Tennis
The Jefferson High tennis doubles team placed second at the Southeast division tournament in Belgrade last week, where juniors Laurynn Armstrong and Kylie Marks placed second and qualified for the State B-C tennis tournament in Bozeman this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The Panthers got to the title match in Belgrade by defeating Jensen/Waldbillig of Three Forks 6-3, 6-4. Their second match saw the Panthers defeat Larsen/Buchanan of Broadwater 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, a win that put them into the title match on Friday against Noyes/Schritz of Broadwater.
The title match was a thriller with the Broadwater girls taking the first set 6-1, and the Panthers fighting back in the second to take the win 6-1. The third proved to keep both schools on the edge of their seats. The Panthers took an early lead, 3-2, then the score went to 4-4. The next two points could have gone either way but the Bulldogs were able to pull it out 6-4 for the championship.
The state tournament will be played at MSU and Bozeman High School. The first day the girls will be at MSU and the boys at Bozeman High; the second day the girls will be at Bozeman High and boys at MSU; and on the third day both girls and boys will play at MSU.
The other Panthers doubles team, Quincee Starz and Abby Suppala, won their first by defeating Hayder/Howey of Three Forks 7-5, 6-0. Next they faced Noyes/Schritz of Broadwater and lost 2-6, 1-6. That put them into loser-out action Friday against Jensen/Waldbillig of Three Forks. The Panthers won 6-3, 6-4, and advanced into the consolation match with Larson/Buchanan of Broadwater, whose winner would advance to state.
This would prove to be the most contested doubles match of the tournament. Broadwater won the first 6-1, then the Panthers came back in the second and pulled out a hard-fought 7-6 win. The third was another tight one with the teams battling for the third spot and a trip to state. The score stayed close all the way, with the Broadwater girls edging the Panthers 6-7.
Singles players Hanna French, Sam Zody, Rita Buffa and Tempe Solomon competed well but came up short of advancing to State. Rita Buffa was one match away from going to Bozeman and was the top singles placer for the Panthers.
Broadwater won the team title with 58 points. Jefferson scored 25, Whitehall 21 and Three Forks 5.
Track
The Panther track teams competed in the district 5B meet in Belgrade last Thursday, with the Panther boys bringing home the second-place trophy.
Broadwater won the boys title with 141 points, while Jefferson scored 120.5, Manhattan 113, Three Forks 65, Sweet Grass County 65 and Whitehall 18.5. Manhattan won the girls title with 165 points, with Three Forks scoring 145, Sweet Grass County 65, Whitehall 52, Jefferson 49.5 and Broadwater 46.5.
The top six placers in each individual event advanced to the Southern Divisional in Laurel this Thursday and the top eight placers at Division advance to State in Kalispell May 24-25.
Leading the way for the Panther boys was Avery Stiles, who won the high jump at 6’, the long jump at 21’2” and the triple jump with a personal best 42’1.50”. He also took third in the 100 in 11.68 and ran a leg in the 4×100 team that took third in 46.54. Other Panthers on the 4×100 team were Richie Canzona, Joey Visser and Casey St. Clair.
Coen Guisti won the shot put with a throw of 44’5.25” and took second in the discus at 121’6”. Drake Schake won the discus with a personal best 138’1” and took fourth in the shot put at 40’3.25”. Dalton Rykal took second in the shot put with 43’3.25”, third in the javelin with 135’10” and fourth in the discus with 112’. Carter McCauley took third in the 110 hurdles with 16.47, Joey Visser fifth in the 300 hurdles with 44.71, Josiah Williams fourth in the 110 hurdles with 17.13, Braden Morris sixth in the 300 hurdles with 46.08, Riley Stock third in the pole vault at 8’6”, Jake Genger sixth in the high jump at 5’ and sixth in the pole vault at 8’, Trent McMaster fourth in the high jump at 5’6”, and Justin Wells fifth in the triple jump at 38’2.50”.
The 4×400 relay team of Casey St. George, Josiah Williams, Braden Morris and Joey Visser took fourth with a time of 4:04.53.
For the girls, Grace Jones won the shot put with a throw of 31’5.25”. Hailee Stiles took fourth in the 100 at 13.89, fifth in the 200 28.69, third in the triple jump 30’10”, and fourth in the long jump 13’9.50”. Grace Alexander placed second in the 100 hurdles with 17.39 and third in the 300 hurdles with 48.81. Ashton Oxarart won sixth in the 100 at 14.27, Kai Taylor fourth in the shot put at 29’4”, and Ashley Sullivan fifth in the discus at 88’2”.
The 4×100 relay team of Oxarart, Stiles, Alexander and Ashley Pankratz took sixth in 1:03.66 and the 4×400 team of Alexander, Oxarart, Callie Warfle and Pankratz finished fifth in 4:49.55.
Action starts at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, May 16 at Laurel High School.
Golf
Freshman Preston Field qualified for State golf in his first year of high school, shooting an 88 at the Division 3 golf tournament in Anaconda on May 7. His score of 88 tied for sixth place with three other boys.
The top 15 singles boys qualify for a State tournament that will be played at the Ranch Club in Missoula on May 14-15. Forty-nine boys competed in the tournament from 11 schools.
Missoula Loyola won the boys team title with a 332, while Anaconda scored 372, Florence-Carlton 373, Broadwater 389, Three Forks 395, Big Fork 406, Manhattan 481, Powell County 519 and Lincoln County 522. Jefferson did not have a team score because only three boys were in the tournament. Andy Johnson tied for 18th with a 99, Luke Eckmann tied for 29th with a 106.
Missoula Loyola took first in the girls tournament with 379, with Big Fork scoring 414, Anaconda 447, Manhattan 494 and Broadwater 548. Jefferson did not have a girl in the tournament.
