Fort Benton boys take the 9C track crown

Over the past few seasons, the Fort Benton boys track team has been building toward becoming a power in the District 9C once again and at the district meet Wednesday in Havre, the Longhorns finally realized that ambition.

While there was still some excitement near the end of the meet in regards to who would finish second, third and fourth, it was clear early on that Fort Benton was going to win the boys 9C track meet, and ultimately, the Longhorns won going away, racking up 181 points, more than 100 better than runner-up Big Sandy.

Chinook and North Star, which was the five-time defending champion coming in, tied for third with 76 points, just two behind the Pioneers for second place (78). Chester-Joplin-Inverness was fifth with 59 points, followed by Turner in sixth with 43, Hays-Lodge Pole in seventh with 12 and Box Elder in eighth with one.

"It has been kind of the opposite from when I got there," Fort Benton head coach Kevin Shaw said. "When I got here, we were still in Class B and bringing home trophies for the boys but these last few years, it has been the girls team that has brought home trophies and gotten a lot of the news attention. So I think it was a goal for the boys to try and share in that a little bit and I am glad they were able to do that."

The Longhorns did much of their damage in the running events and no one played a bigger role in that than Billy Ullery, who won both the 100-meter dash (11.79) and the 200 (23.69). He also ran on both relay teams which also took first place. Fort Benton's 400-meter relay finished in 46.04, while the 1,600-relay team posted a time of 3:39.

Damon Bird also played a big role in the triumph for the Longhorns as the distance runner was able to win district championships in both the 1,600 (4:52) and the 800 (2:03). Bird also ran on the long relay team for Fort Benton, which won seven of the 10 running events as Garrett Diekhans also won the 110 hurdles (16.37), in addition to getting third in the 300 hurdles and second in the shot put.

While Fort Benton was strong in the running events, the Longhorns scored a lot of points in the field, too, starting with Nick Marais, who posted 6-2 in the high jump to finish first. Connor Schnabel also captured the top spot in the pole vault (12-09), giving Fort Benton first-place finishes in more than half of the events.

"It was great to do well this week but we want to keep it going next week at divisonals," Shaw said. "That is what's really important. That's where you can qualify for state and I think we have a chance to do well at both divisionals and state."

Big Sandy ended up finishing second and Ryan Roth added a district title for the Pioneers in the 3,200 (10:47). Parker Proulx finished first for Big Sandy in the javelin (157-11) to help his team edge out North Star and Chinook for second place by two points. The Pioneers also got critical points from Clint Darlington, who posted a mark of 40-04 to win the triple jump.

Individually, Caden Rettig of North Star had a notable performance, as he helped the Knights to a trophy with 40 individual points scored. He placed in the top three in five different events including the long jump, which he won with a jump of 20-01. He was also second in the 100, 200 and the pole vault, in addition to getting third in the 400. Fellow North Star Knight Daniel Nerat brought home a district championship in the discus (120-02). The other district titles went to Cord Schneider of Chinook in the shot put (44-09) and Evan Dahinden of CJI in the 300 hurdles (42.19).

The top five finishers in each event qualified for the Northern C Divisional track meet next Thursday in Great Falls. Athletes will need to finish in the top six at that meet unless pre-qualified, in order to reach the Class C state track meet in Laurel May 24-25.

Team Scores

Fort Benton 181, Big Sandy 78, North Star 76, Chinook 76, Chester-Joplin-Inverness 59, Turner 43, Hays-Lodge Pole 12, Box Elder 1.

100 - 1. Billy Ullery, FB, 11.79; 2. Caden Rettig, NS, 12.03; 3. Nick Marais, FB, 12.13; 4. Spencer Richter, CJI, 12.14; 5. Cody Welsh, TUR, 12.46; 6. Jack Harmon, TUR, 12.47.

200 - 1. Billy Ullery, FB, 23.69; 2. Caden Rettig, NS, 24.12; 3. Spencer Richter, CJI, 24.68; 4. Jack Harmon, TUR, 25.16; 5. Stephen Gannon, FB, 25.17; 6. Dominic Pullin, BE, 25.83.

400 - 1. Jack Harmon, TUR, 54.22; 2. Spencer Richter, CJI, 54.47; 3. Caden Rettig, NS, 54.65; 4. Devin Bird, FB. 55.00; 5. Nick Marais, FB, 55.09; 6. Hunter Molyneaux, CHI, 56.10.

