For those who hadn’t spent much time at Legends Stadium before Friday or otherwise seen Will Hollensteiner in person, the Flathead junior made it official: He can fly.

At the State AA track and field meet Hollensteiner finished a lap around his home track in 47.22 seconds. To say he won his second straight 400 title is an understatement: Leading an eight-pack of runners under 50 seconds, he shattered the 8-year-old all-class record in the event. 

Helena High’s Zander Mozer ran 47.52 back in 2017. 

“I did not really expect it,” Hollensteiner said. “It was quite a big jump for me, but I did it. It feels great.” 

His previous personal record was 48.10, run at the Archie Roe Invitational on May 3. Last week at divisionals, he false-started. Friday, he was unbeatable. 

“It’s just go out there and run as hard as I can, and try not to slow down the last 100,” he said. 

It was an impressive race for the Braves: Flathead senior Lane Chivers was second in 47.99; Ben Bliven took fifth, running 49.67. 

Belgrade’s Wilson Schmidt, who won the 800 earlier Friday, was second at 48.31.  

The 400 accounted for 20 of Flathead’s 34 points scored through nine events. Glacier, with Owen Thiel winning the 3,200, was second at 34.5. Helena had 59 points going to Saturday. 

Hollensteiner added a fifth-place finish in the long jump, which was won by Boaz McKinney of Billings Skyview. 

“I obviously wanted to do better than that today,” Hollensteiner, who will run the 200, 300 hurdles and triple jump Saturday, said. “I didn’t PR but had a good mark (21-9) for the end of the season.  

“Starting off today we weren’t feeling great. We didn’t win the four-by-1. But after that (400) our points should be pretty good. I think we’re in a great spot to go out tomorrow and compete.” 

Helena won the short relay (Flathead was third) and got a win from Jaxan Leiberg in the high jump. 

Aside from Thiel, Glacier got big points in the shot put, where Will Astle hit a PR of 53 feet, 3 inches to lead a 2-3-4 Wolfpack finish with Ben Winters and Dylan Smith. Riley McGrath of Gallatin won at 53-11.5.  

Glacier’s Ethan Kastelitz placed fourth in the javelin with a PR of 166-8; Capital’s Tyler Crum won at 186-1. Cole Opre added 1.5 points for the Pack by tying for fifth in Thursday’s pole vault. 

Gallatin used a 1-2 finish in the 800 from Isabel Ross and Hazel Cooper to the first-day lead in the girls team race. Through eight events the Raptors had 50 points to 47 for Helena and 35 for Glacier. 

Helena’s Madilyn Todorovich was a blur Friday, winning the long jump, 400 meters and high jump. Not counting relays, the senior now has seven career state titles — two of them in the 300 hurdles, which is Saturday. 

Lauren Bissen’s win in the 3,200 was big for the Wolfpack; so was Breanna Barnes’ pole vault title. The senior cleared 11-6, a PR, and won the event for the 10th time in 12 meets this season. 

Barnes is the first girls pole vault champion from Glacier High. 

The Pack also got a sixth place in the 400 from Carmen Eddy, and Alyssa Vollertsen and Dacie Benkelman went 4-5 in the 800. Allie Krueger was fifth in the shot put; Jaidyn Pevey took third in the high jump. 

Flathead scored five points Friday: Josie Wilson was fourth in the 3,200 and Everett Holland was sixth in the 800. Both hit PRs. 

State AA 

BOYS 

Team scores (Through 9 events) — Helena 59, Glacier 34.5, Flathead 34, Helena Capital 23, Belgrade 22, Gallatin 22, Missoula Big Sky 14, Billings Skyview 14, Butte 14, Billings West 10.5, Billings Senior 8, Missoula Sentinel 8, Bozeman 6, Great Falls 6, Great Falls CMR 2, Missoula Hellgate 2. 

400 — 1, William Hollensteiner, Fla, 47.22 (all-class record: old record 47.52, Zander Mozer, Helena, 2017); 2, Lane Chivers, Fla, 47.99; 3, Wilson Schmidt, Bel, 48.31; 4, Adam Guajardo, MBS, 49.36; 5, Ben Bliven, Fla, 49.67; 6, Travis Ryland-Davis, Heln, 49.79. 

800 — 1, Wilson Schmidt, Bel, 1:51.21; 2, Dylan Hill, Hel, 1:53.82; 3, Kasen Kastner, Fla, 1:54.60; 4, Henry Sund, Hel, 1:55.10; 5, Reid Bartholomew, Gal, 1:55.26; 6, Chandler Christensen, Sky, 1:55.32. 

3,200 — 1, Owen Thiel, Gla, 9:16.70; 2, Elliot Stimpson, Hel, 9:23.69; 3, Taylor Neil, Boz, 9:25.30; 4, Milo Kauffman, Hel, 9:25.30; 5, Emerson Hamma, CMR, 9:32.34; 6, Miles Joseph Miller, Hgt, 9:35.83. 

400 relay — 1, Helena (Pacer Lybbert, Trey Peterson, Luke Ruch, Travis Ryland-Davis) 41.80; 2, Billings West 41.85; 3, Flathead 42.04; 4, Gallatin 42.77; 5, Capital 42.81; 6, Glacier 42.84. 

