Pair Of Divisional Championships For Glasgow Track

It was divisional domination for Glasgow track and field as both the boys’ and girls’ teams took home the championship on Saturday, May 19, in Great Falls.

It came down to the wire for the boys’ team as they had to place in the top four in the final event of the day, the 4X400 relay, to ensure the win. But it could have been even closer.

Glasgow came into the final three events down two in overall points to Malta. The final three events were the javelin, the 200-meter dash and the 4X400 relay. 

Malta had several sprinters in the 200 and were expected to place at least three of their runners in the top six, which would add to their point totals. Glasgow would try to counter with several of their own top-six finishes in the javelin. 

If those two events cancelled each other out as far as points, it would have come down to the 4X400 relay that was hotly contested between the two squads at the district meet.

However, only Glasgow was able to hold up their side of the bargain by placing three times in the javelin, second by Kori Meiers, fourth by Chaz Gordon and sixth by Jason Thibault, giving Glasgow 13 points in that event. Malta only ended up placing two in the 200, a fourth and a sixth, for five points.

That gave the Scottie boys an eight-point cushion heading into the relay, where they ended up beating Malta by more than a second anyway for second place, to give the boys the eight-point victory over Malta and Choteau.

The girls, on the other hand, took an early lead and ran with it. The 3,200 was the first event of the day and that has been the girls’ most dominating event this season. It wasn’t any different at the divisional meet.

Jami Johnson, Josie Braaten and Emma Fewer took the top three spots in order to give the girls a commanding 24 points to begin the day. They never looked back and just added to their lead throughout the day for a 50-point victory over the field with 157 points. Cut Bank was the only other school to score in the 100s with 107.

Johnson, Braaten and Fewer were also able to place in the top four, first, second and fourth, respectively, in the 1,600 for the Scottie girls. Fewer also placed in fourth in the 800.

Johnson, along with Amanda Wolff, Megan Dailey and Rachael Zeiger, was part of the 4X400 relay team that took first. Zeiger also took second in the 400 and the 800.

Dailey took fifth in the 200 and sixth in the long jump, as well. Dailey and Wolff were also half of the team, along with Amy Breigenzer and Debra Griebel, that won the 4X100 relay. 

Griebel wasn’t done there as she accounted for an amazing 36 points as an individual. She took first in both the 100 and 300 hurdles, as well as a pair of second-place finishes in the 100 and 200.

Breigenzer also placed fifth in the 100 hurdles. Amanda McDonald grabbed a pair of spots on the podium with a first in the 800 and a sixth in the 400. Abbi Helland rounded out the scoring in the running events with a third in the 100 hurdles.

The girls were also able to place four in the field events, including Dailey’s sixth in the long jump. 

Laurel Wageman grabbed third in the pole vault, Devyn Bell placed fifth in the discus and Melissa Unger placed sixth in the javelin.

It was important to qualify some of their athletes in the field events because every point will count at the state meet.

The boys relied on their athletes placing highly in several events to win as three Scotties, Luke Zeiger, Austin Green and Kori Meiers scored 16 points and another, Chaz Gordon, scored 14 points in individual events.

Luke Zeiger took first in the pole vault and third in the 400. Green took second in both the 1,600 and 3,200. Meiers had a pair of second-place finishes also, in the shot put and javelin. Gordon placed fourth in the javelin but took first in the 300 hurdles, an event he began running at the district meet. He’s obviously taken well to it.

Walt Dalbey also contributed with a fourth place in the long jump and a fifth in the 300 hurdles.

Bridger Sanders, Matt Phillips and Marcus Svingen contributed by placing in an event each. The Scotties also gained a point each from a couple of freshmen, Chase Fossum, in the 200, and Jason Thibault, in the javelin.