BUTTE — Some of the boys and girls of Polson track aimed long. Some aimed fast and still others aimed high. And when the state track meet came to a close, there was plenty of hardware to go around.

The Pirate boys placed fifth in the meet, better than head coach Bob Gunderson had expected going in.

“I asked the boys to do their best and try to get their best marks of the year. They did just that and more. I couldn’t be more pleased with the effort they gave last weekend,” he said.

Senior Ryan Kelley led the way with a monster 14-foot-6-inch pole vault and a silver medal. It was a long time coming, his coach said.

“Ryan Kelley has worked extremely hard at the pole vault, spending many hours of practice extending late into the evening for more than six years. What a pleasure to watch him get his best mark ever at the state meet,” Gunderson said.

Ryan’s top vault before state was 13-6, but fueled with practice and adrenaline only a state meet can provide, he found the 12 extra inches he needed.

“You just get that extra little bit at state and it gave me just enough,” he said. “It was a nice day too, so that helped.”

Ryan didn’t go home with just one medal. A fifth place finish in the 110-meter hurdles and a third place finish as part of the 400 relay gave him two more to keep around his neck.

The other members of the relay team were juniors Brock Picard, Jason Bowman and Joe Andrews – three sprinters for Montana to look out for when they compete in their final season next year.

The trio hit a personal best time of 44.19 in trials, which put them among the top five going into Saturday.

They did what athletes do and took it up another notch, or actually down one to 44.11 in the finals. The time earned them bronze.

“I guess we were just feeling it. We all had great legs and everything,” Ryan said. 

In the longer hurdles, Chris Alfiero put in a senior effort for a silver medal finish. He covered the 300 meters in 41.17 in the finals after winning his trial race.

Bowman took fourth in the 200 and junior Colter Bull finished in 4:39.04 in the 1,600 to round out the Pirate placers.

The Lady Pirates finished as a bronze medal team, just two points away from state runner-up Hamilton.

A couple places shy of the repeat, it was still no small accomplishment, junior Loni Havlovick said.

“You can’t really be too disappointed placing third at the state meet,” she said.

Havlovick led her team by throw, capturing 12 points with a silver medal in the shot put and a fourth place mark in the discus.

Last year, she placed fourth in each event.

Her counterpart, Natasha Lafferty hit an all-time best throw of 34-7 to take fifth in the shot. The two spent the year sculpting their craft together.

“We really did everything together all season,” Havlovick said, adding that she was very proud of her teammate’s accomplishment. “We even went to all the team dinners together. I think that all really helped.”

Junior Christa Redcrow found a whole new level of speed and agility to gain two silver medals in the 300 hurdles and the long jump.

She was also part of the silver medal long relay.

She was joined by sophomores Breanne Kelley, Katie Finley and Sierra Pete in their fastest time of the year in the final – even quicker than last year’s championship finish. The same four placed fifth in the short relay.  

Breanne placed fourth in the 100 and 300 hurdles and sixth in the 400 behind Pete, who took fourth.

The last Polson placer was senior Tara Johnson, who ended up with a silver medal in the pole vault.

Gunderson said his team is losing just two seniors to graduation, Johnson and Jessica Huntley.

“Getting Nicole (Davey) back next year and having a strengthened resolve to get back to the top should make for a good 2010 season,” he said.

For the girls on the track, it won’t take too much pushing, Havlovick said.

“On the bus we went, ‘we didn’t do it this year, but we’ll do it next year,’” she said.