Javelin — 1, Tyler Crum, Cap, 186-1; 2, Jaeger Hansen, Butte, 172-1; 3, Auston Rowe, Hel, 171-1; 4, Ethan Kastelitz, Gla, 166-8; 5, Adam Guajardo, MBS, 162-6; 6, Asher Buckner, BW, 161-2. 

Shot put — 1, Riley McGrath, Gal, 53-11.5; 2, Will Astle, Gla, 53-3; 3, Ben Winters, Gla, 52-2; 4, Dylan Smith, Gla, 51-4.5; 5, Colter DeVoss, GFH, 51-0; 6, Evan Pyron,  Hgt, 50-10. 

High jump — 1, Jaxan Leiberg, Hel, 6-4; 2, Porter Gibbs, MBS, 6-4; 3, Sam Henderson, Butte, 6-4; 4, Josiah Coelho, BSR, 6-2; 5, Jaxsyn Baker Spivey, Sky, 6-2; 6, Keenan Mooris, Sky, 6-0. 

Long jump — 1, Boaz McKinney, Sky, 22-11.75; 2, Aayden Sikmmons, Hlen, 22-4.75; 3, Sam Kilwein, Gal, 22-2; 4, Josiah Coehlo, BSR, 21-11; 5, Will Hollensteiner, Fla, 21-9; 6, Cooper Nelson, Cap, 21-8.5.  

Pole vault — 1, Brayden Brisko, Cap, 15-6; 2, Geffen Guscio, Snt, 15-0; 3, Rodeny Schmidt, Bel, 14-6; 4, Luke Allen, GFH, 14-0; 5 (tie), Cohen Allen, BW, and Cole Opre, Gla, 13-6. 

GIRLS 

Team scores (Through 8 events) — Gallatin 50, Helena 47, Glacier 35, Billings West 20, Missoula Hellgate 19, Bozeman 14, Skyview 12, Belgrade 10, Billings Senior 10, Great Falls CMR 8, Sentinel 8, Great Falls 7, Flathead 5, Big Sky 2, Helena Capital 1. 

400 — 1, Madilyn Todorovich, Hel, 57.22; 2, Anneliese Bessette, Hgt, 57.83; 3, Isabel Ross, Gal, 58.02; 4, Hazel Bishop, Hel, 58.47; 5, Nya Myers, MBS, 58.47; 6, Carmen Eddy, Gla, 58.51. 

800 — 1, Isabel Ross, Gal, 2:09.98; 2, Hazel Cooper, Gal, 2:11.82; 3, Aliyah Vogel, BW, 2:15.08; 4, Alyssa Vollertsen, Gla, 2:17.73; 5, Dacia Benkelman, Gla, 2:18.25; 6, Everett Holland, Fla, 2:21.66. 

3,200 — 1, Lauren Bissen, Gla, 10:57.69; 2, Claire Rutherford, Gla, 11:02.55; 3, Kylee Neil, Boz, 11:06.44; 4, Josie Wilson, Fla, 11:13.55; 5, Kortney McKay, Hel, 11:21.95; 6, Kate Lee, Hel, 11:29.09. 

400 relay — 1, Billings West (Delainey Engen, Nora Allen, Alayna Hurd, Demry Boyd) 47.74; 2, Hellgate 48.21; 3, Helena 48.22; 4, Billings Senior 49.09; 5, Belgrade 49.40; 6, Gallatin 49.67. 

Shot put — 1, Rae Smart, Sky, 42-10; 2, Kate Breeding, Gal, 40-3; 3, Fayth Smith, BSR, 36-8; 4, Shay Casagrande, Snt, 35-9.5; 5, Allie Kreuger, Gla, 35-4.5; 6, Dani Wines, Cap, 34-5. 

High jump — 1, Madilyn Todorovich, Hel, 5-6; 2, Morgan Jones, Boz, 5-4; 3, Jaidyn Pevey, Gla, 5-2; 4 (tie), Kate Lindsay, Gal, and Elly Reed, Hgt, 5-2; 6, Kaylee Thompson, BW, 5-2. 

Long jump — 1, Madilyn Todorovich, Hel, 18-6.5; 2, Mayiehl Shaw, Bel, 16-9; 3, Zoey Fritz, Gal, 16-7.5; 4, Britton Heuiser, Hel, 16-7; 5, Myley Bronaugh, Sky, 16-55.; 6, Scarlett Harris, GFH, 16-4.75. 

Pole vault — 1, Breanna Barnes, Gla, 11-6; 2, Addison Smith, CMR, 11-3; 3, Bree MacDonald, GFH, 11-3; 4, Naomi Lee, Snt, 10-6; 5, Nevaeh Varner, BW, 10-6; 6, Clara Randall, BW, 10-0. 

    Glacier's Breanna Barnes clears 11'6" for first place in the girls' pole vault at the Class AA state track and field meet at Legends Stadium on Friday, May 23.
 Casey Kreider   

    Glacier's Will Astle competes in the boys' discus at the Class AA state track and field meet at Legends Stadium on Friday, May 23. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Glacier's Ben Winters competes in the boys' discus at the Class AA state track and field meet at Legends Stadium on Friday, May 23. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Flathead's Kasen Kastner placed third in the boys' 800 meter run at the Class AA state track and field meet at Legends Stadium on Friday, May 23.
 Casey Kreider