A 9C 3-Peat for the Longhorns

The Fort Benton girls track team is no stranger to success in the postseason. In fact, the Longhorns are pretty used to it and with the way they performed at the District 9C track meet Wednesday in Havre, their run seems far from over.

The Longhorns, who entered the 9C meet as the two-time defending champions and the returning Class C runner-up, won 11 of the 17 events held and finished with an impressive 221 points on their way to a third straight 9C championship. Chinook finished second with 98 points and coming in third was Turner. The Tornadoes edged out Big Sandy for the trophy, as the Pioneers finished with 50 points, followed by North Star with 45 and Chester-Joplin-Inverness, which was sixth with 40.

"It feels pretty good," Fort Benton senior Leah Gannon said. "The best thing was just getting to see everyone on the team compete so well. This is what we have been working for."

In her final District 9C track meet, Gannon certainly left her mark, as she won three events she entered as an individual, while also helping both the 400-meter and 1,600 relay teams finish atop the podium. The 400-relay team, which has three of the four participants that won the state championship a season ago, won the race with a time of 51.97.

Joining Gannon on the team was Nicole Axtman, Allie Wallace and Abby Clark. The Longhorns also won the 1,600 relay by more than 20 seconds after posting a time of 4:20.13. In addition to the relays, Gannon took first in the 400 (1:01), the 800 (2:29) and also won the long jump (16-02), meaning she played a hand in scoring 50 of the team's 221 points.

"We just want to keep getting PRs for ourselves," Gannon said. "And if we can do that, we should keep doing pretty well. This felt great, though, especially with it being my senior year."

Gannon was far from the only Longhorn to find the winner's circle and Wallace, who ran both relay races along with Gannon, also had a stellar day in the hurdles, sweeping both races. She won the 100 with a time of 17.15 and the 300 with a time of 48.83.

Another veteran of the last two postseason runs for Fort Benton is Axtman, a junior, who not only won the high jump (5-00) but also finished second in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump. McKenzie Clark was another athlete who won multiple events for Fort Benton Wednesday. She beat the rest of the field in the pole vault, finishing first with a vault of 8-00, while also winning the javelin with a throw of 114-09. Maci Moliarno also gave the Longhorns a first-place finish in the shot put (31-11).

"We had some great personal bests from a lot of kids," Fort Benton head coach Kevin Shaw said. "We had some strong performances in the javelin and we got more points in the field events than we are used to, so that was great to see."

Chinook finished second in the girls competition thanks in large part to a strong performance from Megan Molyneaux, who added to her collection of district titles with two more by winning the 100 (13.11) and the 200 (26.96). The Sugarbeeters also got a first-place finish in the 3,200 from Raynee Hasler, as well as a first in the discus from Jayden Miller, who won with a throw of 100-05.

The other district champions crowned Wednesday were Sarah Billmayer of Turner, who helped her team finish third by winning the triple jump (32-08), and Averie Mattson of CJI, who won the 1,600 with a time of 6:14.

The top five finishers will head to the Northern C Divisional meet next Thursday in Great Falls. Each athlete will need to finish sixth or better at that meet in Memorial Stadium in order to reach the Class C state track meet unless they have already pre-qualified. The Class C state meet is set for May 24-25 in Laurel.

Team Scores

Fort Benton 221, Chinook 98, Turner 54, Big Sandy 50, North Star 45, Chester-Joplin-Inverness 40.

100 - 1. Megan Molyneaux, CHI, 13.11; 2. Tatum Hull, CJI, 13.41; 3. Nicole Axtman, FB, 13.72; 4. Eric Talyor, BS, 14.44; 5. Rylee Conlan, TUR, 14.56; 6. Baylee Blansett, FB, 14.75.

200 - 1. Megan Molyneaux, CHI, 26.96; 2. Allie Wallace, FB, 27.88; 3. Jenna Dunham, FB, 29.34; Madison Terry, BS, 29.90; 5. Laci Maloney, TUR, 30.12; 6. Baylee Blansett, FB, 30.67.

