Fort Benton track seeks trophies at state

Over the past three seasons, the Fort Benton Longhorns have collected plenty of hardware on the track and this weekend, at the Class C state meet, both the boys and girls teams will be looking for more.

The Fort Benton girls are no stranger to winning trophies at state. Two years ago, the Longhorns won the Class C state track meet and they did it in Laurel, the same site where the competition is being held Friday and Saturday.

"We have really been building some nice momentum," Fort Benton head coach Kevin Shaw said. "And I think that it will help us with state track being in Laurel. That's where we won two years ago, and we will have good memories there. We struggled a little bit in the beginning but we have started to come on."

While the Longhorns weren't as dominant during the regular season as in past years, they still won a majority of their meets and put together impressive victories in both the District 9C and Northern C track meets.

Senior Leah Gannon was a key part of both of those victories and she will try to help the Longhorns defend their state titles in both the 400-meter relay and the 1,600-meter relay. Gannon also has a good shot at earning points for Fort Benton in the 400, 800 and the long jump, an event she won at the Northern C.

Nicole Axtman, who won the high jump and the triple jump at divisionals, will also be on the short relay team with Gannon and she will have a good chance to place in her jumping events, along with Abby Clark, who is a contender in the high jump. Another individual to watch is Allie Wallace in the 300 hurdles.

Some other local teams should also have a chance to score some points in the Class C girls track meet and that includes Chester-Joplin-Inverness, which is looking for a big performance from freshman Tatum Hull. She is going to threaten in the long jump and triple jump, as well as the 100-meter hurdles. Megan Molyneaux of Chinook will also be looking to place once again at state and she will be in good shape to find the podium in both the 100 and 200.

The Fort Benton girls should also be right in the thick of the team mix and they could be joined by the Longhorn boys. After going a few years without winning a trophy, Fort Benton swept through and won the District 9C and Northern C meets and should be in contention this weekend in Laurel.

Billy Ullery, a sprinter, will be looking for points in the 100 and the 200, while in the distance events, Fort Benton will be turning to Damon Bird, who has been a consistent point getter all season long. There is also Nick Marais in the jumping events and Connor Schnabel, who should be in the thick of things in the pole vault.

Some other names to watch at the Class C boys track meet from the Hi-Line include Cody Welsh of Turner, who won the 300 hurdles last season. He will attempt to defend his state championship. Caden Rettig of North Star will look to make noise in the pole vault and Trajan Hannum of Chinook will try to do the same in the 800.

In addition to the Class A and C track meets in Laurel, Class AA and Class B are holding their state track meets in Kalispell this weekend and two local runners from Harlem will have a chance to make their mark in that competition.

L'Tia Lawrence of Harlem looks to have a good chance to compete for state titles in both the 1,600 and 3,200. She is also a Montana State University-Northern basketball commit. On the boys side of things, Brad Cichosz will also be a contender in the 1,600 and 3,200 for the Wildcats.

Both the Class C and Class B track meets started this morning in Laurel and Kalispell respectively. The action will continue Saturday at both venues, with the field events starting at 9 a.m. followed by running events at 10:30 a.m.