One down, two to go - if all goes well for the Darby Tigers. The Tigers captured the District 6B boys championship on Saturday, outdistancing Florence and Loyola by 23 points. The championship was capped by the 4x400 relay Saturday. After winning with a time of 3:30.16, the Tigers thought they had broken the school record, which was set 28 years ago. However, after further checking, coach Steve Gideon said the record had been tied, right down to the 100th of the second.

The team is made up of Ben Robbins, Doug Raymer, Seth Garbett, and Aaron Johnston. Garbett and Raymer finished the 1,600-meter race about an hour prior to running the grueling 400-meter track for the relay. The effort paid off with the record-tying time. It is also the fastest time in the Class B ranks this year.

Alex Mitchell of Florence won four events at the District 6B track meet. He broke the tape in the 110 hurdles, the 300 hurdles, the high jump and the long jump and will compete this week at the Western B Divisional in Missoula. Jean Schurman photo.

Garbett set a meet record in the 3,200 on Friday with a time of 9:48.39. Although that is off the pace of 9:31.99 he set for this race earlier this season, the record setting time was five seconds better than the record set by Arlee’s Carl Old Person of 9:53.4 that was set in 1995. Garbett finished second in the 1,600 after Loyola’s Mike Evans passed him on the stretch for the win. Garbett was fourth in the 800 as well.

“He placed just where he needed to in the 800,” said Gideon. “I think he used up quite a bit of energy in the 3,200 and that didn’t help in the 1,600. I know he was disappointed though.”

Doug Raymer, who ran the second leg of the relay, brought home the 800-meter championship on Friday. He clocked a 1:59.58 to win the race. Gideon said that just prior to the relay on Saturday, Raymer was hit by a foul ball from the softball game that was being played next to the track, but added that it didn’t seem to affect him. Raymer was second in the 3,200 and fourth in the 1,600.

Aaron Johnston ran the anchor leg of the 1,600 relay and the speedy junior didn’t let up even though he’d already won the 200 and the 100 sprints. Johnston edged out Loyola’s Kevin Berland in the 100 and his own teammate, Jesse Moore, in the 200. Johnston also won the 400 on Friday with a time of 51.31, four tenths of a second faster than his best effort to date.

“Aaron had a great meet,” according to Gideon. “He’s been really working and is getting really consistent.”

But it wasn’t just the event winners that gave Darby the championship said Gideon. “We had some kids that placed well that really helped with the points.”

Ben Robbins ran on the relay team. In addition he placed second in the 300 hurdles, fourth in the long jump and fifth in the triple jump. Also earning points for the Darby boys were Cougan Kidd and Hayden Gandy in the javelin; Sean Abrahamsen in the 1,600, 800 and 3,200; Colton Johnston in the discus; and Nicholas Kormanik in the shot put.

The Darby girls finished third behind Superior and Deer Lodge. Heather Demorest had wins in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200. Gideon was pleased with the consistency of Demorest’s racing this week and feels she is finally getting past being sick earlier in the season.

Rachel Wetzsteon won the triple jump with a leap of 33-8 ?. She won the long jump by two inches, beating out teammate Sarah Jakober by two inches. Wetzsteon was third in the 200 too.

Florence’s Alex Mitchell paced the Falcons. The lanky senior cleared the bar at 6 feet, 4 inches in the high jump. This will set up quite the contest next week at the Western B Divisional as Mitchell will go up against Dillon Fixell of Plains who has the top mark in the state at 6 feet, 8 and a half inches; and Charlie Knapp of Thompson Falls who has also cleared 6 feet, 4 inches.

Mitchell also claimed first in the long jump with a jump of 19 feet, 10 inches, and in the 300 and 110 hurdles. He was fourth in the triple jump where the Falcons also claimed the top three spots. Ross Mangun was first with 40 feet, 8 inches. He was followed by Brandon Lorensen and Reid Baerlocher in second and third places.

The Florence girls finished in fifth place. Mariah Mittman won the high jump with the bar set at four feet, 10 inches. Megan Leathers won the discus with a throw of 112 feet, 2 inches.

The top six individuals and relay teams in each event will compete at the Western B Divisional this weekend at Big Sky High School in Missoula.

District 6B

Boys

Team scores: Darby 147, Loyola Sacred Heart 124, Florence 124, Deer Lodge 70, Superior 56, Valley Christian 4.

