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Polson girls win, boys place second at Columbia Falls Invitational

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COLUMBIA FALLS — It's early in the season but it's never too early to win a track meet. 

The Polson Lady Pirates were clearly setting the bar high last Saturday as they posted 134 points to win the Columbia Falls Invitational Track Meet last Saturday. Their point total almost doubled second-lace Bigfork, which finished with 71 points.

The Lady Pirates won five events and placed second in five others. 

Natasha Lafferty won the shot put competition with a personal-best throw of 34 feet, 8 inches. 

"Tasha is a senior and has been working very hard this year. I believe this is the first time ever that she has finished first in the shot put in a meet," Polson head coach Bob Gunderson noted. "She has some pretty good competition from teammate Loni Havlovick on her own team."

Havlovick placed second with a throw that was within a foot of Lafferty at 33-7. But Lafferty's win wasn't a surprise to her coach. 

"Tasha has placed each of the last two years at the state track meet in the shot put," Gunderson added.

Havlovick won the discus event with a throw of 106 feet, 1.5 inches. Her closest competitor was Lafferty, who was second at 97-6.5.

Nicole Davey won the pole vault by clearing nine feet. She also ran on the winning 400-meter relay team of Katie Finley, Anna DiGiallonardo, Davey and Breanne Kelley, which won in 51.9 seconds.

Polson's 1,600-meter relay team of Finley, Kelley, Christa Red Crow and Davey also won in 4 minutes, 19 seconds.

Contributing second-place finishes was Kelley in the 200 (27.4), 110-meter hurdles (16.6), and 300 hurdles (47.4).

Davey took second in the 400 in 1:02.9 and was third in the 300 hurdles in 50.3. 

Red Crow took second in the long jump with a leap of 15 feet, 1 inch, plus took fifth in the triple jump at 30-10 and fifth in the 300 hurdles in 51.5. 

Other placers included Finley, fifth in the 200 at 28.2; DiGiallonardo, sixth in the 200 at 28.6; Geri Sylvester, fourth in the 400 at 1:09.6 and sixth in the 800 at 2:52.6.

"One thing that sometimes gets overlooked is the toughness of some of our girls. Nicole (Davey), Breanne (Kelley), and Christa (Red Crow) do five events every meet and usually place in all of them," Gunderson noted. "It is rare to see a female athlete double in the 300-meter hurdles and 400 meters, as well as run a leg on the 1,600-meter relay. These events are back to back in the schedule and you have to be mentally tough to do it. Nicole Davey does this on a regular basis. Her long-range goals are more important that her short-term marks. I wish that every track athlete had that attitude."

Polson's boys placed second as a team, finishing with 90.5 points. Columbia Falls won the meet with a total of 121.

Sprinter Jason Bowman was a double-champion with wins in the 100-meter dash (11.2 seconds) and the 200 (23.0). 

"Jason Bowman posted some outstanding early season marks in the 100 meters and 200 meters," Gunderson noted. "Jason ran extremely well and I believe that he has still not reached his full potential. He is capable of running in the 22s in the 200 and 11 flat or better in the 100."

Ty Fouty also earned the pole-vaulting title by clearing 12 feet, 6 inches. Teammate Brock Bleazard was sixth after vaulting 10 feet. 

Colter Bull looked strong as he cruised to the 1,600-meter championship, clocking a 4:44.6. He also earned second place in the 800 with a time of 2:05.9.

"Colter Bull had an exceptionally good track meet. He posted some very good early season marks in the 800 and 1,600. He is way ahead of where he was last year at this time," Gunderson noted.

Alex Havlovick placed third in two throwing events. He was third in the discus with a toss of 130 feet, 9.5 inches and third in the shot put with a heave of 44-6.5. Clark Rubel was fifth in the shot at 44-3.

Chris Cote earned third place in the 400 with a 56.1, while Vince DiGiallonardo was fifth in the long jump at 18 feet, 1 inch. Jason Fant also earned sixth in the 300-meter high hurdles in 46.9.

Distance runners Miles Bieber and Alex Nystrom placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the two-mile by clocking times of 11:02 and 11:17.

Both of Polson's boys' relay teams placed third. The 400-meter relay team of Traven Hoyt, Bowman, Cote and DiGiallonardo ran the one-lapper in 45.8, while Hoyt, Bull, Cote and DiGiallonardo ran the four-lapper in 3:48.6.

This Saturday the Polson track team will compete in the Missoula County Public Schools Invitational track meet, which begins at 10 a.m. at Big Sky High School.

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