Sophomore Sam Nelson’s first effort in the discus on a blustery, overcast Friday afternoon for Glacier High School in a home track dual with Great Falls was not one of those memorable moments.

“First throw of the season, I was really nervous,” he said.

It measured just 103 feet.

That was way off his expectations. Last year he had a season best of 131-0.

“I just shrugged it off,” he said.

Nelson came back focused, determined and finished with throws of 150-1 and 157-2 on his final two attempts to not only win the event, but qualify for state as well.

The state qualifying standard in the discus is 148-0.

“The adrenaline was going in the last two throws,” he said.

“I could tell right after it left my hand that it felt really good,” he said of his final effort.

“That’s the most excited I’ve ever been. I was jumping around and yelling.”

“I knew he was going to get better (this year),” Glacier boys coach Arron Deck said.

“He’s been pretty excited the last couple of days. Something kind of clicked for him mid-week (in practice) and he took advantage of it.”

Nelson was one of two Glacier boys to pass, or match, state qualifying standards. Lonnie Sherman, a senior, cleared 13-6 in the pole vault. That matched the state standard.

Deck said senior dashman Evan Epperly just missed out in 200 (23.02) and 400 (51.33), as did senior Nathan Connell in the 800 (2:04.43). All times were meet bests.

“Overall, the coaching staff is really excited with what they saw today and what we’ve seen in practice,” Deck said.

 “We have a lot of young kids who are willing to work in practice. They are putting in the effort.”

Glacier’s girls had three individuals qualify for state in their season opener.

Junior Keyawna Larson bettered the state standard for the javelin by nearly 10 feet with her winning distance of 127-9.

Junior Tessa Krueger qualified in the shot put (36-8.5) and discus (115-6) and Katie Wiley (5-1) in the high jump.

Larson is the defending state champ in the javelin with a throw of 140-8.

Krueger and Wiley also placed at state last spring.

“I’m actually pretty pleased,” Larson said of her performance.

“I’m hoping to throw 150 by the end of the year.”

“The three kids that qualified for state kind of knew what was going on, stepped up and continued what they did last year,” Glacier girls coach Jerry Boschee said.

“For a lot of the kids, they were looking at their first one (track meet). We have a lot of kids who don’t understand the sport yet. It was good for them to compete to just figure things out.”

Boschee said there were four freshman who turned in some outstanding efforts despite the tough conditions for their varsity debut. They were: Zoee Boschee and Abi Fiske in the high jump and triple jump, Bailey Smith in the distance events, and Brynn McChesney in the hurdles.

“Those young kids stepped up,” he said.

“I thought they competed really well. The conditions were tough with the wind. It was a good first meet for them.”

Glacier is back in action Tuesday at the Kalispell Time Trials at Legends Stadium.

Boys

Team Totals

Glacier 101, Great Falls 44

Events

100 — 1, Thor Olson, GF, 11.69. 2, Logan Jones, Gla, 11.92. 3, Casey Kostecki, Gla, 12.08. 4, Riley Connell, Gla, 12.13. 5, Garrett Cebulla, Gla, 12.20. 6, Tucker Rauthe, Gla, 12.21.

200 — 1, Evan Epperly, Gla, 23.02. 2, Tyler Johnson, Gla, 24.39. 3, Alex Stewart, Gla, 25.44. 4, Devin Cochran, Gla, 25.49. 5, Martin Moore, GF, 25.52. 6, Jake Willich, Gla, 25.91.

400 — 1, Evan Epperly, Gla, 51.33. 2, Brendan Howard, GF, 55.99. 3, Bryce Krattger, GF, 56.09. 4, Devin Vaughan, GF, 56.69. 5, Austin Cochran, Gla, 57.47. 6, Martin Moore, GF, 57.95.

800 — 1, Nathan Connell, Gla, 2:04.43. 2, Kody Torgerson, GF, 2:12.84. 3, Colton Gorian, Gla, 2:13.35. 4, Carl Evans, GF, 2:16.74. 5, Cade Habel, GF, 2:18.69. 6, Nathaniel Inselman, Gla, 2:19.63.