100 - 1. Aaron Johnston, Dar, 11.52; 4. Jesse Moore, Dar, 11.89;

200 - 1. A. Johnston, Dar, 23.57; 2. Moore, Dar, 24.16;

400 – 1. A. Johnston, Dar, 51.34;

800 – 1. Doug Raymer, Dar, 1:59.58; 3. Sean Abrahamsen, Dar, 2:04.55; 4. Seth Garbett, Dar, 2:04.68; 5. Bajin Smith, Sup, 2:05.91; 6. Madison Bolton, Flo, 2:06.21.

1,600 - 1. Evans, LSH, 4:34.26; 2. Garbett, Dar, 4:35.01; 3. Abrahamsen, Dar, 4:40.23; 4. Raymer, Dar, 4:47.03; 6. Madison Bolton, Flo, 4:50.48.

3,200 – 1. Garbett, Dar, 9:48.39 (meet record: old record 9:53.40, Carl Old Person, Arlee, 1995); 2. Raymer, Dar, 10:32.49; 4. Abrahamsen, Dar, 10:59.93; 6. Sean Hansen, Dar, 11:29.48.

110 hurdles – 1. Alex Mitchell, Flo, 16.11;

300 hurdles – 1. Mitchell, Flo, 41.54; 2. Ben Robbins, Dar, 42.81; 4. Casey Crews, Flo, 45.50

400 relay – 1. Loyola Sacred Heart 45.50; 2. Superior 46.07; 3. Deer Lodge 46.18; 4. Darby 46.19; 5. Florence 46.94.

1,600 relay – 1. Darby (Robbins, Raymer, Garbett, Johnston), 3:30.16; 2. Loyola, 3:32.92; 3. Superior, 3:36.68; 4. Florence, 3:42.10; 5. Deer Lodge, 3:42.75.

Discus – 1. Forson, DL, 165-9; 3. Damon Ward, Flo, 122-10 6. Kolton Johnston, Dar, 102-6.

Shot put – 1. Forson, DL, 46-7 4. Nicholas Kormanik, Dar, 37-0; 6. Ward, Flo, 36-7.

Javelin – 1. Haggarty, Loy, 174-11; 2. Ward, Flo, 148-7; 3. Reed Jenkins, Flo, 144-0.5; 5. Cougan Kidd, Dar, 127-2; 6. Hayden Gandy, Dar, 121-3.

High jump – 1. Alex Mitchell, Flo, 6-4; 2. Adam Gregor, Flo, 5-8; 3. Reid Baerlocher, Flo, 5-8;

Long jump – 1. Mitchell, Flo, 19-10; 2. A. Johnston, Dar, 19-6.75; 3. Ross Mangun, Flo, 19-2; 4. Robbins, Dar, 18-11; 5. Baerlocher, Flo, 18-10; 6. Brandon Lorensen, Flo, 18-9.25.

Triple jump – 1. Mangun, Flo, 40-8 ?; 2. Lorensen, Flo, 39-10; 3. Baerlocher, Flo, 39-7 ?; 4. Mitchell, Flo, 39-5 ?; 5. Robbins, Dar, 39-0;

Girls

Team scores: Superior 131, Deer Lodge 100, Darby 99, Loyola Sacred Heart 85, Florence 84, Valley Christian 22.

200 - 1. Kerr, LSH, 28.23; 3. Rachel Wetzsteon, Dar, 28.51.

400 – 1. Blaylock, Sup, 63.55; 3. Odessa Conley, Flo, 63.87; 6. Heather Demorest, Dar, 65.58

800 - 1. Demorest, Dar, 2:26.64; 5. Shari Leedom, Flo, 2:40.02

1,600 – 1. Demorest, Dar, 5:23.94; Abby Mytty, Flo, 5:59.48; 5. Leedom, Flo, 6:10.14; 6. Cheyenne Oliver, Dar, 6:11.01.

3,200 - 1. Demorest, Dar, 11:40.31; 2. Mytty, Flo, 13:10.72; 4. Oliver, Dar, 13:41.22; 6. Alexandra Bronk, Dar, 13:50.12.

100 hurdles – 1. Stroot, Sup, 17.51; 3. Conley, Flo, 18.29; 5. Karli Cotton, Flo, 18.86;

300 hurdles - 1. Stroot, Sup, 48.95; 2. Conley, Flo, 49.51; 5. Cotton, Flo, 54.08;

400 relay - 1, Superior 52.09; 4, Darby 59.16.

1,600 relay - 1. Superior 4:24.31; 2. Loyola Sacred Heart 4:29.50; 3. Deer Lodge 4:34.44; 4. Darby 4:42.73; 5. Florence 4:46.32.

