to win both is just an amazing accomplishment.
“This is something that is very difficult to accomplish, especially at the Class C level,” he added. “In Class AA or A there are less teams, but in Class C there are so many schools and so many competitors, the points get spread out a lot more. So this is a very great accomplishment for this team.”
The girls meet was dominated, as expected, by Big Sandy freshman Kourtney Danreuther, who won four of her five events, setting three Class C records along the way.
Danreuther captured state championships in the 100-meter hurdles, with a time of 16.06, the 300-meter hurdles with a state-record time of 43.68, the 200-meter dash, with a state record time of 25.76, and the 400-meter dash with a state record time of 56.88. The only race Danreuther failed to win gold in was the 100-meters, where she slipped at the start and wound up finishing fourth.
With all of her state records in tow, perhaps Danreuther's biggest moment of the meet came in the 1600-meter relay final. Big Sandy trailed Chester/J-I's Brianne Wolfe by more than 30 meters when Danreuther received the baton, but she showed off her blazing speed by chasing down Wolfe, and adding another gold medal to her amazing freshman campaign.
“Kourtney Danreuther had a great weekend,” Lackner said. “She won four state titles and broke three straight records. That is a pretty amazing accomplishment for a freshman.
“Kourtney has had a great year,” he added. “She is a great athlete and a great competitor and I think over the next few years she is only going to get better.”
Danreuther could have nearly got the Pioneers a state championship by herself. But she got some help from teammate Desirae O'Neil, who captured a state title in the high jump. O'Neil jumped 5-2 which bested second-place Ashley Gammons by over two inches.
“You look at someone like Desirae O'Neil winning the high jump,” Lackner said. “We knew she could do it, but it turned out to be a really nice surprise that she went out and jumped so well.
“This team title is a very special thing for this team,” Lackner added. “These kids competed hard all year and they deserve this success.”
Chester/J-I, who defeated the Pioneers at the Northern C Divisional in Great Falls got some outstanding performances from Wolfe, as well as Daina and Brittany Kolstad. But it wasn't enough to catch the Pioneers.
Wolfe won a state championship in the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:27.93, and she finished second in the 800 meters. Daina Kolstad placed third in the 300-meter hurdles, fourth in the 100-meter hurdles and fourth in the 100-meter dash, while Brittany Kolstad placed sixth in the 100-meter hurdles and fifth in the 300-meter hurdles. Hanna Pimley also scored for C/J-I, placing sixth in the high jump.
Other Hi-Line standout performances included Chinook's Crystal Roseberry and North Star's Tasha Dyrland. Roseberry capped a brilliant four-year career for the Sugarbeeters by placing third in the long jump with a final leap of 16-4 and sixth in the triple jump. Dyrland earned North Star's only points of the meet with a fourth-place finish in the shot put.
Not to be outdone by his younger sister, Big Sandy's Kyle Danreuther added more gold medals to the Danreuthers' overstuffed mantle, and he guided the Pioneers to an easy state championship along the way.
Danreuther won the 110-meter hurdle state championship with a time of 15.32, and he backed that up with a win in the 300-meter hurdles, running a time of 39.32. The win in the 300-meter hurdles was Danreuther's second straight state championship in that event. Danreuther also placed fourth in the 400-meter race.
Danreuther's teammate, Karl Osterman also placed multiple times, including winning a state championship in the 200 meters with a time of 23.23. Osterman came up just short in the 400-meter race, finishing second. Ryan Pokorny helped the Pioneers victory by placing fourth in the 100-meter dash and by guiding the Pioneers to a state championship in the 400-meter relay. Distance runner Darin Ray also knabbed a fifth-place finish in the 1600 meters.
“We had a lot of people contribute to our boys team title,” Lackner said. “And that is always nice when a lot of kids score points.
“Kyle Danreuther had an outstanding meet. He beat the defending state champion in the 110-meter hurdles and he defended his 300-meter hurdle state title,” Lackner added. “And Karl Osterman barely qualified in the 200, and then he turns around and wins in the finals. It was a great meet for our boy's team and everybody that was there contributed to this state championship.”
While the Big Sandy boys joined the Pioneer girls team in bringing home a state championship, the boys meet was not as kind to other Northern C teams. North Star, who won the District 9C championship this season, finished the meet with a mere nine points. Senior Cody Donoven rounded out a brilliant athletic career at North Star with a fourth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles and a sixth-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles.
The Chester/J-I Hawks scored just four points during the meet, all of them coming from distance runner Caleb Brown's sixth-place finish in the 800-meter run.