1,600 — 1, Kody Torgerson, GF, 4:48.23. 2, Kade McCutcheon, Gla, 4:48.25. 3, Brock Sandry, Gla, 4:50.35. 4, Bryce Krattger, GF, 5:08.18. 5, Cade Habel, GF, 5:10.34. 6, Bryer Anderson, Gla, 5:22.22.

3,200 — 1, Logan Harmon, Gla, 10:32.21. 2, Brock Sandry, Gla, 10:44.69. 3, Kade McCutcheon, Gla, 10:55.80. 4, Noah Hill, Gla, 11:02.86. 5, Bryce Krattger, GF, 11:32.17. 6, Colton Gorian, Gla, 11:41.44.

110 hurdles — 1, Maxx Sitzman, GF, 17.47. 2, Jamison Hermanson, GF,   17.63. 3, Austin Cook, Gla, 17.77. 4, A.J. Robinson, Gla, 17.78. 5, Andrew Durado, Gla, 19.52. 6, Ryan Johnson, GF, 20.39.

300 hurdles — 1, A.J. Robinson, Gla, 44.60. 2, Jamison Hermanson, GF,  44.61. 3, Maxx Sitzman, GF, 45.04. 4, Brock Adkins, Gla, 45.53. 5, Joey Greene, GF, 46.23. 6, Nate Williams, GF, 46.54.

400 relay — 1. Glacier, 47.06. 2, Great Falls, 48.16.

1,600 relay — 1, Glacier, 3:42.70. 2, Great Falls, 3:50.63

High jump — 1, Cain Boschee, Gla, 6-1. 2, Josh Hill, Gla, 5-11. 2, Matt  Wyman, GF, 5-11. 4, Keaton Brady, GF, 5-7. 5, Jake Wetzel, GF, 5-5. 6, Michael Hamblin, Gla, 5-3.

Pole Vault — 1, Lonnie Sherman, Gla, 13-6. 2, Keaton Brady, GF, 13-0. 3, John Sanford, GF, 11-0. 3, Mateo Amado-Cattaneo, GF,  11-0. 5, Boone Tullett, Gla, 10-6. 5, Sean Young, Gla, 10-6.

Long jump — 1, Logan Jones, Gla, 20-2. 2, Austin Cook, Gla, 19-11. 3, Sam McCamley, Gla, 19-10. 4, Caleb Jones, Gla, 18-9. 5,  Lonnie Sherman, Gla, 18-07.75. 6, Michael Hamblin, Gla, 18-7.

Triple jump — 1, Keaton Brady, GF, 40-9.25. 2, Sam Mccamley, Gla, 40-1.  3, Tucker Rauthe, Gla, 39-11.5.

Shot put — 1, Harrison Kauffman, Gla, 42-7. 2, Zach Dennehy, Gla, 40-7. 3, Josh Hill, Gla, 39-3.

Discus — 1, Sam Nelson, Gla, 157-2. 2, Zach Dennehy, Gla, 131-7. 3,  Harrison Kauffman, Gla, 127-8. 4, Kevin Malloy, Gla, 125-4. 5, Neal Wood, Gla, 122-7. 6, Eric Weaver, GF, 109-0.

Javelin — 1, Richard Owens, Gla, 147-0. 2, Devin Slater, Gla, 146-8. 3, Zach Devlin, GF, 139-5. 4, Sam Nelson, Gla, 131-2. 5, Kevin Malloy, Gla, 129-11. 6, Mateo Amado-Cattaneo, GF, 128-4.

Girls

Team Totals

Glacier 104, Great Falls 41

Events

100 — 1, Shauna Williams, Gla, 13.27. 2, Hannah Collins, GF, 13.31. 3, Morgan Evans, GF, 13.59. 4, Alysha Smith, Gla, 13.94. 5, Brynn McChesney, Gla, 14.20. 6, Hailee Bennett, Gla, 14.48.

200 — 1, Hannah Collins, GF, 27.32. 2, Morgan Evans, GF, 27.69. 3, Alyssa Jonasen, GF, 28.66. 4, Rachel Ruis, Gla, 29.07. 5, Brynlie Lane, GF, 30.41. 5, McKenzie Lee, Gla, 30.41.

