Scottie Track Season Ends Without Team Hardware

The Scottie track season ended with a mixture of disappointments and triumphs.

The 2018 State Class B track meet was held in Laurel May 25 and 26, and Glasgow was represented by nearly 30 athletes.

Conditions were less than favorable for the competitors with scorching hot sun beating down for most of the weekend. Relief from the temperatures came only at the end of the day on Saturday, when the skies began to cloud over and rain threatened the event.

Navigating the venue can be difficult as well, with most coaches and inactive athletes banned from the field for the majority of the competition. While athletes are competing, they are only able to interact with their coaches through chain-link fences that surround the track complex. It's a far cry from the relaxed and supportive atmosphere of a typical Northeast Montana track meet.

While several Scotties came home with shiny medals, neither the boys or girls were able to snag a team trophy. The Lady Scotties were less than one point away from a third place finish with 40.33 points, falling just behind Huntley Project, who scored 41 points. According to head coach Tim Phillips, it was the fourth-highest point total since Glasgow became class B in 1993. "We couldn't have been much closer for the girls at state," he said. "Two-thirds of a point is a tough way to lose. I looked through the results and had we not had some tremendous p.r.'s, we wouldn't have even been close."

Although the boys were not as close to a podium finish, they were also just shy of a "better" finish, trailing Fairfield by one point for a seventh-place finish overall with 33 points. The boys' placing was the seventh highest since 1993.

In addition to both girls' relays and the boys' short relay placing for points, eight individual Scotties earned medals in their events.

As expected, the boys distance runners carried their weight, with Ellis McKean and Wilson Overby each setting personal bests in the 1600m and 3200m runs to achieve podium placings. In addition, McKean's 1600m finish was the seventh-best in Glasgow's state track history and Overby's was the tenth-best. In the 3200m run, McKean achieved another milestone with the fifth-best finish in Scottie history and the fastest time since 1979. Overby's finish in the same event was the sixth-best finish in state track meet history for Glasgow.

Phillips broke down the boys' one-mile and two-mile races: "The 1600m was a great race," he said. "All six placers ran their personal bests, though I did a poor job of instructing Ellis to stay out of traffic. He was boxed in for much of the race. He managed to get out of traffic and was there when the Manhattan boys made their big push, but they ran a tremendous last lap. That was just more than we were ready for."

"Ellis still finished third in 4:36.66, which is a seven-second p.r." he continued. "Wilson was a huge surprise, finishing sixth. He ran a ten-second p.r., and ran a great race, staying just outside the lead pack until the last lap to run 4:41. Merlin was a little off his season best, but ran a stout race."

Phillips described the boys' 3200m race as his favorite to watch. "There were so many surges and lead changes between the athletes," he explained. "The Lodge Grass kid took the lead, but Wilson grabbed it on the third lap. He, Ellis, and Zak Meeker from Manhattan took it from there. I think the lead changed between the three of them seven or eight times. I knew the boys needed separation by the last lap, and they tried, but Zak just wouldn't let go. Ellis, however, ran the fastest time run at state by a Scottie since Ted McIntyre in 1979."

Phillips said the girls really struggled with the heat in their 3200m. "Brooke's (Westby) form was good all the way through and she competed as long as she could," he explained, adding that Ali Cunningham also had a tough time with the temperature as it was probably 95 to 100 degrees on the track.

Brett Glaser earned silver in the triple jump with the third-best jump in Scottie history, at 44' 5". The mark was just one foot behind jumping coach Curt Wesen's second-place mark from 1975.

Baylie Chappell and Emily Kolstad led the girls' team with four medals each. Chappell ran her personal best in the 200m dash for a second-place finish and landed fourth on the Scottie record board with her performance. She sprinted to another record-board placing in the 100m dash as she finished second overall with the third best time in Scottie history. "I thought Baylie could have won both the 100m and 200m," said Phillips of her performance. "She just missed a p.r. in the 100, and set a new one in the 200m. Two runner-up finishes is pretty amazing coming out of the long winter we had."

Phillips was disappointed that they were unable to qualify a single boy for the finals in the sprints, but praised the 4x100 relay team for placing at state. "They cut over a second off their divisional p.r. and are probably top 10 of all time for the Scotties at state," he explained. "Honestly, I wasn't expecting that team to make it out of divisional, and then not to make it out of finals."

