The regular season ended last week for Jefferson High’s golf, tennis and track teams — and now, the post-season run-up to State championships begins.
Golf
The golf squad will head to Big Fork on Wednesday for the divisional meet at Eagle Bend golf course. The top 15 individual boys and girls there will advance to State; so will the top four boys’ and girls’ teams. (JHS fields a full boys’ team, but doesn’t have enough girls to qualify.)
The Panthers made a couple of statements on their way to the post-season. On a really beautiful day at the Jefferson High invitational on Helena’s Bill Roberts Golf course, the boys took first with a score of 339, easily besting Three Forks with 376, Townsend at 385, Whitehall at 408, Big Timber at 427, and Florence at 427.
Preston Field took first with a score of 76, and Luke Eckmann notched a 81; Marcus Lee scored 84, Logan Gilmore 98, and Bryce Shields 99. Celi Chapman paced the girls with an 86, good for second place, while Jessie Harris shot 107 and Izzy Morris 125.
The golfers traveled to Livingston on Friday — and the boys again took first, this time with a team score of 345. Three Forks was second at 375, and Townsend third at 386. Eckmann tied for first, at 79, with Manhattan Christian’s Cullen Visser; Field took fourth with 82, while Lee scored 86, Gilmore 98, and Shields 100. Chapman tied for second among the girls with 89, and Harris finished with 108.
Track & Field
The Track and Field teams competed at Hamilton with the top 20 class C, B, and A schools from the western part of the state. The Panther boys took second place among that rarified crowd.
Braden Morris took second in the 110 hurdles, in 15:56, and third in the javelin at 151’10”. Dylan Root placed fourth in the 110 hurdles in 16:22, and ninth in the 300 Hurdles in 44:45. Joey Visser won the 100 in 11:42, took second in the 300 hurdles in 40:87, and second in the long jump at 20’9.5”. Wade Rykal was fourth in the shot put at 47’11”. The 4×100 relay team of Michael Emter, Morris, Root and Visser took second in 44:44; the same boys took sixth in the 4xx400 in 3:38.11.
For the girls Grace Alexander placed sixth in the 100 hurdles in 16:71 and sixth in the 300 hurdles in 49:11. Hailee Stiles took fifth in the triple jump at 33’3”; Emma McCauley took third in the pole vault at 8’6”, a personal best this year; and Kai Taylor was tenth in the shot put at 31’1”. Speedster Clare Ronayne took fourth in the 100 in 13:08 and fifth in the 200 in 27:43. The 4×100 relay team of MacKenzie Layng, Stiles, Alexander and Ronayne took fourth in 52:23, and the same girls took seventh in the 4×400 in 4:21.69.
The Lady Panthers took first in Livingston on Friday with 149 points, besting Ennis at 99, Park at 89, Three Forks at 77, Whitehall at 36, and Lone Peak at 20.
Ronayne won the 100 this time, with a time of 12:96. Brooklyn Pancoast took 5th in the 100 in 14:07, fourth in the 200 in 28:42, and fourth in the high jump at 4’4”. Layng was fifth in the 200 in 28:58, and second in the javelin at 92’4”. Alexander placed second in the 400 in 1:04.33, first in the 100 hurdles in 16:61, and second in the 300 hurdles in 50:29.
Rachel Van Blaricom was sixth in the 400 in 1:08.93, fifth in the javelin at 87’6”, and second in the pole vault at 7’. Brooke Eveland took second in the 1600 in 6:35.67. Taylor took third in the discus at 101.10 and third in the shot put at 29’10.25”. Stiles won the high jump at 4’8” and the long jump at 15’3.50”, and took third in the triple jump at 32’2”. McCauley won the pole vault at 8’ and the triple jump at 32’7”. Layng, Stiles, Alexander, and Ronanyne won the 4×100 relay in 51.59.
The Panther boys took second at Livingston with 145 points, trailing just Livingston with 154. Ennis finished a distant third with 48 points; Three Forks was fourth and Whitehall fifth.
With many kids trying different events, Visser won the 100 in 11:39, his fastest this season. Rutger Shultz was third in the 100 in 12:13 and third in the 200 in 24:81. Riley Stock placed fourth in the 100 in 12:65; Jack Johnson was second in the 800 in 2:20.08; and Dylan Mikesell was sixth in the 800 in 2:34.46 and third in the 1600 in 5:17.68.
Logan Hornung placed sixth in the 1600 in 5:26.55. Morris won the 110 hurdles in 15:57 and placed second in the javelin at 144’11”. Root was second in the 110 hurdles at 16:25. Rykal won the shot put at 46’5” and the discus at 120’, while Abram Williams was third in the shot put at 39’2.50” and Dalton Noble fourth at 36’2.50”. Luke Strizich placed fifth in the high jump at 5’2”. Stock was third in pole vault at 9’ and second in the long jump 18’5”, while John Armstrong placed fourth in the pole vault at 8’.
The 4×100 relay team of Morris, Stock, Root and Visser took first in 44’90, while the 4×400 relay team of Will Dietz, Johnson, Zach Zupalla and Armstrong took second in 4:02.51.
The track and field teams will be in Belgrade this Friday for the District 5B meet. The Divisional meet is in Laurel on May 20 and State is in Laurel May 28-29.
Tennis
The Panthers split on the week, losing at home to Three Forks on Tuesday, 2-4, then traveling to Red Lodge on Thursday for a 4-2 win.
Against Three Forks, Sam Zody defeated Lauren Stine 6-3, 6-2, and Rita Buffa bested Alex Pierce 6-2, 6-2. Morgan Knickerbocker lost to Halie Jensen 5-7, 7-5, 6-10, and Joelle Quigley lost a long match 6-3, 6-7, (5)-(7), 10-12. In doubles, Shayna Williams and Aidyn Springfield fell to Linzee Haney and Katie Hayden 4-6, 3-6, and Macee Murolo and Quigley lost to Ruby Warden and Alicia Deriane 4-6, 2-6.
In Red Lodge, Zody defeated Emma Harris 6-0, 6-0; Buffa dropped Katelyn Richars 6-1, 6-1; Knickerbocker topped Lori Sibbett 6-0, 6-0; and Quigley lost to Emma Harris 3-6, 3-6. In doubles Williams and Springfield lost to Azalie Berdt and Krista Hartham 2-6, 3-6, but Bella Abbott and Murolo defeated Ella Lake and Brynn Barker 6-0, 6-1.
The Divisional tournament is this Thursday and Friday in Belgrade. State is May 20-22 in Missoula.
