“Pistol’s up!” shouted Whitefish boys track and field head coach Willie Roche at practice on Monday, prepping the team to run through drills with their arms up.  

The sunny and brisk Monday afternoon was a pseudo first day of practice for the Bulldogs, who must sharpen up quickly after spring break for this weekend’s debut meet: the ARM Invite.  

“It feels like week one,” Roche said on Monday. “We’ve got to get it done before this gets ripped up.”  

Whitefish’s home invite is typically held later in April, but was coordinated for Friday, April 3, to accommodate the start of construction on the athletic expansion, which will take out the track. The competition begins at 10 a.m.  

While the teams will occasionally travel to Columbia Falls for practice this season and will have to be creative with training, they won’t be daunted by the adversity.  

Bolstered by a solid freshman class, things are looking strong for both the boys and the girls.  

The girls team will look to defend their State A title, after graduating only one point-scoring senior, Rachel Wilmot, last year.  

“There’s no telling what will happen yet, but we’re really hopeful,” said girls head coach Matt Beckwith.  

Wilmot was a big deal, Beckwith said, but the freshman class has a lot of potential, seen up and coming in training with Stumptown Track Club.  

Roche said they’re excited to get into the season, too. The boys placed fifth at state last year, and graduated distance runner Simon Douglas.  

In addition to strong freshman, football/track players recruited a couple of strong teammates to join, including Nate Zetooney.  

There’s a bit of a legacy to look up to, so much so that Roche even reminded the team as they ran through drills.  

“The goal of this entire boys team this year is to run as fast as Brooke [Zetooney],” he told the kids, demonstrating a drill that the former Lady Bulldog learned to master.  

Combined the teams have about 110 kids out for the sport. There’s usually a bit of attrition in numbers, but a lot of athletes, nonetheless. The high numbers early season are one of the reasons for concern with another adversity this season, in being down one assistant coach.  

“We’re disappointed with the school board’s decision with not hiring [volleyball coach Addy] Connelly,” Roche said. “We’ve got 110 kids. With five coaches, it’s not safe to have a one to 20 ratio.” 

Beckwith echoed Roche, saying, “The bottom line is our kids lose out, because our coaches are going to cover all those things, but simple math says less face time.” 

Roche said another frustration is that a pole vault pit isn’t included in the expansion, at least per what’s being funded by the bond. 

Nonetheless, overall there’s still been a ton of support and it’s looking to be a great season, coaches expressed.  

“Aric Harris [athletic director] and Kerry Drown [principal] have been phenomenal,” Roche said.