400 — 1, Alysha Smith, Gla, 1:06.60. 2, Marissa Wenum, Gla, 1:09.01. 3, Maddie Paulson, Gla, 1:09.27. 4, Brynlie Lane, GF, 1:10.05. 5, Madison Zirker, Gla, 1:11.80. 6, Sarah Jonasen, GF, 1:18.31.

800 — 1, Miranda Champion, Gla, 2:41.01. 2, Taylor Lapke, Gla, 2:46.32. 3, Marissa Lencionia, GF, 2:48.36. 4, Caylie Williams, Gla, 2:48.78. 5, Jessica Chery, Gla, 2:51.04. 6, Addison Bucher, Gla, 3:15.84.

1,600 — 1, Bailey Smith, Gla, 5:30.95. 2, Miranda Champion, Gla, 5:59.73. 3, Katie Whyte, Gla, 6:22.50. 4, Rachel Ruis, Gla, 6:31.21.

3,200 — 1, Bailey Smith, Gla, 12:17.28. 2, Katie Whyte, Gla, 14:04.49. 3, Rachel Ruis, Gla, 14:31.54. 4, Caylie Williams, Gla, 15:46.00.

100 hurdles — 1, Alyssa Jonasen, GF, 16.98. 2, Shauna Williams, Gla, 17.05. 3, Hailee Bennett, Gla, 17.69. 4, LynDe Feisthamel, GF, 17.90. 5, Julia Thompson, Gla, 19.01. 6, Sarah Jonasen, GF, 19.08.

300 hurdles — 1, Hailee Bennett, Gla, 50.53. 2, Alyssa Jonasen, GF,  51.17. 3, Brynn McChesney, Gla, 52.05. 4, LynDe Feisthamel, GF, 52.74.

400 relay — 1, Glacier, 52.37. 2, Great Falls, 53.87.

1,600 relay — 1, Glacier, 4:42.61.

High jump — 1, Lizzy Klinker, GF, 5-1. 1, Katie Wiley, Gla, 5-1. 3, Kyra McNeil, GF, 4-11. 4, Zoee Boschee, Gla, 4-9. 4, Abi Fiske, Gla, 4-9. 4, Alyssa Jonasen, GF, 4-09.

Pole vault — 1, Katelyn Parmelee, Gla, 8-0. 2, Keegan Swanson, GF, 7-6. 2, JoJo Sherman, Gla, 7-6. 4, Kylie Peck, Gla, 7-0. 5, Autumn Saultzman, GF, 6-6.

Long jump — 1, Brielle Bumgarner, Gla, 16-1. 2, Shauna Williams, Gla, 14-10.25. 3, Hannah Collins, GF, 14-10. 4, Laker Flores, Gla, 14-8.25. 5, Brynlie Lane, GF, 14-6. 6, Caitlynn Douglas, Gla, 13-10.

Triple jump — 1, Caitlynn Douglas, Gla, 33-4.75. 2, Katie Wiley, Gla, 33-2. 3, Zoee Boschee, Gla, 32-10. 4, Abi Fiske, Gla, 32-4. 5, Kylie Peck, Gla, 31-1. 6, Ahna Kreitenger, Gla, 30-8.75.

Shot put — 1, Tessa Krueger, Gla, 36-8.5. 2, Keyawna Larson, Gla, 30-8.5. 3, Nikki Krueger, Gla, 30-0.

Discus — 1, Tessa Krueger, Gla, 115-6. 2, Shauna Williams, Gla, 100-3.5. 3, Emma Loney, GF, 80-2. 4, Melanie Gassaway, Gla, 74-9. 5, Courtney Mitchell, Gla, 73-10.5. 6, McKayle Dennehy, Gla, 72-6.

Javelin — 1, Keyawna Larson, Gla, 127-9. 2, Nora Klick, GF, 105-3. 3, Casey Babinecz, GF, 81-8. 4, Lydia Gillespie, GF, 81-3. 5, Alexis Larson, Gla, 80-2. 6, Dani Miller, Gla, 78-6.