North Star girls race to another 9C title

Over the last decade, the North Star girls track team has dominated the District 9C. And this past Friday at the Havre Middle School track, that domination continued.

The Knights racked up a total of 152.5 points, which ended up being just 2.5 points better than Fort Benton, which managed 150. The 2.5 point difference was enough to give the Knights another district title, their ninth in the past 10 years. Chinook finished third with 111 points.

“It was really close,” Campbell said. “Fort Benton scored a lot of points at the end, which we knew that they would. But it was just a great team effort from all of our kids. It means a lot to win the district, but it’s pretty cool that we outscored a team in Fort Benton that has a chance to do well at divisionals and I think they can even do well at state.”

While the Knights won the meet, Fort Benton stole the show in the running events with an extremely impressive performance. Freshman Leah Gannon was spectacular for the Longhorns as she won the 200-meter dash (27.14) and the 400 (1:02.9), while also running anchor for Fort Benton in the 400 (53.83) and the 1,600 relay (4:22.33) as the Longhorns finished first in each. Gannon also jumped 16-00.5 to finish first in the long jump.

Kaitlyn Bird had another solid performance for the Longhorns as she won the 800 (2:29) and the 1,600 (5:43). She also won the 300 hurdles with a time of 49.27. Maddy Thompson was another Fort Benton runner who took home a first-place prize as she won the 100 after a time of 13.36. Thompson also won the pole vault (8-06). Alia Evans joined her teammates by winning the high jump (4-09).

While the Knights didn’t have as many individual champions as Fort Benton, North Star did have a few take first place, among them was Katelin Harvey, who won the 3,200 with a time of 14:32.1. Graysen Spicher won the shot put for the Knights with a throw of 34-05. She also finished second in the javelin (103-10).

Sheridan Spicher was another Knight that had a strong day, winning the discus (103-09), finishing second in the shot put (32-02) and the 100 hurdles with a time of 18.39. Lily Pedersen also finished fourth in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles and third in the pole vault.

“This was the ninth time we have won this in the last 10 years, but this year it was just a total team effort,” Campbell said. “We had some kids run distance events that they have not done all year and they scored points. We don’t have as many kids that are going to advance to state or score points at divisionals, not like Fort Benton does or even Chinook does, but today, we just had more point scorers. Everyone contributed and that was the best thing about it.”

Chinook was led to a third-place finish thanks to a slew of stellar performances. Abi Ellison was the only Sugarbeeter to win an event, as she took home first place in the triple jump (32-09). Brooke Elliot finished second in the discus and fourth in the shot put, while Kailey Kleinjan was second in the 100 and the 200.

The only other first-place finisher at the meet came from Chester-Joplin-Inverness as Anna Jamison won the 100 hurdles after a time of 17.99.

All top-six finishers qualified to compete at the Northern C Divisional track meet, which will be held in Great Falls May 19.

District 9C Track Meet

Girls Team Scores

North Star 152.5, Fort Benton 150, Chinook 111, Chester-Joplin-Inverness 55, Turner 20, Big Sandy 13, Box Elder 5.5. Hays-Lodge Pole 2.

100 - 1, Thompson, Maddy, Fort Benton, 13.36. 2, Kleinjan, Kailey, Chinook, 13.49. 3, Molyneaux, Megan, Chinook, 13.73. 4, Spicher, Sheridan, North Star, 13.79. 5, Shiffert, Lace-Anna, North Star, 14.16. 6, Anderson, Jaye, Turner, 14.33.

200 - 1, Gannon, Leah, Fort Benton, 27.22. 2, Kleinjan, Kailey, Chinook, 28.25. 3, Spicher, Sheridan, North Star, 28.75. 4, Anderson, Jaye, Turner, 29.25. 5, Chaffin, Rochelle, Chinook, 29.52. 6, Molyneaux, Megan, Chinook, 29.69.

400 - 1, Gannon, Leah, Fort Benton, 1:02.09. 2, Evans, Alia, Fort Benton, 1:06.26. 3, Jamison, Anna, CJI, 1:06.29. 4, Anderson, Jaye, Turner, 1:07.46. 5, Brinkerhoff, Layla, Fort Benton, 1:07.73. 6, Snow, Dianna, Hays-Lodge Pole, 1:09.99.

