by Scott Sacry
Local high school track teams converged on Corvallis on Saturday, March 23rd for the Blue Devil Invitational, which is traditionally one of the year’s first track meets. Spring track in Montana is an adventure – you can get sunshine or you can get snow, sometimes both. And for most of the day the weather held, until a rainstorm hit toward the end of the meet.
It generally takes athletes a couple of meets to get up to speed, but there were some impressive individual results on Saturday.
The boys shot put is going to be fun to watch this year as the Bitterroot Valley has two of the top throwers in the state in Corvallis’ Wyatt Miles and Hamilton’s Andrew Burrows. Last year at state, Burrows was the champion and Miles finished second. On Saturday, Miles unleashed a throw of 59-07 to take first place. This throw was further than anyone in the state threw all of last year. Burrows’ mark of 55-11 took second on Saturday. Expect some fireworks between these two this year. Burrows also won the discus on Saturday with a throw of 161-00.
Corvallis’ Olivia Lewis is coming off an epic 2023 season where she was the state champion in the 100m hurdles, the 300m hurdles, and the 400m. On Saturday, she won the 100m hurdles (15.58).
Hamilton freshman Annalise Lewis won the 400m (1:01.67) and the 1600m (5:23.64).
Corvallis’ Logan Avery, Stuart Brennan, Derek Criddle, and Solomon Morgan won the 4x100m relay with a great early season time of 44.68.
Hamilton’s Tyson Bauder won the javelin with a throw of 183-10; Bauder was last year’s state champion in the event.
Some other valley winners on Saturday included the following.
For the boys, Stevensville’s Brogan Gard won the 200m (24.43). Hamilton’s Brayden Lanser won the 400m (54.64). Hamilton’s Carter Korst, Brayden Lanser, Bryson Poulsen and Evan Bennett won the 4×400 relay (3:42.37).
For the girls, Hamilton’s Jenna Ellis won the 200m (27.50). Hamilton’s Aleigha Child won the 3200m (11:53.00). Corvallis’ Ella Varner, Olivia Lewis, Jillian Huls and Farah Wyche won the 4x100m relay (51.21). Hamilton’s Tyana Jessop won the shot put (35-00). Hamilton’s Mya Winkler won the discus (126-01). Hamilton’s Aubrey Korst won the pole vault (10-00).
In the teams standings, the Hamilton boys and girls both took first place. The Corvallis girls took 2nd, and the Corvallis boys took 3rd. The Stevensville boys took 8th, while the Stevensville girls took 13th. The Florence girls took 6th and the Florence boys took 7th. The Darby girls finished 12th. And the Victor boys finished 14th.