Avery Stiles was down to his last try. He had led the field in the long jump going into the finals and held on until the final round, when Ry Olson of Joliet took the lead with a leap of 21’11.75”. Stiles was the final jumper, and he knew he had one chance to best Olson.
Which he did: 22’3”, a personal best. Stiles was state champion.
Stiles’ last-minute drama was the highlight for Jefferson High of the State track and field meet in Kalispell last weekend. A cool and wet spring threatened to end the same way for this meet, and as dark clouds rolled in it looked like a soaker would hit at any minute. Fortunately, the heavy rains held off, leaving a great day for the athletes.
The South division, with 18 schools stretching from Boulder to Baker, paced the class B competition. As expected, Huntley Project dominated the boys’ field with 122 points. Manhattan took second with 43, trailed by Broadwater with 41 and Sweet Grass County with 40. The Panthers finished ninth with 23 points.
On the girls’ side, Baker took home its first State title, sharing the crown with Huntley Project. It came down to the last race of the meet: Huntley Project held a two-point lead over Baker going into the 4X400 relay, needing at least a second-place finish in the race to win the overall title. Huntley Project did take second – but Baker won in 4:07.73, scoring 10 points to make it a tie for the title. Colstrip took third.
As for the Panthers, Stiles had a big day. In addition to his long jump title, he came a couple of inches short of placing in the top six in the triple jump, taking 8th at 40’4.25”; and placed 11th in the 100, a highly competitive race that saw less than a second separate the top 20 racers.
Then there was the high jump. Stiles seemed the favorite: He had won the state title the year before, after all, and he owned the highest jump of the 2019 season, 6’9.25”. But in his first jump, Stiles missed at 6’. His second jump: Another miss at the same height.
Knowing one more miss would put him out of the running, Stiles cleared the bar with ease on his third attempt, then easily cleared 6’ 2”, 6’ 4” and 6’6”. That left three athletes in the mix for the title. Noah Bouchard of Huntley Project jumped 6’8”, with the bar shaking a bit but staying put. Wyatt Duke of Big Fork and Stiles couldn’t match Bouchard. Duke took second because he had fewer misses, and Stiles places third.
Coen Guisti bagged a third-place finish, too, with a 46’ shot put. He also placed 10th in the discus at 130’. Dalton Rykal took 7th in the shot put at 44’7”, and Drake Schake was 8th in the discus at 133’6”. Carter McCauley took 8th in the 110 hurdles in 17.11, while Joey Visser got on the podium in the 300 hurdles with his 6th place finish in 42.54, a personal best. And the 4X100 relay team of Richie Canzona, Casey St Clair, Visser and Stiles took 14th in 46.25.
For the Lady Panthers, the 4X400 relay team of Ashton Oxarart, Ashley Pankratz, Hailee Stiles and Grace Alexander got on the podium, digging deep for a gutsy performance to place 6th with a time of 4:17.36. The same girls took 8th in the 4X100 relay in 52.88. Stiles took 15th in the triple jump at 31’ 11.75” and 17th in the 200 in 28.37. Alexander placed 7th in the 300 hurdles in 48.63, just .36 of a second behind the 6th place finisher. And Grace Jones took 9th in the shot put at 33’ 4.50”.
