After sitting out most of the cross country season with injuries, Renae Parker returned to competition with a flourish, winning the Class B state championship in Missoula Oct. 22.
Parker had a frustrating fall. She ran in the Panthers first meet, at home, then had to bow out with a stress fracture in her left fibula and a stress reaction in her left tibia, not to mention tendinitis in her leg. With hard work and determination, she worked her way back and was cleared by her doctor to run in the state meet.
It was a storybook ending for the senior who finished second in last year’s state championship after breaking a bone in her foot with just half a mile left in the face. This year, the prospect of another injury loomed, but she hung tough: Trailing a mile into the race, she caught the leaders by mile two and then ran a blistering third mile to finish in 19:13.2, a full 10 seconds ahead of Natalie Wood of Sweet Grass County.
Freshman Hannah Stevens finished 15th in 21:08, while Meridith Rieder placed 65th in 23:31, Michaela Morris 72nd in 23:56, Izzy Morris 87th in 24:52, and Austie May 107th in 25:58. The girls placed ninth overall as a team; Columbus won the title with 91 points, with Manhattan second and Red Lodge third.
The boys team placed third with 129 points, bettering their fifth-place finish last year and improving their average time by nearly 30 seconds. St. Ignatius won the title with 63 points, and Three Forks finished second.
Luke Mest was the first Panther to cross the finish, placing 11th at 17:03. Dominic Hurlbert was close behind, finishing 13th in 17:10. Logan Hornung was 16th in 17:14, Dylan Mikesell 34th in 18:21, McKenon Boyd 55th in 19:00, Matthew Zelenka 90th in 19:56, and Christian Gillmore in 20:20. Congrats to all!
Volleyball
The Lady Panthers finished their regular season with a 3-0 win over the Manhattan Tigers. With the win, Jefferson secured second place in the conference, with an 8-2 record — its only losses coming to undefeated Broadwater.
Against Manhattan, the Panthers built a 11-4 lead in the first set on a kill by Cameron Toney and an ace by MacKenzie Layng. A pair of kills by Arena Faler gave closed out the 25-7 win. Manhattan started the second with a 4-0 run and the teams stayed close for the first half of the game. Haleigh Henschel’s ace tied the game at 11, Ryian Eveland’s kill made it 13-11, and two more kills cleared the way for a 25-13 win.
The third was close in the early going, but an ace by Layng and a kill by Erica Shields gave the Panthers a 10-7 lead and they went on to win 25-18.
For the regular season, Layng led the Panthers with 177 assists, Toney notched 112 kills, Clara Genger had 22 blocks, and Emma McCauley made 244 digs. Toney andMcCauley also led the conference in their respective categories.
Now it’s on to the conference tournament in Manhattan. In their opening match, at 1 p.m. on Thursday, the Panthers will face the winner of a play-in game between Three Forks and Whitehall. Broadwater will take on the winner of the Manhattan-Big Timber match-up.
Football
The Panthers closed out their regular season with a convincing 43-6 conference win over Three Forks Oct. 21.
Jefferson overpowered Three Forks from the start, scoring two touchdowns in the first four minutes of play. Luke Oxarart took the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown to start the scoring. And he completed scoring passes to Michael Emter and Caleb Smartnick in the first quarter and ran for another touchdown. Dylan Root tackled a Three Forks player in the end zone for a safety, and it was 29-0 Panthers with 3:46 left in the first quarter.
The Panther defense, meanwhile, smothered Three Forks on nearly every play, and Jefferson went up 43-0 in the second quarter, allowing subs to play out the second half.
Root had 62 yards rushing and one touchdown, while Oxarart ran for 46 yards and one touchdown, and passed for another 84 yards and two touchdowns. Johnny Armstrong had an 11-yard touchdown run, while Mike Emter received for 25 yards and a score and Caleb Smartnick made a 30-yard touchdown reception. Root made five of six PATs, and also had nine total tackles.
Jefferson hosts Eureka this Saturday at 1 p.m. in the first round of the Class B playoffs. Good luck, Panthers!
