CORVALLIS - Despite being short-handed in their first meet of

the season, the Polson Pirates still found a way to shine at the

Gene Hughes invitational last weekend, with both the boys' and

girls' teams placing second in Corvallis.

CORVALLIS - Despite being short-handed in their first meet of the season, the Polson Pirates still found a way to shine at the Gene Hughes invitational last weekend, with both the boys' and girls' teams placing second in Corvallis.

"It gives us a good chance to see a lot of the kids," head coach Bob Gunderson said.

With the 10-practice requirement for kids to be able to compete, many teams were short-handed for various reasons whether it be injury, absence or athletes still competing for other teams. With this, Polson's depth really showed.

GIRLS

In the 100-meter, sophomore Anna DiGiallonardo placed second with a time of 12.95. She also placed second in the 200 meter with a time of 27.81. Ronan-St. Ignatius' Kianna Howell placed sixth in both those events.

DiGiallonardo also placed fifth in the long jump with a leap of 15-1 3/4.

"It was the first time she has ever long jumped and with some work on technique could be very good in this event," Gunderson said. "She also high jumped in a meet for the first time and narrowly missed placing in that event with a jump of 4' 6"."

Ronan-St. Ignatius' Adessa Durglo placed third in the long jump and first in the triple jump.

Polson also flexed its muscles in the distance running events. Freshman Claudia Hewston took second in the 1,600 meter with a time of 6:01 and in the 3,200 meter race, senior Mesa Starkey took second with a time of 12:38 and junior Maddie Hewston took fourth with 15:21.

Claudia also took first in the 800 meter race and Maddie placed fourth.

"She's got a lot of potential," Gunderson said of Claudia, who competed in her first high school meet. "She's real strong."

Also getting into the sister act are McCall and MacKenzie Banner.

McCall placed first in the pole vault with an attempt of 7-0 while MacKenzie placed second with 7-0.

Ronan-St. Ignatius, finishing the meet in fifth place, won the 400 meter relay with a time of 55.28.

Gunderson said that he entered the Polson relay team into the novice event because they were missing some of their regular relay people but that their time would have been second had they entered the varsity race.

BOYS

So far it appears Polson is going to have a monster pole vaulting roster. Even without their star pole vaulter in senior Zion Lee, the Pirates still placed 1-3-4 in the event.

Junior Brock Bleazard took first with a height of 11-6, sophomore Drew Fouty placed third at 11-0 and senior Jesse Alfiero placed fourth, clearing 10-6.

Sophomore Mike Devlin had a PR in the long jump with 20' 6" and he placed second.

"He can go further than that [in the long jump]. That is a good start," Gunderson said.

"He also ran a 24.3 in the novice 200 meter which would have placed him third in the varsity if he had run it there. This is a very good time for this early in the year. Mike also placed in the 100 meter and ran on both relay teams that placed."

Sophomore Riley Sampson placed third in the discus with a throw of 125-8 while junior Clark Rubel and senior Dale Big Sam placed second and third in the shot put respectively.

"Our shot put and discus throwers had a very good meet," Gunderson said. "All the marks by boys that placed were personal records for them."

Ronan-St. Ignatius junior Marcus Hungerford finished third in the 800 meter race with a time of 2:09. Erik Malmquist also placed third in the high jump with a height of 5-10.

Gunderson said that the results and team should get better as they get their conditioning under them and the kids get used to the nuances of track and field.

"We have to have time to get them in good shape," Gunderson said. "We left some points out on the track, but so did the other teams. It all works out the same."

Gene Hughes Invitational TEAM Results

BOYS

1. Corvallis 88

2. Polson 78

3. Stevensville 62

4. Victor 56

5. Thompson Falls 55

6. Darby 55

7. Florence 39

8. Butte Central 33

9. Hamilton 29

10. Ronan 29

GIRLS

1. Corvallis 94

2. Polson 76

3. Hamilton 66

4. Florence 65

5. Ronan 55

6. Seeley-Swan 46

7. T-Falls 46

8. Butte Central 21

9. Darby 14

10. Stevensville 10

11. Victory 9

12. Plains 6

Gene Hughes Invitational INDIVIDUAL Results

GIRLS

100 - 2. Anna DiGiallonardo, Pol, 12.95.

6. Kianna Howell, R-S, 14:15

200 - 2. Anna DiGiallonardo, Pol, 27.81, 3. KaGlen Mitchell,

R-S, 30:22, 4. Jewel Zackit-Ackerman, Pol, 30.67, 6. Kianna

Howell, R-S, 30:94

400 - 5. Kat Medland, Pol, 1:11.50, 6. Sarah Lucero, R-S,

1:13:40

800 - 1, Claudia Hewston, Pol, 2:39.9; 4, Maddie Hewston,

Pol, 2:46.3.

1,600 - 2, Claudia Hewston, Pol, 6:01.0.

3,200 - 2, Mesa Starkey, Pol, 12:38.2; 4, Maddie Hewston,

Pol, 15:21.7.

High jump - 4. Jenny Larsson, R-S, 4-8 5. Adessa Durglo,

R-S, 4-8

Long jump - 3. Adessa Durglo ,R-S, 15-6, 5. Anna DiGiallonardo,

Pol, 15-1 3/4.

Triple Jump - 1. Adessa Durglo, R-S, 32-8 3/4

Pole vault - 1, McCall Banner, Pol, 7-0; 2, McKenzie

Banner, Pol, 7-0.

400 Relay - 1. Ronan, 55:28

1600 Relay - 4. Ronan, 5:06.3

BOYS

100 - 4. Erik Malmquist, R-S, 11:77, 5. Mike Devlin,

Pol, 11.81

200 - 3. Erik Malmquist, R-S, 24:48, 5. Chris Cote,

Pol, 25.09.

400 - 2. Chris Cote, Pol, 55.28, 5. Alex Aliadadi,

R-S, 57.5

800 - 3. Marcus Hungerford, R-S, 2:09.2

3,200 - 4. Alex Nystrom, Pol, 11:20.8; 5. Jimmy

Bjorge, Pol, 11:24.1

300 hurdles - 5. Jesse Alfiero, Pol, 49.62.

400 relay - 4. Polson, 47.7.

1,600 relay -3. Polson, 3:53.3.

Shot put - 2. Clark Rubel, Pol, 45-8; 3. Dale Big

Sam, Pol, 43-10.

Discus - 3. Riley Sampson, Pol, 125-8.

High jump - 3. Erik Malmquist, R-S, 5-10, 6.

Marcus Hungerford, R-S, 5-8

Long jump - 2. Mike Devlin, Pol, 20-6.

Pole vault - 1. Brock Bleazard, Pol, 11-6; 3. Drew

Fouty, Pol, 11-0; 4. Jesse Alfiero, Pol, 10-6.