Scottie Qualifier Highlights Area Athletes

Hordes of competitors and volunteers converged on Scottie Field for the annual qualifier meet on April 17. Despite strong, gusty winds and a bone-chilling high temperature of 55 degrees, several athletes still managed to hit state-qualifying marks.

For the Scotties, Benji Phillips bested the qualifying standard in the long jump by just over three inches. Sophia Stiles and Jada Nicholson, both of Malta, were the only other class B athletes to achieve qualifying standards in their events.

For class C, Bailey Funk of Saco qualified in the pole vault with her 8-06 vault, Taylor Laumeyer of Nashua bested her previous qualifying mark in the javelin with her impressive 121-01 toss at the meet, Dallas Reese of Frazer achieved a state qualifying 50-03.75 throw in the shot put, and Trace Simonson qualified in the discus with a throw of 139-03.

Although state-qualifying performances were few, the athletes managed to have fun and many set personal bests during the meet.

Head coach Tim Phillips was pleased with his team's performance. "Coach (Wade) Nelson's

throwers really excelled in the discus," explained Phillips. "We placed four in the top 10, and three had personal bests on a less than ideal day. Ben Miller, Taylor Padden and Nik Herman all set their best ever throws. In the javelin, Jordan Kulczyk was about a foot off her p.r. and Nik Herman, Kyle Ross, Skyler Saiz and Saul Hansen all set their personal bests. In the shot, Tosha Sand keeps improving every week for the girls and the boys really brought it. Grant Morken, Alex Fransen, Skyler Saiz and Ben Rodriguez all threw their personal bests."

"Nelson has had a ton of success over the years," Phillips added, "but with so many throwers I really need to thank coach Suzie Flint for helping out as well. She's been able to give us that extra person in the field to work on the mechanics of each event."

With the gusty winds, it was an especially rough day for pole vaulters and high jumpers. In the vault, however, Kyle Ross did place third overall and Matt Reyling tied his personal best. Phillips explained that it has been difficult to get good pole vault training time in due to windy conditions, but they are hoping to get a few good days this week to practice.

Even with the young competitors in the high jump, some tied their personal bests or got their first marks. Kaylee King, the veteran high jumper for the girls, has already qualified for the state meet. "I'm expecting Coach Larson to work her usual magic and have them all ready by District," said Phillips of the squad.

In the boys long jump, "Benji was experimenting, alternating going off each foot. To qualify with a cross wind/head wind makes me feel he can go a lot further when he gets it down," explained Phillips. "Brett Glaser just sorta jumped into the long and triple, and ended up getting second in the long and winning the triple jump. Considering he's never practiced, I'm pretty excited to see what he can do," he said.

"Coaches Gustafson and Menge have been doing a real good job getting the interest in the jumps," said Phillips. "I think they'll take these kids a lot further." He noted that Alaina Sallee, Anika Peters and Ali Cunningham all had a decent day in the jumps, but with more of head wind, their marks weren't as good as they could have been.

There was a lot of great effort on the track as well. Following their performances in the 400m on Monday, Phillips expects several athletes to continue turning in great races. "Brett got out a little too quickly, but ran a stout race. Jaysen Turner also turned in a personal best - something pretty hard to do on a day like that. Dexter Monson is getting his form down and we expect him to improve greatly in the next couple weeks. Ellie (Page) and Amari (Zeluff) ran their first 400m races, which took a lot of courage, so I was especially happy with that," he explained.

Phillips points to assistant coach Trint Gamas as the motivation for the spark in the runners. "He's really got them all running hard at practice," he explained. "We had a discussion about toughness a couple weeks ago, and we can definitely see them all getting more fire in their eyes."

For the girls in the sprints, Phillips noted several performances. "Brinlie (Nielsen) looked really good. She is really starting to help us out at that faster level. Ayla Stone set a personal record straight against the wind, and Lauren (Padden) and Natalia (Melnyk) ran their best ever in the 200m," he said.

For the distance runners, Faith Sallee ran smart races in the 1600m and the 3200m. "She tried to run exactly how we mapped it out," said Phillips. "She stuck with the pack as long as possible and got her best in the 1600m." Also achieving a p.r. for the girls was Cunningham in the 3200m run.

"Alec (Boland) and Kaden (Zimmerman) ran pretty smart races in the 800m. Merlin and Ellis (McKean) traded taking the wind for the entire 3200m. Those are advanced things you just don't see from sophomores. Wilson Overby and Colin Jamba weren't too far behind - both set personal bests," he added.

According to Phillips, one of the best races of the day was from Gabe Hallock. "It took a little bit for me to get him to slow down and let the other kids take the wind," he said, "but he did, and then had a fabulous kick to win the 1600."

In the hurdles, Luke Breigenzer fell just three-hundredths-of-a-second short of a qualifying time in the 110m. "He hit three of the last four hurdles, so we know he's there," said Phillips.

Tayson Hoerster was back from injury to compete in the 300 hurdles for the meet as well.

Head coach for the Frazer Bearcubs, Lewis Reese, expects continued improvement from his team as well. "I'm looking to qualify about six athletes for the state meet this season," he said. For the throwers, senior Dallas Reese has already qualified for the shot put, and with consistent improvement in his mechanics, Jayson Jackson is sure to hit his mark soon. Coach Reese also pointed out the natural ability of the girls on his team. Mya Fourstar, Cyrenna Standing and Sierra Summers stand out as some of the competitors to watch for qualifying marks in upcoming weeks.

Valley County tracksters will be in Sidney for some quality competition on Saturday, April 22.