400 - 1. Leah Gannon, FB, 1:01; 2. Laci Maloney, TUR, 1:03; 3. Jenna Dunham, FB, 1:04; 4. Kourtney Hanson, CHI, 1:04; 5. Erin Taylor, BS, 1:09.

800 - 1. Leah Gannon, FB, 2:29; 2. Kourtney Hanson, CHI, 2:33; 3. McKenzie Clark, FB, 2:35; 4. Shyan Krass, TUR, 2:44; 5. Ashlee Wang, FB, 2:48; 6. Seanna Demontiney, BS, 2:54.

1,600 - 1. Averie Mattson, CJI, 6:14; 2. Raynee Hasler, CHI, 6:18; 3. Shyan Krass, TUR, 6:26; 4. Ashlee Wang, FB, 6:29; 5. Rebecca Stroh, CHI, 6:31; 6. Cassie Nack, FB, 6:36.

3,200 - 1. Raynee Hasler, CHI, 13:29; 2. Shyan Krass, 14:16; 3. Samantha May, CJI, 16:20.

100 H - 1. Allie Wallace, FB, 17.15; 2. Bailey Gasvoda, BS, 18.22; 3. Kenidee Wolery, NS, 19.28; 4. Abriana Blanton, BS, 19.62; 5. Alicia Bjornstad, BS, 21.76.

300 H - 1. Allie Wallace, FB, 48.83; 2. Bailey Gasvoda, BS, 53.78; 3. Abriana Blanton, 55.54; 4. Cassie Nack, FB, 56.61; 5. Kenidee Wolery, NS, 59.30; 6. Alicia Bjornstad, 1:00, BS.

400 Relay - 1. Fort Benton, 51.97; 2. Chinook, 54.40; 3. Turner, 55.25; 4. Big Sandy, 57.15; 5. 1:13.04;

1,600 Relay 1. Fort Benton, 4:20; 2. Chinook, 4:42; 3. Big Sandy, 4:55; North Star, 6:05.

High Jump - 1. Nicole Axtman, FB, 5-00; 2. Abby Clark, FB, 4-10; 3. Janae West, NS, 4-06; 4. Averie Mattson, 4-06.

Pole Vault - 1. McKenzie Clark, FB, 8-00; 2. Janae West, NS, 8-00; 3. Ashlee Wang, FB, 7-00; 4. Laramie Peterson, NS, 5-06;

Long Jump - 1. Leah Gannon, FB, 16-02; 2. Tatum Hull, CJI, 16-01 ;3. Megan Molyneaux, 14-11; 4. Sarh Billmayer, TUR, 14-09; 5. Nicole Axtman, FB, 14-06; 6. Jenna Dunham, FB, 14-04.

Triple Jump - 1. Sarah Billmayer, TUR, 32-08; 2. Nicole Axtman, FB, 32-05; 3. McKenzie Clark, FB, 31-09; 4. Tatum Hull, CJI, 31-06; 5. Kacelyn Christesen, FB, 29-06; 6. Lincy Johnson, CHI, 27-10.

Shot Put - 1. Maci Molinaro, FB, 31-11; 2. Cloe Kalanick, FB, 30-10; 3. Janae West, NS, 30-08; 4. Hallie Lowe, FB, 30-00.5; 5. Kinley Hamilton, HI, 29-11; 6. Rachel Gunderson, CHI, 29-07.

Discus - 1. Jayden Miller, CHI 100-05; 2. Chloe Kalanick, FB, 100-03; 3. Rachel Gunderson, 96-06; 4. Shyan Krass, TUR, 94-07; 5. Maci Moliarno, FB, 84-06; 6. Hallie Lowe, FB, 83-05.

Javelin - 1. McKenzie Clark, FB, 114-09; 2. Maci Moliarno, FB, 113-00; 3. Janae West, NS, 107-00; 4. Rachel Gunderson, CHI, 106-03; 5. Jasmine Wilson, FB, 105-03; 6. Abbigayl Ridgeway, NS, 93-06.