Discus – 1. Megan Leathers, Flo, 112-2 ?;

Shot put - 1. Medeiros, LSH, 34-8; 2. Leathers, Flo, 32-9;

Javelin - 1. Haggarty, LSH, 120-8; 3. Rosie O'Brien, Flo, 99-2; 4. Leathers, Flo, 97-10;

High jump - 1. Mariah Mittman, Flo, 4-10; 2. Oliver, Dar, 4-6; 3. (tie) Bell, DL, and Taylor, Sup, 4-2;

Long jump - 1. Wetzsteon, Dar, 16-3; 2. Sarah Jakober, Dar, 16-1;

Triple jump – 1. Wetzsteon, Dar, 33-8 ?; 3. Jakober, Dar, 32-7; 5. Mittman, Flo, 32-4;

Pole vault – 1. Johnson, DL, 8-0; 3. Bronk, Dar, 7-0;

Victor takes District 13C

The Victor Pirates ran roughshod over the rest of the district, claiming first place for the boys by 122 points. Coach Brandon Howell finally relaxed a bit Saturday afternoon but said he was now getting ready for Divisionals this weekend. Victor qualified 13boys and six girls for the Western C Divisional, which will be held at Big Sky in Missoula.

The Pirates had seven first place finishes for the boy’s team. Kurt Manely won the javelin with a throw of 162 feet, 1 inch. Continuing with the throwing, Tim Krenke won the shot put with a throw of 44 feet, 3 inches. Jakub Prasek won the 3,200. Matt McClintick cruised to the win in the 300 hurdles. The 400-relay team of Tim Krenke, Tyler Coorough, Mark Bailey and Hank MacPherson won that race and the 1,600-relay team of Prasek, MacPherson, Coorough and McClintick won that race by four seconds. Coorough won the triple jump.

Shailyn Scheffer, who is only a freshman, accounted for three first place finishes. She won the 100 hurdles and the 300 hurdles and the long jump.

Freshman Shailyn Scheffer won the 100 hurdles, the 300 hurdles and the long jump to power Victor to a second place finish at the District 13C meet. The second place finish is the highest the girls have placed in many years. Jean Schurman photo.

District 13C

Boys

Team scoring: Victor 222, Drummond 100, Seeley-Swan 74, Alberton 58, Lincoln 39, Philipsburg 7.

100 – 1.Mannix, Dru, 11.65; 3. Hank MacPherson, Vic, 11.94; 5. Tim Krenke, Vic, 12.03;

200 – 1. Mannix, Dru, 23.91; 3. MacPherson, Vic, 24.68; 6. Krenke, Vic, 25.20.

400 – 1. Mannix, Dru, 52.71; 2. Tyler Coorough, Vic, 53.58; 5. Dustin Harris, Vic, 58.04; 6. Matt McClintick, Vic, 58.27.

800 – 1. Tams, Lin, 11.89; 2. Jakup Prasek, Vic, 2:15.03; 3. Emmett Elliott, Vic, 1:15.18; 4. Harris, Vic, 2:18.18; 5. Doug Ashley, Vic, 2:20.14;

1,600 – 1. Tams, Lin, 5:05.73; 2. Prasek, Vic, 5:10.48; 3. Elliott, Vic, 5:16.31; 4. Harris, Vic, 5:22.10; 5. Ashley, Vic, 5:27.08;

3,200 – 1. Prasek, Vic, 11:37.51; 2. Elliott, Vic, 11:49.61; 4. Ashley, Vic, 12:31.68;

110 hurdles – 1. Hane, Dru, 16:32; 3. McClintick, Vic, 18.04; 5. Kyle Ball, Vic, 19.16;

300 hurdles- 1. McClintick, Vic, 45.41; 3. Ball, Vic, 47.51;

400 relay – 1. Victor (Krenke, Coorough, Mark Bailey, MacPherson) 45.76; 2. Seeley-Swan 46.85.

1,600 relay – 1. Victor (Prasek, MacPherson, Coorough, McClintick) 3:45.16; Alberton 3:49.37; Seeley-Swan 4:00.69.

Javelin – 1. Kurt Manely, Vic, 162-1;

Discus – 1. Tams, Lin, 132-2; 2. Manely, Vic, 122-10; 4. Kaleb Carlson, Vic, 112-11; 6. Krenke, Vic, 104-9.

Shot put – 1. Krenke, Vic, 44-3;

Long Jump – 1. Evans, SS, 20-7 ?;2. Coorough, Vic, 19-2; 3. Bailey, Vic, 18-4; 5. MacPherson, Vic, 18-3;

Triple Jump – 1. Coorough, Vic, 40-11 ?; 3. Ball, Vic, 36-11;

Pole Vault – 1. Bignell, Dru, 10-6; 2. Chris Morozumi, Vic, 9-0, 3. Bailey, Vic, 8-0.