Kolstad impressed with her third-place 60.03 finish in the 400m run. Phillips described her performance in the event as an "amazing gut check" and explained, "When we checked the schedule, we figured she had enough time to run the 800, vault, and then have a couple hours before the 400m. They ended up delaying the boys pole vault, which then led to the girls' vault running long, so she was out in the hot sun for two hours, then had about 20 minutes to get ready for the 400. She looked really sluggish for the first 150m, but then cranked out a great rest of the race. I think she went from seventh to third in that span. Her time is the second-fastest Scottie 400m at state, and she sits second on the Glasgow record board."

"Her 800m was very impressive as well," he continued. "She came in with a 2:28.09 and ran a 2:22.87 to get fourth. That's a huge p.r. in that event. She's now fifth-fastest on the record board in the 800."

The boys' 800m is a sore subject, according to Phillips. "I held Ellis out to concentrate on the 3200, and Alec had a decent shot at placing," he said. "But with the new waterfall start, he got pushed and tripped and actually fell down on the track. They are supposed to stop the race when that happens in the first 100 meters, but didn't. I argued my point but it was too late."

Also notable: the girls' 1600m relay time of 4:12.04 was good enough for a spot on the record board as the fifth-best in history. Of the event, Phillips said, "The 1600m relay was so much fun to watch. I pretty well knew at the time that we were out of it for the overall trophies, but the girls didn't. They ran tremendous! Alaina (Sallee) ran her faster 400m to open and Keely (Fossum) kept us close to fourth. But we had lost a lot on second and third place. Baylie had a great leg that got us close, and then Emily came from about 20 meters down to get us second. I think her split was 58.8. That's the way I love to finish out a meet."

Kaylee King, cleared 4' 10"in the high jump for a sixth-place finish, and Katie Kaiser earned fifth-place overall with her 9' mark in the pole vault.

"Kaylee has been fighting through some severe back pain for two years," Phillips said of the senior jumper. "That's a lot of pain to work through. She showed so much heart just to come out this year, and to get a medal of any kind was to me a grand slam. I hope the younger athletes take a lesson of courage from Kaylee."

Just one height away from being in the running for a second-place finish, Kaiser added two important points with her vault. "She's pretty tough on herself," said Phillips, "but I was proud that she made the podium, especially in a season like this. The vault is probably the event that suffers the most when your track and field complex is covered with snow til mid-April."

For the boys' pole vault, he said Kyle Ross just had a tough year. "It's been hard for him to do much with the knee injury he had last summer," Phillips explained. "The healing hasn't been nearly as quick as we'd have liked. And, opening height at state was his season p.r., so it was just too much for him to overcome."

Freshman Riley Noser had an outstanding first season with the Scotties, making it to the podium in the shot put with her fifth-place throw of 33'.

Discussing the girls' shot put, Phillips praised the trio of Lady Scotties. "Riley brought us two valuable points with a fifth-place finish," he explained. "It wasn't her p.r. but for a freshman girl to place is pretty unheard of in the shot put. Tosha Sand threw 32' 2.25, a new p.r., that got her into finals but wasn't quite enough to place. Ziggy (Chamberlain) struggled a little, but would have needed a big p.r. just to make finals. But she's been on a rocket path with her throws, improving every meet. We are extremely proud of her."

The conditions at the javelin got the best of all the Scottie competitors. Laurel had received some rain the week prior to the meet and the tall, wet grass was difficult for the throwers to adjust to.

Phillips thought both boys and girls struggled at the long jump on Saturday, but said Cody (Cronmiller) was close to his p.r. "Brett came through big-time on Saturday with a huge personal best of 44' 5 in the triple," he said. "He was leading it until the Johnstone kid from Forsyth came back, right after winning the 800 meters, and jumped a 44' 7."

The Scottie hurdlers were unable to place individually, but Phillips praised their performances nonetheless. "Alaina set a p.r. in the 100m hurdles, and ran a real good race in the 300s," he said. "She's getting tougher each season, and I look for her to be one of our leaders next year." He also noted a personal best set by Ellie Page in the 300m hurdles the second day of the meet.

