Here’s what happens when eternal winter wreaks havoc with the schedule: You play two tennis matches in the same afternoon. The water lines had thawed in the tennis building and the wind had eased, so the Panthers got in some much-needed court time on April 15, hosting a double-dual with Whitehall and Three Forks.
Jefferson and Whitehall split 3-3 in the afternoon’s opener. The Panther doubles teams of Laurynn Armstrong and Kylie Marks defeated Hanna Tebey and Megan Johnson, 7 (7)-6, 6 (4)-3. Quincee Starz and Abbie Supalla defeated Delaney Scafani and Kendra Kilspan 6-3, 6-2. In singles, Hanna French lost to Britney Welker 2-6, 2-6; Rita Buffa defeated Konold, 6-2, 6-4; Sam Zody lost to Madison Home, 4-6, 5-7; and Tempe Soloman lost to Bailee Hess, 4-6, 2-6.
In the back end, the Panthers defeated Three Forks, 4-2. French defeated Mackenzie Feddes, 6-3, 6-3; Buffa lost to Macey Combs, 7-5, 3-6, 4-10; Zody defeated Haylee Wilson; 6-2, 6-2; and Soloman defeated Chaylee Wester 3-6, 3-6. In doubles, Armstrong and Marks defeated Kinzee Howey and Katie Hayder, 6-3, 6-2. Starz and Supalla lost to Macie Jensen and Aubree Willidberg 6 (6), 7 (8), 4-6.
This week, the Panthers were scheduled to visit Townsend on Tuesday and compete in the large Dawg Bite Tournament in Helena over the weekend. The JV tennis players will be playing in Boulder.
Track and field
Meanwhile, the Panther track teams extended their strong start to the spring. After getting snowed out – by now, a familiar misfortune – in Butte on April 16, Jefferson enjoyed beautiful weather for Friday’s meet in Belgrade.
They made the most of the 77-day: The Panther boys took third out of the seventeen teams entered, while the lady Panthers placed seventh.
The meet was filled with personal bests for the Panthers. Among them, Emma Brown cleared 8’6” in the pole vault for 5th place; she also took second in the 200 in 29.67 and cleared 4’6” in the high jump for 10th.
Girls who finished in the top ten included Ashley Pankratz, 10th in the 100, 13.65, and 7th in the long jump, 14’ 8.25”; and Hailee Stiles, third in the triple jump with a personal best of 32’ .5”, and 6th 200 with another best, 28.02. Callie Warfle took 7th in the javelin, 97’ 4”, and 4th in the 400 in 1:04.30, a personal best; Aston Oxarart ran a personal best in the 300 hurdles in 55.0; Grace Jones took 3rd in the shot put 31’10”, a personal record; and Ashley Sullivan had personal best in the shot put at 28’6” and in the discus, 89’4”, for 8th.
The 4X100 relay team of Oxarart, Stiles, Pankratz and Warfle took 4th in 53.95. The 4X400 relay team of the same runners took 3rd in 4:29.76, the fourth-best time in class B this year.
Among the boys, Coen Guisti had a personal best in the shot put and qualified for the State track meet with 46’11.25”, a throw that put him first in class B and second overall. Guisti also won the discus with a personal best of 129;11.25”.
Avery Stiles has also qualified for State with his jump of 6’8” in Choteau, the top jump in class B this year and third best in all classes. In Belgrade, he won the high jump at 6’6” and took first in the triple jump at 40’7”, a personal best.
Trent McMaster took 4th in the high jump at 5’8”; Kieran Eveland cleared 11’, a personal record, in the pole vault for 11th; and Casey St Clair took 5th in the long jump at 17’2”. Justin Wells had a good day with personal bests in the 100, 12.15, and 38’10” in the triple jump for 6th.
Carter McCauley had personal records in the triple jump at 34’11” and in the 110 hurdles, 16.60, good for third. Josiah Williams had personal bests in the pole vault at 9’ and in the 110 hurdles at 17.82. Joey Visser took 7th in the 300 hurdles with a personal best of 44.74. Drake Schache took third in the discus at 126’; Dalton Rykal was 4th in the shot put at 43’ 10” and 9th in the javelin at 136’2”, a personal best. And Ryan Nelson placed 8th in the javelin at 136’7”.
The 4X 110 team of Richie Canzona, Visser, Riley Stock and Stiles took 5th in 46.95, the 4X400 team of Williams, Stock, Visser and Stiles placed 6th in 3:47.7.
