RSI athletes set the bar high in first meets
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COLUMBIA FALLS — The Ronan-St. Ignatius track team got their first taste of action with two meets last week — the Frenchtown Quadrangular Tuesday and the Columbia Falls Invitational.
On a sunny day Saturday, a rarity for Montana track meets before May, Adessa Durglo won the triple jump and the long jump and placed fourth in the high jump. Durglo, the only state placer from last year returning to the team, jumped 15 feet, 8 inches in the long jump and 31 feet, 7 3/4 inches in the triple jump. The Mission junior placed third in the triple jump last year and holds the school record in the event with a jump of 35 feet, 4 inches.
Durglo’s triple jump in Frenchtown Tuesday was closer to her record-breaking mark. Durglo jumped 34 feet to finish in second.
Durglo also shares the school record in the high jump with Kelsey Cable. Both of them have cleared 5 feet. Durglo cleared 4 feet 10 inches to place third in Frenchtown and 4 feet, 8 inches to place fourth in Columbia Falls.
RSI girls coach Crystal Pitts expects Durglo to defend her divisional triple jump title and improve on her record. She would also like her to gain sole possession of the school’s high jump record and capture the school’s long jump record of 16 feet, 5 1/2 inches.
Pitts said that Durglo will also do some sprinting in the 100 and 200 and the relay races. Durglo anchored both relays in Frenchtown Tuesday. Durglo, Roslyn Hardy, who is the only senior on the girls team, Mackenzie Trudeau and Rachel Hardy ran the 400-meter relay in 58.77 seconds to finish in third.
Durglo, Rachel Hardy, LaGlen Mitchell and Christian Williams finished in fourth in the long relay with a time of 4:49. Williams was on last year’s 1,600-meter relay team that qualified for state. Pitts said that Williams shows great promise in the middle distance races and hopes to break the school record in the 800, a mark she missed by a second last year.
In Frenchtown Tuesday, it was freshman Victoria Crenshaw who excelled in the 800, finishing in second with a time of 3:08. Crenshaw finished in third in the 1,600.
Twyla Hogge, who Pitts said continually improved in the throwing events as a freshman, placed third in the shot put and discus. Hogge threw the shot put 26 feet, 9 inches and the discus 85 feet, 9 inches. Jocelyn Stevens, a freshman, placed fifth in the two events.
Trudeau placed fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 14.45 seconds. She finished right in front of teammate Roslyn Hardy.
Mission sophomore Jenny Larsson placed fourth in the javelin in Frenchtown with a throw of 77 feet, 8 inches. Larsson also placed at Columbia Falls, finishing in sixth in the high jump with a jump of 4 feet, 6 inches.
The RSI boys placed ninth out of the 15 teams at Columbia Falls. Jordan Franklin placed third in the 110 hurdles and fourth in the high jump. Franklin ran the high hurdles in 16.9 seconds and high jumped 5 feet, 10 inches. RSI boys coach Noelle Decker said that Franklin was disappointed in his high jump after jumping 6 feet in Frenchtown.
“Jordan has worked so hard during the off season and he certainly knows what he is capable of, he will bounce back this week to where he needs to be, I am sure,” Decker said.
Franklin finished right in front of teammate Gui Silva in the hurdles. The Mission senior finished in fourth with a time of 17 seconds. The foreign exchange student from Brazil also placed fourth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 45.6 seconds.
“I knew he (Silva) was fairly athletic, but this is his first experience in track so that was quite an accomplishment. He has been working hard at practice with Coach McKinney on technique and that will continue to improve, along with his times, so I am excited to see where he is at by the end of the season,” Decker said.
Marcus Hungerford placed third in the 800-meter run, a race he competed at last year’s state tournament in. Hungerford finished in 2:08.8. Decker said that Hungerford, who won the junior varsity high jump, ran a strong first lap and held on for the second lap. Decker said he is a fierce competitor and expects him to be near the two-minute mark by mid-season.
Cody Johnson placed sixth in the 1,600 with a time of 5:16.
“Cody ran strong throughout the race. He is a talented young man in distance running but doesn’t have much of a base under him,” Decker said.
Johnson is part of a strong distance running group for the RSI boys. Riley Dennis, Danny Romero, Nathaniel Rogers and Armel Jones all improved on their times from Frenchtown.
“That is just so great to see kids improve week after week... We have a long ways to go to become competitive in some events but we will continue to set our standards high,” Decker said.
