MISSOULA — With the high school track and field season nearing its apex, nobody had a better week than the javelin throwers.
Across boys and girls, four athletes marked classification-best throws last week, and Kalispell Glacier's Daniel Pederson set a new state-best. Pederson, a junior, threw the jav 199 feet, 9 inches at the Wolfpack's dual with Columbia Falls last week.
Pederson not only took over the top spot on Montana's leaderboard, his 199-9 is a personal record by more than 13 feet and places him in the top 33 nationally. Only 32 boys across the country have recorded throws 200 feet or longer this season.
The Treasure State doesn't have a 200-foot thrower ... yet. Pederson, Darrell Lefthand of Hardin, Kesston Thomas of Choteau and Sam Kenck of Bozeman have each thrown at least 190 feet, though.
Lefthand threw a season-best 197-1 at the Bill Kelly Eastern A Twilight meet for the best mark in Class A this season. That's just a bit off his PR of 198-8 he set at last year's state meet.
Thomas (195-8) is the Class B leader and Kenck (192-1) is second in Class AA. Corey Polkowski set the new Class C standard of 172-0 last week at the District 6C meet.
On the girls side, Karlee Wambolt of Miles City PR'd with a throw of 133-8 at the Eastern A Twilight. That leads Class A and ranks fourth across all classifications. Gallatin's Kate Breeding leads the state with a 139-0, followed by Billings West's Elsa Johnson (137-8) and Jefferson's Allie Muffick (135-2). Whitewater's Kennedy Simonson is the top Class C javelin thrower with a season-best mark of 130-4.
Western Montana hurdlers peaking
The fastest girls hurdlers in the state this season are all located in western Montana, and it's a pair of Class B girls atop the deep lists.
At the District 6B meet last week, Florence's Madigan Hurlbert and Missoula Loyola's Allison Gama ran the state's fastest times in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles, respectively. Hurlbert beat Gama in the 100s, racing to a 14.74-second time.
Gama won the 300s in 44.22 seconds in a 1-2 finish for the Breakers, as freshman Hadley Spethman placed second.
Helena Capital boys Oliver Mow and Jameson Canney improved their times in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles at last week's Capital City crosstown dual, as well. Mow clocked an incredible 13.79 seconds in the 110s, putting him just behind Kellan Krueger of Missoula Big Sky on the state leaderboard. Krueger clocked an absurd 13.66 at his first meet of the season but hasn't raced since.
Canney now owns Class AA's fastest time in the 300 hurdles after posting a 39.41-second run last week. Only Johnslee Pierre of Lustre Christian has a faster time this spring (38.46).
Class C boys break 800 barrier, Peyton Frame sets new girls best
Lustre Christian's Prestyn Klatt and Alberton's Shea Fredette became the first Class C boys of the season to run the state-qualifying time in the 800 meters at their district meets last week. Klatt posted the best time in the classification with his 2:02.12 at the District 3C meet, and Fredette wasn't far behind with his 2:02.56 at the District 14C meet.
There's also a new leader atop the deep list for the girls 800. Peyton Frame of Miles City ran a personal-best 2:12.32 at the Eastern A Twilight to overtake Hamilton's Annalise Lewis (2:12.57) for the No. 1 time in the state.
The top three times and four of the top five belong to Class A runners. Joining Frame and Lewis are Billings Central's Addison Kegel (2:14.17) and Grace Jagodzinski (2:17.55).
Gallatin's Hazel Cooper owns the state's fourth-fastest time at 2:14.27, which leads Class AA.
Elsewhere ...
- Standout discus thrower Lillian Boyd of Seeley-Swan entered the 200-meter dash at the District 13C meet and promptly ran Class C's fastest time in the event at 26.38 seconds. It was just the second time this season Boyd has competed in the 200. She also won the discus with a throw of 136-3.
- More from the throwing events last week: Hardin's Lauren Krebs threw a Class A-best in the girls discus (123-4), Malta's Denvyr Tuss threw a 39-10 shot put for the best Class B girls mark, Glasgow's Cade Hudyma (54-9) and Chester-Joplin-Inverness' Dane Grammar (51-10¼) threw new Class B and C bests in the boys shot, and Trace Giomi of Townsend recorded Class B's best boys discus mark at 151-9.
- Seven boys this season have long jumped more than 22 feet. Lustre Christian's Pierre and Kalispell Flathead's William Hollensteiner top the leaderboard with huge 23-9 and 23-8 jumps, respectively. Henry Kukowski of Plentywood moved into third with a PR of 22-6¼ last week, just ahead of Billings West's Sean Klem at 22-6. Laurel's Bridger Burrows (22-4¾) and West's Dylan Garcia (22-4½) were joined in the 22-4s by Billings Senior's Josiah Coehlo (22-4) last week.