In his 300m hurdle performance, Cody Cronmiller suffered the dreaded fate of hurdlers everywhere when he hit a hurdle and fell just before the finish line in his heat, losing the lead. "Cody ran a great 270 meters of his 300 meter hurdle race," said Phillips of Cronmiller. "He was in the slow heat but leading by a lot when he hit the last hurdle. He still got up and had a very good time, though we're still awaiting the official results on it."

In conclusion, Phillips was satisfied with the outcome. "We are so very proud of how our kids finished this year," he said. "Our goals were to win the district and division, and try to place at state for both the boys and the girls."

Team scores (top ten)

Men:

1. Forsyth 86

2. Huntley Project 73

3. Manhattan 53

4. Sweet Grass Co. 49

5. Lincoln County 36

6. Fairfield 34

7. Glasgow 33

8. Joliet 31

9. Loy/S. Heart 24

10. Powell County 20

Women:

1. Bigfork 106

2. Baker 48

3. Huntley Project 41

4. Glasgow 40.33

5. Powell County 39

6. Colstrip 37

7. Three Forks 34

8. Roundup 26

9. Red Lodge 19

9. Manhattan 19

Individual Results

100m (Prelims) - 20th, Tyler Fitzsimmons, 11.86a; 22nd, Garrett Lloyd, 11.89a.

200m (Prelims) - 11th, Tyler Fitzsimmons, 23.96a; 20th, Garrett Lloyd, 24.62a.

400m - 7th, Brett Glaser, 51.59a; 19th, Garrett Lloyd, 56.14a.

800m - 19th, Alec Boland, 2:15.36a.

1600m - 3rd, Ellis McKean, 4:36.66a; 6th, Wilson Overby, 4:41.02a; 16th, Merlin McKean, 4:53.83a.

3200m - 2nd, Ellis McKean, 10:03.75a; 3rd, Wilson Overby, 10:06.56a; 12th, Merlin McKean, 10:44.04a.

300m Hurdles - 13th, Cody Cronmiller, 45.08a.

Boys 4x400 Relay - 14th, Alec Boland/Dexter Monson/Garrett Lloyd/Brett Glaser, 3:38.05a.

Shot Put - 13th, Brett Glaser, 43-05.50.

Discus - 17th, Chevy Boos, 130-04; 18th, Ben Miller, 117-09.

Javelin - 14th, Chevy Boos, 138-08; 15th, Alec Boland, 133-01.

Long Jump - 19th, Cody Cronmiller, 18-09.

Boys 4x100 Relay - 4th, T. Fitzsimmons/G. Lloyd/C.Cronmiller/B. Glaser, 44.34a.

Triple Jump - 2nd, Brett Glaser, 44-05.0

100m - 2nd, Baylie Chappell, 12.82a.

200m - 2nd, Baylie Chappell, 26.42a.

400m - 3rd, Emily Kolstad, 1:00.03a; 10th, Baylie Chappell, 1:02.52a.

800m - 4th, Emily Kolstad, 2:22.87a; 19th, Lauren Padden, 2:44.23a.

3200m - 15th, Brooke Westby, 13:46.98a; 21st, Ali Cunningham, 15:51.50a.

100m Hurdles - 18th, Alaina Sallee, 18.87a.

300m Hurdles - 11th, Alaina Sallee, 50.67a; 18th, Ellie Page, 54.15a.

Girls 4x100 Relay - 5th, B. Chappell/A. Peters/K. Fossum/E. Kolstad, 51.43a.

Girls 4x400 Relay - 2nd, A. Sallee/K. Fossum/B. Chappell/E. Kolstad, 4:12.04a.

Shot Put - 5th, Riley Noser, 33-00; 10th, Natosha Sand. 32-02.25; 18th, Ziggy Chamberlain, 29-09.25.

Javelin - 19th, Teyha Campbell, 89-0.

High Jump - 6th, Kaylee King, 4-10.

Long Jump - 11th, Baylie Chappell, 14-11.50.

Triple Jump - 18th, Alaina Sallee, 30-06.25

Pole Vault - 5th, Katie Kaiser, 9-00; 9th, Emily Kolstad, 8-06; 12th, Anika Peters, 7-06.