They say records are meant to be broken, and Flathead’s Will Hollensteiner has been breaking a lot of marks in his four years with the Braves.

Currently the Braves senior has his name next to three state records and countless other meet bests, and with one more meet left he hopes to be able to add a few more. 

“Those (records) felt great, especially to do it with my teammates in the 4-by-4 and 4-by-1, I love just seeing out names up there,” Hollensteiner said. “We can all look back on those and say this was the team. And then in the 400, there is not a better feeling than setting a state record by yourself ... it feels great to maybe come back here in 20 years and still see my name in the record books.”  

More than records, Hollensteiner will look to add to the seven medals he earned a year ago at the State AA meet on his home track. 

That may be easier said than done for two reasons: First, a not so favorable forecast in Missoula, home of this year’s Statrre AA meet,  Friday and Saturday.

 Second, Hollensteiner is just seven weeks removed from a hamstring pull that has kept him sidelined for most of the season. 

“That was a devastating injury when he pulled his hamstring,” Braves track and field coach Dan Hodge said. “We have been super cautious. His family has been super cautious. I think he is ready to go, but I don’t know if he is mentally ready to go.” 

If you ask Will, he feels good and ready. 

“I think I have been good to run for a few weeks now,” Hollensteiner said. “I think I have been holding out just because of the, ‘What if something happens?’ “ 

Through weeks of physical therapy, Hollensteiner worked his way back to the field for last week’s Western AA divisional in Helena where he competed in the triple jump. 

“I have a lot of great people around here like coach Kalani (McLaughlin), Tye LeDuc and Tyler (Karlberg) our strength and conditioning coach,” Hollensteiner said. “They helped me see PT people, they got me on a specialized plan right away so I was able to get on it and I wasn’t just sitting around waiting for my hamstring to heal. I was doing something about it.” 

The 45-foot, 3.75-inch jump was good enough to win the event and qualify for the State AA-B track meet in Missoula on Friday and Saturday where Hollensteiner will wrap up his high school career. It’s one of seven events he is scheduled to compete in. 

Hollensteiner may have been destined to take the Kalispell athletics scene by storm. His father John Hollensteiner competed in track and field in college and helped to coach Will’s youth teams, while his mother Mary Hollensteiner (formerly Mary Ostergren) competed in two Olympics as a biathlete for the United States. 

But maybe most important to Will Hollensteiner’s development as an athlete is his brother Walt Hollensteiner. 

“He has always been a big inspiration to me,” Will Hollensteiner said. “Growing up it was always me and him having fun and playing sports outside. He always pushed me to be my best.” 

That relationship sparked Hollensteiner’s competitiveness. 

As he continued to develop, in stepped Tom Gillespie — a middle school history teacher in Somers and coach for Hollensteiner — who pushed Hollensteiner to run his now favorite event: the 300 hurdles. 

“He has worked his way up with me,” Hollensteiner said of Gillespie. “He has always been there and said, ‘I think you’d be good at the hurdles.’ So I gave it a go and ended up being pretty good at it. There is so much that goes into it. You have to get your steps down between the hurdles as well as have the speed and the endurance to get over all of them.” 

Of all his events slated for the state meet, the 300 hurdles is one he will not compete in. 

Now as a senior for this Braves squad, Hodge says that Hollensteiner is a great lead-by-example athlete. 

“He comes out and does his workout, no fuss, no hassle just gets it done,” Hodge said.  

It’s not just being on the track that helped Hollensteiner get to this point, he also suited up for the Braves football team — though was sidelined for much of the season due to injury — but he also notes that soccer has been great for his development as a kid. 

“I don’t know if there is a better sport that you can do other than soccer,” Hollensteiner said. “I know a lot of people say football is the best but I think soccer is. At soccer practice you are just running around for an hour and a half changing directions and kicking the ball. 

“In football there is a lot of running, but it’s explosiveness. I think in track you need to learn how to run before you become explosive out of the blocks.” 

In Missoula Hollensteiner will wrap up his high school career by tackling the 100, 200 and 400 sprints along with both relays and the long and triple jump. 

“He is a tremendous athlete,” Hodge said. “I think if he hadn’t gotten that injury he could hold the state 300 record this spring and he could have broken the triple jump and the long jump record.” 

Once it’s all over at Flathead, Hollensteiner heads off to Purdue where he will exchange the Orange and Black for the Old Gold and Black of the Boilermakers. 

“I was down there for a visit last fall and I absolutely loved it,” Hollensteiner said of the West Lafayette, Indiana school. “They were all so welcoming to me and coach (Tony) Miller. He was just great. I connected with him straight away. 

But before then, he has one final chance in Montana to rewrite the record books. 

Reporter Jon Allen can be reached at 406-758-4426 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.