Bluehawk senior breaks state record in pole vault

The Bluehawk track and field team got some expected and unexpected help to capture third place at the State B championships in Bozeman Friday and Saturday.

Thompson Falls scored 44 points to finish behind Manhattan and Huntley Project. Manhattan finished with 62 points and Huntley Project with 58. Thompson Falls coach Randy Symon said finishing third in the state is not something to be brushed aside. “When your the third best team in the state it’s pretty amazing. It’s a real accomplishment for the kids, the coaching staff and the program,” he said. “Things went really well for us. We were hoping the kids would have their best performances at state and a lot of them did,” said Symon.

Bluehawk senior Brian Schenavar took home a gold for Thompson Falls and broke a state record along the way. With the pole vault moved inside because of the wet conditions, Schenavar broke the state record of 14 feet, 9 1/4 inches, which was set by Cascade’s Andrew Castle in 2000, with a vault of 14 feet, 9 1/2 inches. It was Schenavar’s third attempt at the height on the day. Symon said that going into the season, Schenavar has his eyes set on winning the state championship and breaking the state record. “He acheived what he wanted to do,” Symon said.

Symon said while Schenavar’s winning performance came as no surprise, he had reached that mark throughout the season, Steve Block’s second-place finish in the 800-meter run was a bit of a shock. The sophomore ran the 800 in 2:00.57, about three seconds faster than he ran at divisionals. “That was the highlight performance of the meet. To be able to take three seconds off is pretty amazing.” Symon said. “People don’t realize how hard it is to take off time,” he added.

Thompson Falls senior Jason Flemmer finished in second in the javelin with a throw of 182 feet, 2 inches. “That was one of his better throws. It was a peak performance,” said Symon. The surprise is the javelin was freshman Will Dalby placing fourth with a throw of 175 feet, 3 inches. “The javelin is typically reserved for junior and seniors,” said Symon.

Another Bluehawk was able to place in the throwing events. During pouring rain, senior Jason Shaw threw the shot put 48 feet, 5 3/4 inches to place third. Shane Donaldson placed in two events for Thompson Falls. The senior finished in fourth in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 10:13.05 and fifth in the 1,600 with a time of 4:38.30. Symon said it was the first time Donaldson had placed at state and he gave the Bluehawks some crucial points. Only four points separated Thompson Falls from fourth-place finishers Cascade.

Bluehawk junior Chris Molzhon had his best jump of the year to finish in fifth place in the long jump. Molzhon jumped 20 feet, 4 1/4 inches. “We’ll have him for one more year,” Symon said.

Rheanna Padden placed in two events for the Lady Hawks. The junior ran the 100-meter hurdles in 16.56 seconds to place fourth and her height of 9 feet in the pole vault placed her in sixth. Symon said that Padden held her own against a very tough field in the 100-meter hurdles. “She looked really good. She competed very hard,” he said.

Lady Hawk Beca Gunderson walked away with a fifth-place finish in the 800 with a time of 2:25.64. Symon said Gunderson still has two strong years left. “Beca will be one of the best returning distance girls in the western part of the state,” he said.

The Lady Hawks finshed with seven points to end up 23rd of the 27 teams that placed at the meet. Glasgow won the meet with 49 points. Malta came in second and Cascade finished in third.