800 - 1. Damon Bird, FB, 2:03; 2. Trajan Hannum, CHI, 2:04; 3. Jack Harmon, TUR, 2:05; 4. Devin Bird, FB, 2:10; 5. Lane Tim, FB, 2:13; 6. Jaden Sargent, NS, 2:16.

1,600 - 1. Damon Bird, FB, 4:52; 2. Jeremiah Genereux, BS, 5:02; 3. Trajan Hannum, CHI, 5:06; 4. Jaden Sargent, 5:06; 5. Ryan Roth, BS, 5:11; 6. Jase Pursley, CHI, 5:12.

3,200 - 1. Ryan Roth, BS, 10:47; 2. Jaden Sargent, NS, 10:49; 3. Jeremiah Genereux, BS, 11:11; 4. Jase Pursley, CHI, 11:30; 5. Jacob Giles, 11:39; 6. Isaiah Denny, HLP, 11:56.

110 H - 1. Garrett Diekhans, FB, 16.37; 2. Jaden Sargent, NS, 10:49; 3. Connor Schnabel, FB, 17:05; 4. Evan Dahinden, CJI, 17.25; 5. Hayden Massar, NS, 18.72; 6 Bryce Kammerzell, CHI, 19.89.

300 H - 1. Evan Dahinden, CJI, 42.19; 2. Cody Welsh, TUR, 42.75; 3. Garrett Diekhans, FB, 45.17; 4. Hayden Massar, NS, 45.80; 5. Kurtis Hamilton, CHI, 46.37; 6. J.T. Hauer, CHI, 47.08.

400 Relay - 1. Fort Benton 46.04; 2. Chinook 47.69; 3. Big Sandy, 49.61; 4. CJI, 50.45; 5. HLP, 52.28; 6. North Star, 59.86.

1,600 Relay - 1. Fort Benton, 3:39, Chinook, 3:50; 3. Big Sandy, 4:01; 4. HLP, 4:06; 5. CJI, 4:26; 6. North Star, 4:39.

High Jump - 1. Nick Marais, FB, 6-02; 2. Toby Niederegger, CHI, 5-10; 3. Cord Schneider, CHI, 5-08; 3. Estevan Granados, HLP, 5-08; 3. Cody Welsh, Tur, 5-08. 6; Tyshawn Shambo, HLP, 5-08.

Pole Vault - 1. Connor Schnabel, FB, 12-09; 2. Caden Rettig, 11-06; 3. Jace Thompson, FB, 11-00; 4. Tim Lane, FB, 10-00; 5. Bryce Ghekiere, CJI, 8-06.

Long Jump - 1. Caden Rettig, NS, 20-01; 2. Nick Marais, FB, 19-10; 3. Spencer Richter, CJI, 19-05; 4. Billy Ullery, FB, 18-09; 5. Hunter Molyneaux, CHI, 17-11; 6. Evan Dahinden, CJI, 17-09.

Triple Jump - 1. Clint Darlington, BS, 40-04; 2. Garrett Diekhans, FB, 39-03; 3. Evan Dahinden, CJI, 39-02; 4. Spencer Richter, CJI, 37-05; 5. Hayden Diekhans, FB, 36-10; 6. Hayden Massar, 35-00.

Shot Put - 1. Cord Schneider, CHI, 44-09; 2. Garett Diekhans, FB, 40-10; 3. Brock Proulx, BS, 40-10; 4. Kade Strutz, BS, 40-06; 5. Daniel Nerat, NS, 38-06; 6. Stephen Gannon, FB, 37-06.

Discus - 1. Daniel Nerat, NS, 120-02; 2. Cord Schneider, CHI, 119-02; 3. Kade Strutz, BS, 115-06; 4. Brock Proulx, 113-05; 5. Stephen Gannon, FB, 104-10; 6. Ethan Federspiel, NS, 97-09.

Javelin - 1. Parker Proulx, BS, 157-11; 2. Jace Thompson, FB, 140-01; 3. Cord Schneider, CHI, 139-09; 4. Stephen Gannon, FB, 137-10; 5. Andrew Woods, CJI, 130-00; 6. Daniel Nerat, NS, 125-07.