Bigfork boys roll to 2nd at State A track

The Bigfork Vikings had to deal with a hamstring injury to standout sprinter Robert Merchant on Saturday at the State A track and field meet, but it would have been tough to catch host Laurel regardless: Decker Purkett and Gabriel Glassing went 1-2 in both hurdles races to send the Locomotives on their way to 96 points. 

Bigfork held on to second, scoring 50. Corvallis, getting a third-place finish from discus thrower Ayden Spencer in the day’s final event, was third with 49. 

Polson and Frenchtown (24) tied for 10th; Columbia Falls had 16 points and Whitefish 10. 

Havre won the girls title with 62 points. Corvallis had 58 points, followed by Stevensville (53) and Hamilton (52). Whitefish had 39 points. 

The Vikings’ highlight Saturday came in the triple jump, where Tamret Savik marked a personal record of 48 feet, 4.75 inches, crushing the Class A record. The old record was 47-0.5, set by Miles City’s Mike Lamphear in 1978. 

Tamret Savik won the high jump (at a PR of 6-6) and was second in the long jump Friday; Merchant won the 400 in a Class A record 47.89, shading the 48.10 Miles City’s Jeff Muri ran at the “English distance,” 440 meters, in 1976.  

Merchant also had the top trials times for the 100 and 200 on Friday while helping Bigfork run the fastest 400 relay in prelims. 

Merchant was hurt during the 400-meter relay finals Saturday morning. That and bad weather might have cast a pall, but the Vikings battled. 

“Losing Robert was hard,” Bigfork coach Sue Loeffler said. “And they came through and just competed. They went with what they had and persevered and did awesome. I told them were my champions, as far as I’m concerned.”