Whitefish girls win Western A track, narrowly

POLSON — The Whitefish girls had a big Saturday at the Western A Divisional, especially Rachael Wilmot, and Simon Douglas stood out for the Bulldog boys as well. 

Behind Wilmot’s sprint sweep, Whitefish claimed the girls team title at the Polson Athletic Complex with 81 points. Dillon used a 1-2-3 finish in the day’s final event, the discus, to close with 80.5 points. Hamilton was next at 79 and Columbia Falls was fourth with 75. 

The Corvallis Blue Devils won the boys title with 107 points. Columbia Falls had 94, Frenchtown 70 and Whitefish was fourth at 65. 

Douglas, a senior, set the day’s lone meet record with his win in the 800. He crossed in 1 minute, 54.59 seconds — not his career best, but enough to beat a fast field that included Hamilton’s Evan Bennett, who was just .06 behind. 

It also bettered the meet record of 1:55.56 set by Hamilton’s Coler Kirland in 2022. 

There were fast finals aside from that. The 110-meter hurdles went to Frenchtown’s Brody Hardy, whose time of 14.44 was .04 off the meet record and barely better than the 14.48 run by Corvallis’ Stuart Brennan.  Five of the six placers in the boys 3,200 hit PRs, the exception being winner Jack Davidson of Corvallis, who finished in 9:47.37. Polson’s David DiGiallonardo was second at 9:58.80. 

There was another marquee dual in the discus, where Columbia Falls’ Lane Voermans threw 165 feet, 3 inches in the prelims and had it hold up for the win. Polson’s Astin Brown went 164-8 on his first throw of finals but then scratched his final two attempts. 

The Wildcats found depth points in the high jump, where Banyan Johnston was fourth, and the triple jump, where Leighton Cyr and Easton Brooks finished second and third. Both Cyr and Bigfork’s Tamret Savik marked 44-4.5; it was a PR for Cyr and Savik got the win on criteria. 

Johnston was also sixth in the triple. 

That’s not to mention Friday’s pole vault, where the Columbia Falls tandem of Oliver Kress and Isak Soyland both cleared 14-0, Kress winning on criteria. Frenchtown’s Hardy also cleared 14-0 but placed third. 

On Saturday Jack Phelps finished third in the 100 meters, then second in the 200. Frenchtown’s Cole Zeigler won the former; Corvallis sophomore Ayden Spencer won the 200 in 22.82 seconds. Phelps, who was second in Friday’s 400, ran 23.04. 

Backing up Douglas for Whitefish was a second-place long relay team — Douglas ran anchor — and sprinters Preston McPherson, Colby Minton and Riley Zetooney. Carson Gulick was sixth in the 300 hurdles and Cameron Diehl was sixth in the pole vault. 

Savik added a second in the high jump, which Ledge Conner of Corvallis won at 6-4.  

In the girls meet, Wilmot added wins in the 100 and 200 on Saturday to her 400 victory from Friday. The Whitefish senior clocked 12.70 in the 100 and 25.31 in the 200 — the latter not far off Bulldog legend Brooke Zetooney’s 2023 record of 25.08. 

Freshman Ginger Bergland provided ample support, running a PR of 26.64 to take third in the 200 and placing second in the 300 hurdles to Stevensville’s Reagan Johnstone, another freshman.  

The Bulldogs also claimed third in the long relay and got a second-place finish from Sol Holmqust in the javelin.  

Then there’s the high jump, which Whitefish freshman Grace Sliman won on criteria. She was one of five athletes to clear 4-10; she came in at that height, made it on her first attempt and when everyone else needed more than one, she — and the Bulldogs — claimed the narrowest of wins.  

Columbia Falls scored a bunch of points in the 800, where Chloe Savoy, Ashley Andrews, Mila Johns and Mya Badger finished 2-3-4-5. Savoy, Johns and Badger all hit PRs; so did Hamilton’s Annalise Lewis, whose time of 2:15.83 was just .49 off the meet record. 

The Wildkats also had Maddy Barker and Taryn Borgen team up for 12 high jump points, and Borgen PR’d while placing third in Friday’s long jump. Barker was fourth in the triple. 

Libby freshman Capri Farmer decisively won the 3,200 Saturday in 11:36.97 while putting Brooke Andrus’ 20-year-old meet record in sight. The Bigfork star ran 11:15.89 in 2005. 

Full results can be found at athletic.net.