Team Results: (Girls)

1 Scobey, 121; 2 Glasgow, 83.33: 3 Malta, 70.33; 4 Circle, 62: 5 Nashua, 42; 6 Wolf Point, 39.33; 7 Plentywood, 33; 8 Frazer, 30; 9 Saco, 22; 10 Poplar, 8;11 Whitewater, 6.

(Boys)

1 Glasgow, 131; 1 Scobey, 131; 3 Wolf Point, 68; 4 Plentywood, 40; 5 Whitewater, 26; 5 Frazer, 26; 7 Malta, 24; 8 Nashua, 20; 8 Turner, 20; 10 Hinsdale, 16; 11 Saco, 11.

Individual Results:

(*state qualifier)

Girls 100m Dash: 1, Mya Fourstar, Frazer, 13.85; 2, Taylor Laumeyer, Nashua, 14.18; 3, Brinlie Nielsen, Glasgow, 14.47.

Girls 200m Dash: 1, Brinlie Nielsen, Glasgow, 29.19; 4, Amari Zeluff, Glasgow, 31.44.

Girls 400m Dash:4 Ellie Page, Glasgow, 1:12.47; 6, Olivia Brown, Lustre, 1:16.32.

Girls 1600m Run: 1, Sierra Summers, Frazer, 6:03.57; 5, Ali Cunningham, Glasgow, 6:33.27.

Girls 3200m Run: 1, Sierra Summers, Frazer, 13:34.26; 2, Ali Cunningham, Glasgow, 13:58.78; 3, Faith Sallee, Glasgow, 14:37.07.

Girls 4x100m Relay: 5, Glasgow A, 1:00.60.

Girls 4x400m Relay: 4, Glasgow A, 4:53.30.

Girls High Jump: 4, Kaylee King, Glasgow, 4-08.00.

Girls Pole Vault: 1, Bailey Funk, Saco, 8-06.00; 3, Kaylee King, Glasgow, 7-00.00.

Girls Long Jump: 2, Bailey Funk*, Saco, 14-08.00; 3, Taylor Laumeyer, Nashua, 14-05.00; 6, Sydney Zeller, Saco, 13-04.25.

Girls Triple Jump: 3, Alaina Sallee, Glasgow, 30-08.50; 5, Bailey Funk, Saco, 29-08.00.

Girls Shot Put: 1, Leinie Hughes, Glasgow, 34-06.50; 2, Taylor Laumeyer, Nashua, 32-09.00; 5, Kayleigh Cummings, Whitewater, 30-02.50; 6, Natosha Sand, Glasgow, 28-11.00.

Girls Discus: 1, Taylor Laumeyer, Nashua, 105-05; 4, Leinie Hughes, Glasgow, 82-11; 5, Brennan Peters, Glasgow, 81-08.

Girls Javelin: 1, Taylor Laumeyer*, Nashua, 121-01; 3, Jordan Kulczyk, Glasgow, 104-01; 4, Kayleigh Cummings, Whitewater, 98-06.

Boys 100m Dash: 3, Gunner Greene, Nashua, 12.36; 5, John McColly, Hinsdale 12.57.

Boys 200m Dash: 1, Benji Phillips, Glasgow, 23.92; 6, Gunner Greene, Nashua, 25.62.

Boys 400m Dash: 1, Brett Glaser, Glasgow, 55.65; 5, Chris DePuydt, Saco, 1:00.94.

Boys 800m Run: 4, Alec Boland, Glasgow, 2:19.99; 5, Kaden Zimmerman, Glasgow, 2:20.31; 6, Brady Albus, Saco, 2:21.90.

Boys 1600m Run: 1, Gabe Hallock, Glasgow, 5:06.04; 5, Wyatt Miller, Frazer, 5:24.59.

Boys 3200m Run: 1, Merlin McKean, Glasgow, 10:51.10; 2, Ellis McKean, Glasgow, 10:51.92; 4, Wilson Overby, Glasgow, 11:17.44; 5, Colin Jamba, Glasgow, 11:55.35.

Boys 110m Hurdles: 1, Luke Breigenzer, Glasgow, 16.33; 5, John McColly, Hinsdale 18.92.

Boys 300m Hurdles: 1, Trace Simonson, Whitewater, 43.55; 4, Tayson Hoerster, Glasgow, 49.16.

Boys 4x100m Relay: 3, Nashua A, 49.53; 6, Glasgow A, 55.45.

Boys 4x400m Relay: 3, Glasgow A, 4:00.05.

Boys High Jump: 4, Chris DePuydt, Saco, J5-06.00.

Boys Pole Vault: 3, Kyle Ross, Glasgow, 10-06.00; 4, Ty Murphy, Saco, 10-00.00.

Boys Long Jump: 1, Benji Phillips*, Glasgow, 20-04.25; 2, Brett Glaser, Glasgow, 17-11.50; 3, John McColly, Hinsdale 17-05.50; 4, Nolan Viste, Nashua, 17-01.50

Boys Triple Jump: 1, Brett Glaser, Glasgow, 37-01.75; 3, John McColly, Hinsdale, 35-05.50; 5, Ethan Viste, Nashua, 34-06.25.

Boys Shot Put: 1, Dallas Reese*, Frazer, 50-03.75; 2, Jayson Jackson, Frazer, 45-05.00; 4, Brett Glaser, Glasgow, 38-07.50.

Boys Discus: 1, Trace Simonson*, Whitewater, 139-03; 2, Ben Miller, Glasgow, 124-03; 3, Jayson Jackson, Frazer, 119-10; 5, Taylor Padden, Glasgow, 104-03.

Boys Javelin: 3, Trace Simonson, Whitewater, 141-00; 5, Nik Herman, Glasgow, 136-04; 6, Nolan Viste, Nashua, 134-09.