RSI’s Franklin, Durglo multiple winners at divisionals, 14 advance to state finals
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LIBBY — Fourteen RSI athletes extended their track season at the Northwestern A Divisional Track Meet in Libby Friday and Saturday.
Seven RSI boys and seven RSI girls placed in the top five in an event in the five-team meet to advance to the state finals in Laurel this weekend.
Adessa Durglo led the girls’ team. The Mission junior placed in five events and won her third divisional crown in the triple jump and her first in the long jump. Jordan Franklin led the boys’ team. The Ronan junior won the high jump and 100-meter dash and took bronze in both hurdle races.
Durglo, the St. Ignatius record holder in the long jump, triple jump and high jump, went 34 feet, 6 inches to win the triple jump and sailed 16 feet, 1 inch to win the long jump. She also cleared 4 feet, 10 inches to take silver in the high jump.
RSI girls’ coach Crystal Pitts said that repeating as divisional champion was something that was in the back of Durglo’s mind all season. It was a huge relief, when Durglo won her third title and now she can just focus on improving on her fourth-place finish in the triple jump at last year’s state track meet.
Durglo competed in all three jumps at last year’s finals She’ll do that again this year, but she will also be adding the 100- and 200-meter dashes to her itinerary at the final track meet of the season. Durglo finished third in the 100 (13.54) and fourth in the 200 (28.3).
Franklin, whose has the third highest jump in Class A this season, cleared 6 feet to win the high jump. He almost didn’t get the chance to win his second gold at the meet. Franklin didn’t initially make the 100-meter dash finals. He finished third in his heat and only the top two advanced to the finals. Since Franklin’s and Whitefish’s Daniel Crittendon’s times were quicker than some of the times that made the finals the officials decided to let the two run in a heat by themselves. Franklin won with a time of 11.58 seconds and Crittendon ended up placing fourth.
RSI boys’ coach Noelle Decker said that Franklin, one of the few upperclassmen on the team, did fairly well in the 100 last season, but put in the extra work during the offseason and has a chance of making it to the finals at the state tournament.
Franklin also placed third in the 300 hurdles (41.80) and third in 110 hurdles (16.57).
Erick Malmquist will be the only other RSI boy to compete in an individual event at the state tournament. In only his second meet back since the first meet of the season because of hip pointers, Malmquist cleared 5 feet, 8 inches to place fourth in the high jump.
“Erick (Malmquist) has been disappointed all season because he hasn’t been able to compete, so placing in the high jump was a huge boost for him,” Decker said, adding that he looked strong in the 100, 200 and 400 as well. “He will be back again next year and I hope we can keep him healthy all season.”
To celebrate her fourth-place finish in the high jump (4-6) and first berth to the state tournament, Mission sophomore Jenny Larsson had a personal-best throw in the javelin of 101 feet, 8 inches to finish in third.
All four of the RSI relay teams earned a spot at the state tournament.
Roslyn Hardy, Christina Williams, Mackenzie Trudeau and LaGlen Mitchell placed fourth in the 400-meter relay with a time of 55.68 seconds. Hardy and Trudeau also had personal-best time in the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the event.
Victoria Crenshaw, Williams, Trudeau and Mitchell finished fourth in the mile relay with a time of 4:49.38. Williams also set a St. Ignatius record at the meet in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:46 and Crenshaw had a personal best in the 800 (2:47).
Riley Dennis, Nicolai Jensen, Cody Johnson and Marcus Hungerford placed fourth in the 400 (47.00) and Dennis, Johnson, Austin Durglo and Hungerford placed fourth in the 4x400 relay (3:47.93)
“My relay teams are all sophomores; both teams, all runners. That is great for us because they will have the experience of competing in the state meet and still have two more years to get that much better,” Decker said. “I look for this group of boys to hang together and be there the next two years of track. “
The boys’ relay berths should lessen the sting for Hungerford after he missed out in the 800. Hungerford ran a season-best 2:04.5 – the same time he ran at last year’s state tournament – but couldn’t crack the top six of a loaded field at this year’s divisional tournament.
Mission senior Gui Silva also just missed out of making it to the state tournament with a sixth-place finish in the 110 hurdles.
“He (Silva) competed so well this season and really was focused on getting to state, he just came up a bit short. He can’t sell himself short; it was something else to have a foreign exchange student participate in a sport he had never done before and do that well,” Decker said.
Silva was one of many RSI athletes whose season came to a close at Libby.
“I just can’t say enough about the whole team. I truly am proud of their efforts. Sometimes as coaches we have a season where we are very young and don’t have much experience. Those seasons can be the most rewarding because you see the growth and development,” Decker said. “They all came a long way this year.”
