MISSOULA  — Day one of the State AA-B track meet featured records falling, a Wolfpack sweep in the 3,200 and a lightning stoppage that Flathead coach Dan Hodge called “unprecedented.”

Glacier stole the show early, taking three of the four distance events Friday at MCPS Stadium at Big Sky High School. 

Starting it off was the girls 800 where Dacia Benkelman used the momentum from her win at the Western AA Divisional in Helena to set a personal best 2:12.79, followed in second by freshman teammate Ada Thiel — who also set a personal best at 2:13.22. 

“I just tried to keep up with Hazel (Cooper) and at the end just gave it all that I had,” Benkelman said. “It’s an awesome feeling to be able to PR and a good way to set a PR. It’s good to see how far I have come from freshman year to now.” 

“This was my first race (at state) so I got all the jitters out and just went out there and gave it all I got,” Thiel said. 

Then Owen Thiel flashed his speed to win the boys 3,200 for the second straight season in 9:11.17, nearly six seconds ahead of Bozeman’s Miles Halvorsen. 

“It’s a great feeling to end high school with another state title,” Owen Thiel said. “It’s kind of the pinnacle of high school is winning the state championship your senior year. You can win it junior year, but a senior year state title is what you need to end it on the highest note you can and I’m glad I could get it done today.” 

Thiel still has the 1,600 to run Saturday. 

Lauren Bissen made it two back-to-back 3,200 champions with her strong close to finish in 11:00.40. Hawks’ runner Phoebe Maixner was second in 11:04.41. 

“It was a fun race, I took a playful mindset to it and tried to play a game with it,” Bissen said. “It was satisfying, when I crossed the finish line i just said ‘I did it.’ “ 

In a flash, Glacier’s girls were second in the team standings with 38 points, behind Gallatin at 40. The Wolfpack boys sit third at 24 points with Bozeman leading at 28 and Helena second at 25.  

Also in a flash, the day was cut short. Lightning over the hills west of Missoula forced a stoppage and eventual postponement of the remaining events Friday. All unfinished events, including all heats of the 400-meter dash, moved to a 9 a.m. start time Saturday. Rain is still in the forecast, but hopes are that lightning will not be in play. 

“Unprecedented,” Hodge said. “This is the 54th state meet I have been at as a coach and this is the first time that this has happened.” 

Hodge noted the Covid meet as another unprecedented situation, but also that even the Mount St. Helens eruption that sprayed ash all over the Northwest did not affect the state meet in 1980.  

The Wolfpack continued the strong track performance with a second-place finish in the boys short relay, .12 seconds behind Billings West, who won in 41.91. 

In the field Glacier found points finishes from Will Astle in the shot put and Spencer Hodge in the pole vault. 

Astle set a personal best of 54 feet, 8.5 inches to finish fourth. Gallatin’s Riley McGrath won at 59-7.5. 

Hodge was fifth in the vault at 13-6, Brayden Brisko topped 15 feet for the victory. 

The Glacier girls also got points finished from Allie Krueger (fourth in the shot put) and Lucy Holloway and Remi Osler in the javelin (going 4-5). 

Flathead sits without a point in either competition, though that will likely change once the boys long jump finishes as Will Hollensteiner leads in the finals with one jump left for all athletes. 

“We don’t have a point yet, we don’t have one point,” Hodge said with a chuckle. 

“We had some kids to some good things, we were right outside of scoring some points,” Bravettes coach Kaylee Fox said. “Had some kids get PRs in events and that is really all you can ask at state is that you be your best.” 

Two Braves boys set personal bests at the meet: Lance Schneller cleared 6-0 for the first time in the high jump to finish eighth. Hudson Capser went a personal best 47-4 in the shot put, good for 10th. 

Bravettes’ freshman Brynn Kossman was eighth in the shot put, 1.5 inches away from sixth with her throw of 35-8. Bristol Lenz was seventh in the long jump with a leap of 16-11.5. 

Records also fell at the meet Friday: Belgrade’s Wilson Schmidt cut his record time in the boys 800 down to 1:49.29, the sixth fastest time in the country this season. 

Billings Senior’s Emery Peel became the first Montana girl to break the 12 second barrier at the state meet breaking Logan Todorovich’s 12.04 mark with an 11.96 time in the 100 prelims. 

State B

In Class B, Eureka’s josh Lambertson put himself into a pair of finals in the 100 and 200 and placed ninth in the pole vault at 12-0. 

Lions teammate Colin Hickman set a personal best to finish seventh in the vault at 12-6. 

Kricket Bridges brought in a sixth-place finish in the girls pole vault, clearing 9-0. 

Plains’ John Jermyn set a personal best to win the boys 1,600 in 4:24.21. Horsemen teammate Cord Greer was fourth. 

Loyola’s Allison Gama set a Class B meet record in the 100 hurdles at 14.58 seconds — the old record was held by Plains’ Hailey Phillips at 14.75. 

Broadwater’s Kaitlyn Noyes also set a CLass B record in the long jump with a leap of 18-9.75, breaking her old mark of 18-0.5. 

Complete results can be found at athletic.net.