Rare double-dip of district track on tap today

HMS track plays host to competitive District 9C track meet and is the temporary home of District 7C meet today as well

Chris Peterson Havre Daily News [email protected]

The Jason Groseclose Memorial track meet in Rudyard on Saturday featured a number of Hi-Line schools, making it the ideal tune up for today's District 9C track meet. With a number of athletes missing from both schools due to other extracurricular activities, the North Star girls track team dominated the rest of the competition, notching an impressive 285 points to cruise to a first-place finish. Coming in second was Big Sandy with 99 points, followed by Harlem with 30 and Rocky Boy with 16. On the boys side, it was the Harlem Wildcats getting the best of North Star, with a point-total of 163 compared to 149 points for the Knights. Big Sandy came in third with a respectable total of 107 points, followed by Turner in fourth with 67 and Rocky Boy in fifth with 11. Big Sandy's Amber Amsbaugh filled the incredibly large shoes left by Class C state champion sprinter and hurdler Kourtney Danreuther, who didn't compete at the meet. Amsbaugh won all five events that she entered, including the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles, 400-meter dash, high jump and triple jump. North Star got solid performances by a number of different athletes, including Sarah Helmbrecht (200-meter dash), Natasha Dyrland (shot put), Britt Kapperud (100-meter dash), Courtney Wendland (javelin), Shelbi Beaudry (1600-meter run), Megan Warren (long jump), Justine Beaudry (pole vault) and Shanta Romero (3200-meter run), all of whom won events for the Knights. North Star also wound up taking first place in both the 400-meter and 1600- meter relays. On the boys side, the meet was highlighted by a number of individual performances led by Big Sandy's Patrick Louvar. Louvar won the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash, to go along with his victory in the long jump. Teammate Darin Ray helped the Pioneer cause by winning both the 800-meter run and the 1600-meter run. The Harlem Wildcats were paced by Rick Haluszka, who won both the shot put and the javelin. Fellow Wildcat Kameron Gilham won both the high jump and the discus. Mitch Stiffarm also won the 300 hurdles, to go along with Harlem victories in both relays. Josh Beaudry was the top performer for North Star with first-place finishes in both the triple jump and the pole vault. Other Knights that won events at the meet were Kellan Warren in the 3200- meter run, Adam Chvilicek in the 400- meter dash and Zack Halter in the 110- meter hurdles. The track season now boils down to the District 9C track meet today at the Havre Middle School track. To qualify for the Northern C divisional track meet, all athletes must finish in the top five in their respective events. “I am not too concerned about winning the district meet,” Big Sandy head coach Roy Lackner said. “Because at districts it's more about your depth than how good of athletes you have. So I am just worried about getting as many kids into divisionals as we can. “I think that we will get better as we go along,” he added. “Then we will be more concerned with how we are doing, because to get to state you have to do well in divisionals, but to get to divisionals you have to do well at districts, so this meet is important too.” Big Sandy and North Star will be the favorites in both the boys and girls meets. The Big Sandy girls will be paced by Amsbaugh and Danreuther, who will be favored to win all five events she is scheduled to compete in. Last year at the district meet, Danreuther set 9C records in the 100, 200 and 400 meters, the 100 hurdles and the 300 hurdles. On the boys side, Kyle Danreuther will also compete in all three sprint events and both hurdle events. He also has a chance to win all five of his events. Ray and Louvar should also do well for the Pioneers. The Knights don't have as many elite athletes as the Pioneers, but they definitely have depth in their favor. “The thing that really worries me is somebody getting disqualified and not getting to divisionals,” Lackner explained. “Say that Kourtney false starts or something that could cost us 10 points at state. So I am going to be a little nervous about that kind of thing. I just want to get as many kids to qualify as possible.” The District 9C track meet will begin this morning with preliminary heats, and continue all day at the HMS track. Finals are scheduled to begin at 12:45 p. m. The meet will run in conjunction with the District 7C meet, which is also being held in Havre for the first time ever.