But as predicted, by Lackner himself, the meet, and Vigilante Stadium belonged to the Pioneers.
“These kids just did a great job,” Lackner said. “No matter how things look on paper you still have to go out there and do it in real life, and that is what these kids did.
“It was cold and the conditions were bad, but the kids just kept competing and they competed hard the whole meet,” Lackner added. “They never quit working hard this weekend and they did everything they had to do to win, and I am extremely proud of all of them.”
Class C
at Helena
Boys
Team scores
Big Sandy 69, Drummond 32, Sheridan 29, Augusta 24, Denton 24, Twin Bridges 23, Gardiner 22, Joliet 22, Park City 2, Rapelje 20, Lambert 16, Medicine Lake-Froid 16, West Yellowstone 16, Belt 15, Great Falls Central/MSDB 14, Melstone 14, Valier 14, Centerville 12, Harrison 12, Granie 10, Noxon 10, Shields Valley 10, Westby 10, Charlo 9, North Star 9, Broadview-Lavina 7, Highwood 6, Saco 6, Geraldine 5, Stanford 5,Chester/J-I 4, Fairview 4, Whitewater 4, Bridger 3, Lincoln 3, Absarokee 2, Garfield County 2, Circle 1, Power 1, White Sulphur Springs 1.
110 hurdles - 1, Kyle Danreuther, BS, 15.32; 2, Casey Schell, ML-F, 15.41; 3, Tyler Beal, Sher, 15.51; 4, Cody Donoven, NS, 15.87; 5, Bret Bahnmiller, High, 16.16; 6, Jason Jasonovich, Belt 16.28.
400 relay -1, Big Sandy 44.25; 2, Drummond 45.05; 3, Lambert 45.08; 4, Augusta 45.28; 5, Bridger 45.84; 6, Park City 45.92.
100 - 1, Damon Mitchell, Gard, 2, Ty Sandru, TB, 11.39; 3, Luke Stovall, Jol, 11.44; 4, Ryan Pokorny, BS, 11.48; 5, Nathan Diede, Lam, 11.59; 6, Karl Osterman, BS, 11.63.
200 - 1, Karl Osterman, BS, 23.23; 2, Nathan Diede, Lam, 23.30; 3, Damon Mitchell, Gard, 23.32; 4, Ty Sandru, TB, 23.37; 5, Ross Mosher, Aug, 23.52; 6, Clay Pierson, TB, 23.85.
1600 - 1, Zach Nordahl, Rap, 4:40.03; 2, Joel Buyan, Sher, 4:40.87; 3, Terran Guadipee, GFC-MSDB, 4:40.92; 4, Ryan Ketterling, Jol, 4:46.39; 5, Darin Day, BS, 4:48.16; 6, Kevin Heisler, Linc. 4:48.95.
High jump - 1, Lance Nemex, Dent, 6-0; 2, Tad Singbeil, Nox, 5-10; 3, Kyle Sears, Jol, 5-10; 4, Dakota Wergin, Bel, 5-10; 5, J.C. Isakson, Aug, 5-8; 6, Logan Schmidt, Pow, 5-8.
Javelin - 1, Brock Arthun, SV, 170-9; 2, Josh Ming, West, 165-7; 3, Aaron Blair, PC, 157-10; 4, Toby Clark, Ger, 156-9; 5, Reilly Spence, Linc, 156-0; 6, Casey Clark, Ger, 147-11.
Triple jump - 1, Cameron Carsley, WY, 42-8 1/2; 2, Chase Reynolds, Drum, 42-0 1/2; 3, Kale Eike, Mel, 41-11 3/4; 4, Zach Smith, Stan, 41-8 1/2; 5, Tad Singbeil, Nox, 41-3 1/2; 6, Derek Flinders, Circ, 41-2.
Friday's results
300 hurdles-1, Kyle Danreuther, Big Sandy, 39.32. 2, Ross Mosher, Augusta, 40.55. 3, Tel Reynolds, Drummond, 41.30. 4, Bret Bahnmiller, Highwood, 41.45. 5, Tyler Beal, Sheridan, 41.53. 6, Cody Donoven, North Star, 41.89.
800 -1, Sam Phaln, Philipsburg, 2:00.93. 2, Nathan Michael, Park City, 2:01.87. 3, Cory Kirkpatrick, Broadview-Lavina, 2:02.63. 4, Caleb Brown, C/J-I, 2:04.27. 5, Joel Buyan, Sheridan, 2:04.64. 6, Brandon Rollins, Charlo, 5:05.38.
