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Colten Hayder competes in the 100-meters at last week's Gallatin Valley Invite. Voice photo by Jack H. Smith
Freshman Marcus Pestel competes in the 110-meter hurdles at last week's Gallatin Valley Invite. Voice photo by Jack H. Smith
With three weeks of competition under their belts, Three Forks High School Track and Field Head Coach Dillon Gongliewski feels the entire program is not only exceeding expectations but having fun while doing it.
"We as coaches are just so ecstatic that we not only have a talented team but that we have a fun team. Ending every practice before a meet with a friendly competition between event groups has been one of the key early highlights of the season. It's important to keep it fun for the athletes, and I think with the success they're seeing, it makes it more fun, too," Gongliewski said.
In action on April 13, the Wolves found success at the Gallatin Valley Invite in Belgrade and the Van Kuren Invitational in Cheney, Washington.
Gongliewski said that in the 3200-meter race in Washington, Cass Violett and Bryon Fanning both broke the school record. Violett finished second with a time of 9:50.82, and Fanning was just under two seconds behind, finishing third with a time of 9:52.62. Assistant Coach Matt Robb said the two broke the record of 10:02.30 that had stood since 1980.
Bella Jones finished fourth in the 800 meters with a season-best time of 2:30.55. Kylie Rowan was fifth in the shot put at 34'1.5 and eighth in the discus at 103-0. Both were season bests for Rowan. Freshman Hailey Williams finished ninth in the 300-meter hurdles at 51.75. She also set a PR in the 400 meters.
Gongliewski said Jones is closing in on her lifetime PR in the 800 just three meets into the season. He added Rowan is cementing her place at the top of the district rankings and is close to auto-qualifying for state in both the shot put and discus.
Gongliewski also praised the performance of Williams.
"Hailey is a trooper and is taking on what I believe are two of the three hardest events in track and field: the 300-meter hurdles and the 400 meters. Not only is she taking them on, but she is absolutely killing it," he said.
In Belgrade, Gongliewski said the sprinters got back into their next build cycle, and the hard work was already paying off.
"Almost every single athlete had either a season or lifetime best Saturday. It really goes to show how dedicated these athletes are in buying into the program that we are building here, and we are only going to keep getting better," he said.
Regarding individual performances in Belgrade, Gongliewski said Micah Gather has been impressing the coaching staff by pushing himself at practice and continuing to PR every week across a range of distances, and it was nice to see Jace Kopp finally run his races and is starting to show what he is capable of.
Gongliewski said Isaiah Gather got to see the track for the first time this season after navigating a hamstring injury, and it was pretty impressive to be as close as his last season's PR after missing time.
"Josh Barnett is recovering from a pretty grueling knee surgery that kept him out of all the fall and winter sports, so for him to come in this week for his second meet and drop a lifetime PR in his 200-meters was so cool to see. He has been working his tail off to get to this point," Gongliewski said.
On the girls' side, Three Forks had almost every athlete get a season or lifetime PR in Belgrade.
"Karly Holler continues to show that she is going to be one of the freshmen who helps anchor this team as she is getting faster and faster each week. Bella Meehan has consistently been getting better and better and has had a PR every week of the season so far in almost all of her events. Kylee Reichman continues to show just how versatile she is, as this week she took up the shot put and hit a very respectable mark, with Coach Lattimore saying that she has a lot left in the tank to shock some people. The girl has a future as a heptathlete," he said.
In varsity action in Belgrade, Colten Hayder placed third in the 100 meters and eighth in the pole vault, Marcus Pestel placed seventh in the 300-meter hurdles, Shane Williams placed eighth in the pole vault, and Brady Olson placed ninth in the triple jump.
In girls' varsity action from the Gallatin Valley Invite, Julia Kotter was fourth in the 400 meters, Teegan Gifford was fifth in the 3200, Maya Noble was eighth in the pole vault, and Kylee Reichman was ninth in the high jump and 10th in the triple jump.
