By Rob Everingham
GREAT FALLS Area track teams converge on Great Falls this Thursday for the 1999 Northern C Divisional track meet.
KG will be a favorite after cleaning up at the District 9C track. The KouGars are strong in the distances with Travis Stehman favored in the 3200 and 1600. Jake Stuart will also be strong for KG in the javelin, high jump and middle distances. Also for the KouGars will be Rhett Crites who should do well in the jumps.
On the girls side for KouGars, they will not be going after the top team title but they are looking to advance some athletes on to state. Christin Smith has dominated in the distances this year, and Jenny Jorgenson has come back strong after an early season injury.
KG coach Paul Anderson said on the boys competition will be a tight race. Chester and Belt will be strong, and, Anderson said, it should be close.
Anderson said the KouGars are hoping for a good day, and then they just want to do the thing that will move them on to state. Also, Anderson said, they need to not make any little mistakes. In the team competition, the distances and Stuart will be strong, but it will come down to the other athletes.
We need those third and fourth places, Anderson said.
Chester will be another strong team at divisional, after running through the competition at the District 10C meet.
The Coyotes advanced a lot of athletes on both the boys and girls side and should have good depth at the meet.
On the boys side, Brent Riggin, Eric Kleinsasser, Jeff Graham, Zeb Engstrom and Sean Weinert will all compete for top spots at divisionals after winning events at districts. Also, the Chester relay teams should do well after setting meet records at districts.
On the girls side, the sister combination of Carlye and Michele VanDyke will be tough. Also for the Coyotes, Johann Johnson, Marci Temple, and Emily Tranberg. Both the 400- and 1600-relay teams won events at the district level.
Chester coach Bill Schlepp said on the girls side he doesnt think anybody can beat Augusta. But Schlepp said, his girls are working hard. On the boys side, Schlepp said is should come down to Chester and KG. Schlepp said, though, that he doesnt know if they could beat KG. To do it, Schlepp said, they will have to have some great performance and hopefully take second place. The top goal is to just move on and get as many athletes as possible on to state.
The Big Sandy girls team will be tough. The Pioneers got the win at the 9C District meet.
Big Sandy will be looking towards Jenny Silvan, Eryn Darlington, and Kristi Upham, who all won events at district and should place high at divisionals. In addition, the Pioneers relay teams had a good day by winning both the 400 and 1600 relays.
On the boys side for Big Sandy, Mark Nelson and Mace Mangold should do well in the pole vault, and Ross Runnion should contend in the 800.
Blue Sky will be sending a host of athletes to the divisional tournament.
For the Blue Sky boys team, Jason Horel should do well in both the discus and shot put. David Jurenka, Dan Mikaulecky and Reed Peterson are also strong and have a chance to move on to the state level.
Carly Redding and Bethany Chinadle will be strong after cleaning up at districts. Chinadle won the discus and Redding finished first in the long jump and high jump.
Blue Sky coach Bill Mulvaney said the competition will get tougher at the divisional level.
J-I qualified 100 percent of its athletes for divisionals. Auston Sutton should do well in the 1600 and 3200 after winning both events at the 10C district meet. Right behind Sutton was Joe Kvernum, who also should be able to compete. The third athlete for J-I will be Ivan VanDessel, competing in the 800.
Turner will be well represent at divisionals. Brandon Sparks should have a good day in the 110 and 300 hurdles. W.K. Sanguins also has a chance to qualify for state. Shimon Takoi also qualified for the divisional meet and should do well in the long jump.
For the Turner girls, Lisa Woods and Michi Seydler will be competing in individual events, and the 400-relay team also will be attending the meet.
Hays-Lodgepole will also have two individual athletes competing, Jeremy Walker and Ervin Doney. Both the 400- and 1600-relay teams finished high enough at district to advance to divisionals.
Josephine WindyBoy and Tessie LaMere both qualified for Box Elder. Windyboy will be competing in the 1600, and LaMere will be competing in the shot put, discus, and javelin.
For Rocky Boy, Darrell Sunchild won the shot put at the district and will have a good shot at placing at divisionals. Also Jesse Poolaw qualified for divisionals for the Stars in the 800.
