North Star girls dominate 9C meet; Big Sandy boys win another championship
Chris Peterson Havre Daily News cpeterson@havredailynews.com
It was crunch time for all the District 9C thinclads, as they competed to continue their season at the Northern C Divisional meet next weekend. Going into the District 9C track meet on Wednesday at the Havre Middle School track, it appeared as though the North Star Knights and Big Sandy Pioneers were far away the teams to beat. And for the most part, the teams lived up to the expectations, as the North Star girls and the Big Sandy boys walked away with 9C championships on Wednesday afternoon. The Chinook girls edged out defending Class C state champion Big Sandy for second place with 128 points. The Pioneers scored 126 points. The North Star boys also came in second well place, ahead of Chinook which finished a distance third. Big Sandy’s Kourtney Danreuther had a stellar day, despite being disqualified in the girls 100-meter finals due to a false-start. However, Danreuther didn’t let her troubles in the 100 dampen her day, as she still went on to win the 200-meter dash, the 400-meter dash, the 100 hurdles and the 300 hurdles. She also broke her own district records in the 200 with a time of 25.3, the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.9 and tied her record in the 400 with a time of 57.9. “It was unfortunate that it happened,” Big Sandy head coach Roy Lackner said of Danreuther false-starting. “But I told her that it is just one event and she moved on and did really well in the rest of her events.” Big Sandy senior Kyle Danreuther was the catalyst for the Big Sandy boys victory. Danreuther won the 110 hurdles, the 300 hurdles, the 200 meters and the 400 meters. He set district records in both hurdle events with times of 15.1 in the 110 hurdles and 40.2 in the 300 hurdles. Danreuther also topped off his spectacular performance with a secondplace finish to teammate Patrick Louvar in the 100-meter dash. Other Big Sandy boys that won events, included Darin Ray, who won the 800 and 1600-meter runs, Casten Hepner, who won the discus, Lawrence Jappe, who won the javelin, Corbin Pearson, who won the long jump and Ryne LaBuda, who won the triple jump. “I thought that we had a pretty good day,” Lackner said. “Kyle had a great day, Pat ran well and won the 100, Corbin won the long jump and we had some other kids do well, so I was happy with that. To me it doesn’t matter as much how you do at districts as long as you make it to divisionals.” The Pioneers also won both the 400 and 1600-meter relays. The North Star girls were spearheaded by freshman Sarah Helmbrecht, who finished first in the 100-meter dash, the long jump and the triple jump. Other Knights that won events at the meet were Natasha Dyrland in the shot put, Courtney Wendland in the javelin and Justine Beaudry in the pole vault. The Knights’ depth played a big role all day, as evidenced by going, two and three in the javelin. Big Sandy sophomore Laci Keller set a district record with a winning discus throw of 115-09. Amber Amsbaugh also had a solid day for the Pioneers, winning the high jump to go along with second- place finishes in the long jump and the 300 hurdles. Rocky Boy freshman Jasmin Dumas led the Stars by winning the girls 800 and 1600-meter runs. The North Star boys were spurned onto a second-place finish behind the performances of Josh Beaudry and Kellan Warren. Beaudry won both the long jump and pole vault for the Knights, while Warren won the 3200-meter run, in addition to finishing second in the 1600 meters and third in the 800 meters. Chinook senior Mike Miller helped the Beeters cause by grabbing a firstplace finish in the shot put. All boys and girls who qualified will now prepare for the Northern C track meet next week in Great Falls.