Discus -1, Adam Schilling, Centerville, 150-6. 2, Colton Justice, Medicine Lake-Froid, 149-2. 3, Mark Buckentin, Denton, 141-3. 4, Greg Hardy, Fairview, 138-7. 5, Brent Lehman, Harrison, 138-4. 6, Alex Verlanic, Drummond, 138-2.
Pole Vault -1, Brandon Deboo, Valier, 13-0. 2, Evan Derks, Denton, 13-0. 3, Cory Rowberry, Sheridan, 13-0. 4, Clint Dean, Valier, 12-6. 5, Josh Clark, Absarokee, 12-6. 6, Shane Rue, Stanford, 12-6.
3200 - 1, Zach Nordah, Rapelje, 9:53.56. 2, Terran Guardipee, Great Falls Central/MSDB, 10:01.47. 3, Ryan Kettlerling, Joliet, 10:17.48. 4, Joel Buyan, Sheridan, 10:28.86. 5, Ford Smith, Gardiner, 10:34.21. 6, Aaron Buckingham, White Sulphur Springs, 10:37.
Long jump -1, Dakota Wergin, Belt, 21-11 3/4. 2, Kale Eike, Melstone, 21-7 1/4. 3, Cameron Carsley, West Yellowstone, 20-9 3/4. 4, Damon Mitchell, Gardiner, 20-9 3/4. 5, Josh Ming, Westby, 20-7. 6, Clay Cantrell, Drummond, 20-4 1/4.
Shot put - 1, Brent Lehman, Harrison, 50-0 1/4. 2, Joey Ray, Charlo, 49-8. 3, Alex Verlanic, Drummond, 47-11. 4, Dakota Taylor, Whitewater, 47-3. 5, Tyrel Cochrell, Drummond, 46-10. 6, Nick Clark, Sheridan, 46-8.
400 - 1, Clay Pierson, Twin Bridges, 51.33. 2, Karl Osterman, Big Sandy, 51.47. 3, Kazz Siewing, Saco, 51.82. 4, Kyle Danruether, Big Sandy, 52.18. 5, Skylar Harbaugh, Jordan, 52.3. 6, Rob Novakovich, Bridger, 52.68.
Girls
Team scores
Big Sandy 64, Chester/J-I 48, Harlowton 29, Bradview-Lavina 27, Opheim 26, Twin Bridges 26, Winnett/Grass Range 26, Belfry 24, Charlo 24, Denton 24, Drummond 22, Dutton-Brady 19, Stanford 18, Park City 16, Power 14, Geraldine 13, Lima 12, Circle 10, Victor 10, Fromberg 8, Sheridan 8, Sunburst 8, Westby 8, Absarokee 7, Chinook 7, Belt 6, Lustre Christian 4, North Star 4, Fairview 3, Highwood 2, Hysham 2, Judith Gap 2, Shields Valley 2, Gardiner 1, Nashua 1, Noxon 1, Valier 1.
100 hurdles - 1, Kourtney Danreuther, BS, 16.06; 2, Britanny Olson, W-GR, 16.15; 3, Amanda Burrington, Vic, 16.16; 4, Daina Kolstad, C/J-I, 16.35; 5, Kallie Merrill, JG, 16.41; 6, Brittney Kolstad, C-/J-I 16.51.
400 relay -1, Twin Bridges 52.03; 2, Geraldine 52.99; 3, Chester-Joplin-Inverness 53.44; 4, Harlowton 53.47; 5, Shields Valley 53.53; 6, Absarokee 54.07.
800 - 1, Amy Allen, Lim, 2:23.75; 2, Brianne Wolfe, C-J-I, 2:23.80; 3, Echo Thurston, Dent, 2:25.18; 4, Carrisa Storle, D-B, 5, Kendall Theriault, Harlo, 2:25.61; 6, Christy Pletan, Harlo, 2:26.45.
High jump - 1, Desirae O'Neil, BS, 5-2; 2, Ashley Grammens, B-L, 5-0; 3, Jordan Merrill, Stan, 4-10; 4, Roni Reddig, LC, 4-10; 5, Rochelle Toussaint, Char, 4-10, 6, Hannah Pimley, C-J-I, 4-10.
Javelin - 1, Ashlee Johnson, D-B, 120-3; 2, Matie Murphy, Drum, 115-4; 3, Kayla Broksle, Sher, 112-6; 4, Rachel Vorhees, Abs, 111-11; 5, Jessica Golden, Bel, 110-8; 6, Hayley Carr, Char, 110-0.