800 - 1, Bird, Kaitlyn, Fort Benton, 2:29.00. 2, Hanson, Kourtney, Chinook, 2:37.80.3, Harvey, Katelin, North Star, 2:45.40. 4, Conlan, Raegan, Turner, 3:02.50.5, King, Peytan, North Star, 3:17.10. 6, Ridgway, Abbigayl, North Star, 4:29.50.

1,600 - 1, Bird, Kaitlyn, Fort Benton, 5:43.60. 2, Hanson, Kourtney, Chinook, 5:54.70. 3, Harvey, Katelin, North Star, 6:42.50. 4, Taylor, Kimberly, Fort Benton, 6:55.30. 5, Farinas, Mystic, North Star, 7:42.00.

3,200 - 1, Harvey, Katelin, North Star, 14:32.10. 2, Taylor, Kimberly, Fort Benton, 15:02.90. 3, Farinas, Mystic, North Star, 16:55.90.

100 hurdles - 1, Jamison, Anna, CJI, 17.99. 2, Spicher, Sheridan, North Star,18.39. 3, Neibauer, Taylor, Chinook, 18.46. 4, Pedersen, Lily, North Star,18.59. 5, Hansen, Katelyn, North Star, 19.83. 6, West, Janae, North Star, 22.43.

300 hurdles - 1, Bird, Kaitlyn, Fort Benton, 49.27. 2, Jamison, Anna, Chester/Jopl, 52.04. 3, Neibauer, Taylor, Chinook, 52.67. 4, Pedersen, Lily, North Star, 52.97. 5,Leader, Jenna, Big Sandy, 1:02.52.

400 relay - 1. Fort Benton 53.83; 2. Chinook, 53.96; 3. North Star 56.49; 4. CJI, 56.73; 5. Turner, 57.96; 6. 1:02.93.

1,600 relay - 1. Fort Benton, 4:22; 2. Chinook, 4:39.19; 3. North Star, 5:00.17; 4. Turner, 5:10.31; 5. Big Sandy, 5:18.65;

High jump - 1, Evans, Alia, Fort Benton, 4-09. 2, Shiffert, Lace-Anna, North Star, 4-02. 2, Jamison, Anna, CJI, 4-02.

Pole vault - 1, Thompson, Maddy, Fort Benton, 8-06. 2, West, Janae, North Star, 7-06. 3. Pedersen, Lily, North Star, J7-06. 4, Farinas, Mystic, North Star, 6-06. 5,Shiffert, Lace-Anna, North Star, 6-00.

Long jump - 1, Gannon, Leah, Fort Benton, 16-00.50. 2, Thompson, Maddy, Fort Benton, 15-06.25. 3, Chaffin, Rochelle, Chinook, 14-10.50. 4, Neibauer, Taylor, Chinook, 14-04. 5, Ellison, Abigail, Chinook, 14-01.50. 6, Molyneaux, Megan, Chinook, 13-10.50.

Triple jump - 1, Ellison, Abigail, Chinook, 32-09.50. 2, Leader, Jenna, Big Sandy, 30-09. 3, Chaffin, Rochelle, Chinook, 29-11. 4, Pedersen, Lily, North Star, 29-07. 5, Fraser, Kayona, CJI, 29-06.75. 6, Conlan, Raegan, Turner, 28-09.

Shot put - 1, Spicher, Graysen, North Star, 34-05. 2, Spicher, Sheridan, North Star, 32-02.50. 3, Lowe, Hallie, Fort Benton, 29-01. 4, Elliot, Brooke, Chinook, 27-08. 5, Knapton, Kendahl, CJI, 27-07. 6, Perez, Miquela, Hays-Lodge Pole, 27-06.50.

Discus - 1, Spicher, Sheridan, North Star, 103-09. 2, Elliot, Brooke, Chinook, 90-01. 3, Knapton, Kendahl, CJI, 83-07. 4, Belcourt, Tesla, Box Elder, 78-06.50. 5, Oats, Tallen, Box Elder, 77-10. 5, Hansen, Katelyn, North Star,77-10.

Javelin - 1, Knapton, Kendahl, Chester/Jopl, 105-09. 2, Spicher, Graysen, North Star,103-10. 3, Farinas, Mystic, North Star, 101-05. 4, Thompson, Maddy, Fort Benton, 100-07. 5, King, Peytan, North Star, 94-09. 6, Gunderson, Rachel, Chinook, 93-02.