The Lady Panthers got in two much-needed days of tennis in Great Falls last week. They recorded one win, two ties and two losses in the competition. The Panthers beat Simms 4-2, tied with Poplar 3-3, lost to Fort Benton 5-1, tied CJI/Poplar 2-2 and fell to Fairfield 6-0. Against Simms, Breanna Rykal took a singles win for the Panthers by defeating Meagan Gannon 6-3, 6-3. Breanna Humphrey lost to Hannah Rushton 6-2, 6-2. Olea Saevik and Antonia Rekke each captured a singles win for the Panthers, Saevik winning 6-4 and 7-5 over Aurora MacDonald and Rekke defeating Mikayla Hart 6-3, 6-2.
In doubles, Leah and Latrice Vossler defeated Maddie Bloom-Karkie Sivumaki 6-2, 6-4 and Paige Yanzick-Jadyn Bellander lost to Lissy Welekes- Janessa Welekes 6-2, 6-4. Not only was the contest with Poplar close enough to end in a tie, some of the individual matches were hard-fought, requiring extended play.
In singles, Humphrey battled hard to come back for a 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 win over Rachel Diaz. Yanzick also had a close singles match before she was edged out by Sasha Youngman 6-4, 7-5. Other singles matches resulted in a second win for Rykal 6-2, 6-2 over Sam Youngman, and a loss for Rekke to Isabelle Four 6-4, 6-4. The Vossler-Vossler duo defeeated Sasha and Sam Youngman 6-3, 6-3, but Jadyn Bellander and Laurynn Armstrong came up short to Four and Diaz 6-3, 6-3.
Fort Benton was tough on the Panthers in that 5-1 loss for JHS. Only Rykal, continuing her winning ways, was able to overcome her opponent Lilly Green 6-2, 7-5. Against CJI/Poplar, the Panthers worked hard to capture more wins before ending in the 2-2 tie. After Rykal recorded yet another win, this time 6-2, 6-4 over Kaya Stone, Humphrey came back from a 6-4 loss to take the second set 6-4. The third set went to opponent Shirell Norick 10-2 to decide the match. Vossler and Vossler also found themselves in a tight match. After taking the first set 6-2, they were defeated 7-5 and 10-5 by Jeraca Tempel and Brooke Woods.
Rekke and Yanzick paired up for a doubles win 7-5, 6-4 over Katey Kammerall and Kylee Vinson. An exhibition doubles match saw Armstrong and Bellander edged by Kinlee Salois and Coralee Bock 4-6, 6-6 [7]. Fairfield brought forth the only singles player able to best Rykal at the competition, but it was not an easy victory for Emily Clotfelter. After a 5-7 first set loss, Rykal came back to take the second 6-2 and then pushed through a decid- ing match that went to Clotfelter 10-7. Vossler and Vossler put up a good fight, recovering from a 2-6 first set loss to take the second 6-4, before falling 10-8 to Annie Townsend and Amelia Konen. Humphrey, Saevik and Rekke all suffered losses in singles play while Bellander and Yanzick were also unable to secure a Panther win in doubles. This week the Panthers host Whitehall, Fairfield and Lone Peak on Thursday. Start time is 10 a.m.
GOLF Thirteen teams with 94 golfers competed in the Jefferson golf invitational tournament Thurs- day at Bill Roberts Golf Course in Helena: Jefferson, Manhattan, Lone Peak, Harlowton, Manhattan Christian, Ennis, Three Forks, Townsend, Missoula Loyola, Deer Lodge, Big Timber, Anaconda and White Sulphur Springs. The weather was great and the grounds in really good shape considering the early part of the season. The Townsend boys took top honors in the team scoring with a 327. Loyola was second at 337, Three Forks third at 345.
Quite a few teams, including Jefferson, did not field enough players for a team score. Bucky Crippen of Loyola took top individual honors with a 76, followed by Jaden Graveley, Townsend, 77; Blake Finn, Sweet Grass County, 80; Scott DeMars, Townsend, 81; Josh Massey, Three Forks, 81; Kyle Frye, Man- hattan, 81; and Reed Wasson, White Sulphur Springs, 81.
For the Panthers Josh Eckmann fired an 89, Cole Oie 96, and Lincoln Leary 121. On the girls’ side Three Forks took first with 347, Missoula Loyola second with 350, and An- aconda third with 442. Kylie Esh of Loyola was first with a 76, followed by Katie Fagg, Loyola, 80; Syndey Rochford, Three Forks, 80; Tanna Campbell, Sweet Grass County, 83; and Shainy Mack, Three Forks 84. Natalee Stout was the only Panther girl and she shot a 140. The Panther varsity team was in Townsend on Tuesday and the JV teams in Townsend on Wednesday. Results will be in next week’s Monitor.
TRACK AND FIELD The JHS track and field teams traveled to Choteau Saturday. Choteau has a new all-weather track and a very nice facility. The Panthers were able to see a lot of teams they don’t very often see during the regular season. Around 400 kids participated in the meet from Class B and Class C schools. Emma Stout had a strong performance, finishing 7th in the 100 hurdles in 19.69, 5th in the 300 hurdles in 57.42 and 6th in the pole vault at 6’ flat, as well as joining Ardaya Memner, Callie Warfle, and Kaylee Ottman for a 4th in the 4X100 relay in 56.88. Quinn Mann took 5th in the 400 in 1:09.15 and was part of the 3rd place 4×400 relay team with Austin Thackeray, Callie Warfle and Aubrey McMaster that ran the race in 4:43.04. McMaster added a 3rd in javelin at 100’ 8”; Warfle also took 5th at 87’ 6” in the javelin. Simonie Mendenhall leaped to 3rd in the high jump at 4’4”, and Kaylee Ottman was 5th in the long jump at 13’4 3/4”.
In the boys’ events, Josh Eckmann won the high jump at 6’ 4” followed by teammates Avery Stiles at 6’ and Chance Hecht in 4th at 5’ 8”. Both Eckmann’s and Stiles’s jumps exceeded the heights required to qualify for the state meet later this spring. Eckmann also had the longest triple jump of the day at 38’ 10” and the second-longest long jump at 18’ 1/2”. Stiles leaped to 7th in the triple jump at 36’ 4 1/2”. Eckmann and Stiles rounded out their successful day by joining Ritchie Canzona and Hunter Henschal for a 3rd place 4×100 relay in 47.78. Mead Blake took 7th in the 100 in 12.69, 6th in the 200 in 24.98, and joined Henschal, Hunter Gilbert and Jaxson Yanzick for 7th in the 4×400 relay in a time of 3:58.10. Noah Fader tossed the javelin 146’ 7” to take second in that event, and teammate Kieran Eveland took 7th in the pole vault at 9’ 6”. The next track meet for the Panthers will be April 22nd in Belgrade. Start time is 10 a.m.