100 - 1, Annaliesa Fauth, Oph, 25.76; 2, Jessica Denney, Belf, 12.86; 3, Brittany Olson, W-GR, 12.91; 4, Kourtney Danreuther, BS, 13.00; 5, Daina Kolstad, C/J-I, 13.18; 6, Mandy Dutton, D-B, 13-24.
200 - 1, Kourtney Danreuther, BS, 25.76 (Class C record; old record 25.8, Fran Peterson, Alberton, 1976 established at English distance; also Darcy Tucker, Arlee, 1980) 2; Annaliesa Fauth, Oph, 25.95; 3, Jessica Denney, Belf, 26.65; 4, Brittany Olson, W-GR, 26.8; 5, Katie Degel, TB, 27.32; 6, Karissa Wilson, Nox, 27.55.
1600 relay - 1, Big Sandy 4:10.73; 2, Chester/J-I 4:12.6; 3, Twin Bridges 4:21.92; 4, Harlowton 4:22.64; 5, Fairview 4:27.32; 6, Charlo 4:28.62.
3200 - 1, Christy Pletan, Harlo, 12:25;51; 2, Michelle Melton, Dent, 12:38.30; 3, Hannah Reid, Circ, 12:44.88; 4, Bryanna Gondiero, Belt, 12:47.73; 5, Lacey Beerman, Pow, 12:55.01; 6, Caitlyn Kynast, Abs, 12:56.87.
Triple jump- 1, Ashley Grammens, B-L, 36-4; 2, Mattie Murphy, Drum, 33-0; 3, Maria Stundsted, West, 32-7 1/2; 4, Kari Taylor, Stan, 32-5 1/4; 5, Ashley Mullholland, TB, 32-5; 6, Crystal Roseberry, Chin, 32-2 3/4.
Friday's results.
1600-1, Brianne Wolfe, C/J-I, 5:27.93. 2, Christy Pletan, Harlowton, 5:32.21. 3, Echo Thurston, Denton, 5:39.86. 4, Hannah Reid, Circle, 5:43.08. 5, Lacey Beerman, Power, 5:43.51. 6, Caitlyn Kynast, Absarokee, 5:53.68.
300 hurdles - 1, Kourtney Danreuther, Big Sandy, 43.68 (Class C record. Old class record 43.79, Blythe Hommes, Manhattan Christian, 1993). 2, Brittany Olson, Winnett, 46.12. 3, Daina Kolstad, C/J-I, 46.29. 4, Amanda Burrington, Victor, 47.18. 5, Brittney Kolstad, C/J-I, 47.47. 6, Ashley Grammens, Broadview-Lavina, 48.02.
Long jump - 1, Jessica Denney, Belt, 17-2. 2, Ashley Grammens, Broadview-Lavina, 16-8. 3, Crystal Roseberry, Chinook, 16-4. 4, Leslie Engellant, Geraldine, 16-2 1/2. 5, Maria Sundsted, Westby, 15-9. 6, Mary Cote, Gardiner, 15-8 3/4.
Shot put - 1, Amanda Murphy, Charlo, 39-3. 2, Raynee Pace, Sunburst, 35-3 3/4. 3, Ginny Davidson, Park City, 33-5 3/4. 4, Natasha Dyrland, North Star, 33-4 1/4. 5, Kayla Broksle, Sheridan, 33-3 1/2. 6, Narisa Braaten, Nashua, 33-1.
Discus - 1, Ginny Davidson, Park City, 129-0. 2, Suzanne Flint, Fromberg, 114-0. 3, Amanda Murphy, Charlo, 113-3. 4, Jenessa Todd, Denton, 110-11. 5, Brooke Zent, Hysham, 106-9. 6, Kelsee Clark, Geraldine, 102-9.
Pole vault - 1, Jacque Mellinger, Power, 10-0. 2, Jordan Merrill, Stanford, 9-6. 3, Holly Dahl, Drummond, 9-6. 4, Adri Hammond, Charlo, 9-6. 5, Katie Schipf, Highwood, 9-0. 6, Sarah Widhal, Valier, 9-0.
400 - 1, Kourtney Danreuther, Big Sandy, 56.88. (Class record. Old class record 57.63, Teri Holzworth, Richey, 1981.) 2, Annaliesa Fauth, Opheim, 59.13. 3, Katie Degel, Twin Bridges, 1:00.67. 4, Carrisa Storle, Dutton-Brady, 1:00.82. 5, Amy Allen, Lima, 1:01.02. 6, Courtney Kittleson, Fairview, 1:01.76.
