by Scott Sacry
Hamilton hosted over 20 area high school track and field teams in the aptly named Hamilton Invitational on Friday, April 4. All the Bitterroot Valley high school teams competed.
In the boys team standings, Corvallis took 2nd, Hamilton took 4th, Florence took 9th, and Darby took 10th. In the girls team standings, Hamilton took 1st, Corvallis took 4th, Stevensville took 9th, and Florence took 12th.
The best individual result of the day came in the boys javelin. Corvallis’s Hunter Loesch threw the javelin 204’ 4”, which is the furthest throw in the state this year (for reference, no Montana high school boy threw a javelin further than 200 feet in all of 2024), and this distance is the second longest throw in the country so far this year for a high school boy. Impressive.
Individual girls winners from the Bitterroot Valley included the following: Corvallis’s Ella Varner won the long jump (16’ 5”), Hamilton’s Lily Apedaile won the triple jump (34’1”), Hamilton’s Aubrey Korst won the pole vault (12’ 0”), Hamilton’s Jenna Ellis won the 300m hurdles (47.69), and Hamilton’s Annalise Lewis won both the 400m (1:00.85) and the 1600m (5:17.98).
Hamilton’s Annalise Lewis won both the 400m and the 1600m at the Hamilton Invitational on Friday, April 4. Photo by Scott Sacry.
Individual boys winners from the Bitterroot Valley included the following: Florence’s Kyler Harris won the 1600m (4:29.76), Corvallis’s Ayden Spencer won the 100m (11.22), Corvallis’s Taggart Jessop won the 800m (2:05.50), and Hamilton’s Evan Bennett won the 400m (50.15).