MISSOULA - The Polson girls finished fourth after an impressive

performance in the running events at the Class A Track Meet in

Missoula last weekend.

MISSOULA - The Polson girls finished fourth after an impressive performance in the running events at the Class A Track Meet in Missoula last weekend.

"I am very proud of these girls," Polson track and field coach Bob Gunderson said. "They competed and far exceeded my expectations going into the state track meet."

Senior Breanne Kelley had season bests in the 100-meter (15.78, third) and 300-meter hurdles (47.63, fifth). She also placed fifth (60.76) in the 400-meter run.

"Bree has competed in 51 meets for Polson High School over her four-year high school career," Gunderson said. "She had run in over 250 individual races. You can count on one hand the number of times she failed to score points during that time period."

Kelley, had a hard work ethic to go along with that talent.

"She never missed a meet for injury or sickness and rarely if ever missed a practice." Gunderson said. "She has been on two state championship teams, a third-place trophy in 2009 and a fourth-place this year. The 4x100 relay team she was on last year set the school record (50.34) in that event. Her consistency, competitiveness and dedication will be missed in the track and field program."

Anna DiGiallonardo continued to excel in sprint events, running personal bests in the 100-meter (12.90, fourth) and 200-meter dash (26.36, third).

"She missed the school record in the 200-meter trials at state by .14 seconds when she ran 25.8 in the 200-meter,"

Gunderson said. "Her 12.74 time in the 100-meter trials was the second best qualifying time going into the finals."

DiGiallonardo was also important for the relay teams, as during the 400 relay she moved the team's placement from seventh to fifth in the final leg and she had the fastest leg on the 1,600 relay team (61.0) which set a season best

(4:08.44).

Senior Mesa Starkey put an exclamation mark on her running career. In an epic 3,200-meter race that had numerous phases, Starkey was able to battle through whatever was thrown at her and placed second (11:50.50).

"Getting boxed in for the first six laps didn't help but she broke free in the seventh lap and had a chance to win it," Gunderson said.

What started out as a large pack, slowly tapered off, and after Starkey fended off the Whitefish girls' surge midway through, she led for a period before eventual state champion Jessica Sagen from Whitefish won by just two seconds.

The next day, she finished fourth in the 1,600-meter race (5:24.00) with her best time ever.

"She is another one of our seniors that I couldn't be more proud of and was an integral part of our success over the last four years," Gunderson said.

Freshman Claudia Hewston had a good showing in her first state meet, setting personal records in the 800 (2:20.57,

fourth) and third in the 1,600 (5:23.08), while also running her best time in the 400-meter relay.

"Claudia is one of the best competitors I have ever seen in all my years of coaching track," Gunderson said. "She will be fun to watch over the next three years in track and

cross country. Kudos to coach Jenni Brown for preparing our middle distance and distance runners for the state meet. She does a fantastic job with this part of the program."

A pair of seniors also finished their careers with strong performances. Sierra Pete, who has dealt with multiple ACL

injuries, ran what Gunderson called a "great second leg" of the 1,600-meter relay.

"She hasn't been able to practice at full strength for almost a month but hung in there and gave us her best effort in the last race of her career," Gunderson said. "Her attitude and leadership have been greatly appreciated over the last four years."

Katie Finley also ended her high school career. She was a part of the school record 400-meter relay team and has been

a sub on the 1,600-meter relay team. She also had a PR of 15-4.5 in the long jump.

BOYS

Polson got a fifth place finish in the pole vault (12-6) by senior Zion Lee and should have plenty of talent coming back next year.

"Zion has been a good competitor for the Pirates and will be missed," Gunderson said. "The good thing about the Pirates is that they are a young team. With only a couple of seniors on this team, next year should see a lot of improvement."

At the state meet, Vince DiGiallonardo had a season-best (20-.5) in the long jump and finished just out of the points in seventh.

Riley Sampson had a PR in the shot put with a throw of over 43 feet and the short relay team also just missed out on getting to the finals.

"There are potentially 40 members of this year's team returning next year," Gunderson said. "A strong bunch of pole vaulters, shot putters and discus throwers are returning as are some good jumpers and sprinters. With a little dedication and some hard work this could be a very good team next year."