Girls

Team scoring: Drummond 122, Victor 94, Seeley-Swan 88, Alberton 72, Phillipsburg 61, Lincoln 38.

100 – Menard, Lin, 13.59; 5. Katy Brittle, Vic, 14.21;

200 – 1. Menard, Lin, 28.08; 6. Brittle, Vic, 29.08.

400 – 1. Rausch, Alb, 64.54; 2. Brittle, Vic, 66.41;

3,200 – 1. Gray, Dru, 13:58.17; 2. Arianne Essick, Vic, 17:45.34.

100 hurdles – 1. Shailyn Scheffer, Vic, 17.71;

300 hurdles - 1. Shailyn Scheffer, Vic, 51.72;

400 relay – Seeley-Swan 54.57; 2. Alberton 55.19; 3. Victor 63.55.

1,600 relay – 1. Seeley-Swan 4:46.08; 2. Victor 5:23.44

Shot put – 1. Brown, Dru, 30-9; 3. Lianna Burdett, Vic, 28-1/4; 6. Naomi Liechty, Vic, 24-1 ?.

Discus – 1. Brown, Dru, 101-9; 6. Burdett, Vic, 77-11.

Long jump – 1. Scheffer, Vic, 15-0;

Triple jump – 1. Linford, SS, 31-2 ?; 4. Scheffer, Vic, 28-11; 6. Brittle, Vic, 27-7 ?;

Pole vault – 1. Dahl, Dru, 8-6; 2. Scheffer, Vic, 6-6; 3. Amanda Larrew, Vic, 6-0; 4. Brittle, Vic, 5-6.

Sports Talk

There is no doubt that track is an individual sport. Each contestant makes the commitment to work and better him or herself. In some cases, although there is a coach, that coach is spread very thin and doesn’t have the chance to instruct the athlete on the finer points of their event. A coach is not only responsible for the athlete but also handles administrative duties and may even have to run events at a track meet and can only coach from afar.

That is not the case for Darby’s Steve Gideon. Whether it is cross-country or track, he is a hands-on coach that never misses a minute to instruct a rookie athlete or a seasoned athlete. He works hard to get kids to turn out for track and then works hard, teaching those athletes how to run and work towards success. Anytime I talk to a Darby runner especially, they will say “I did what my coach told me to do,” and then go on to say that whatever they were told to do, was exactly what was needed for success.

Watching Gideon at a track meet is exhausting. He spends most of his time on the backside of the track, working with kids that are warming up. Once a race begins, he’s at the exact point on the track – whether it is the 400, the 800 or a longer race – where he knows that runner is going to falter. He’s there and he’s loud, yelling encouragement, telling them to breathe or catch the runner in front of them or pick up the pace. If he thinks it is necessary, he has some of the team at another point on the track to yell encouragement and of course, he has his assistant, Nate Olson, at another point on the track. I’ve watched this phenomenon often enough to know these spots on the track are unique to the runners, places where they do forget to breathe or have hit an imaginary wall. Gideon knows this and stations himself there to do the most good.

In short, he is a perfectionist. He has taken some kids that haven’t really had super talent and made them into state winners. Darby is one of the smallest Class B schools in the state but it has consistently had racers in the top 10 of all distance races in the state. The Darby water isn’t any better than say, Stevensville. The air may be a bit cleaner but there isn’t a sure-fire reason that Darby has had the success it has had. Except for Steve Gideon.

But this training goes far and beyond the day of the track meet. He teaches the kids how to eat for performance and then makes sure the right type of food is available on meet day. I’ve heard his itinerary for the state track meet and what the athletes should be eating for the three days. He has workouts during the winter just like open gym for basketball. He works with the Mountain West Track Club and gets his kids involved in this club, too. He lives this life and is a great example of how to do things the right way.

A couple of weeks ago at the Top Ten meet in Missoula an unfortunate incident happened. Sometimes even the best intentions are not completely thought out. The Top Ten meet features the cream of the crop in the track world from Western Montana. With only 10 contestants in each event, the meet runs very quickly and runners don’t have a lot of recovery time. One of the Darby runners wasn’t completely recovered and it was decided that he wouldn’t run in the 1,600 relay. But as sometimes happens when teenagers are involved, a novel idea came up and allegedly with the approval of the assistant, it was decided to put a runner from another school on the Darby team. The relay team finished fifth.

It’s against Montana High School Association rules to have an athlete from two different schools on the same relay team. And it’s really against the rules to put one school’s uniform on that other athlete. Once it was discovered what had happened, Gideon said he reported the incident. The medals were returned. MHSA will sanction Darby School and the other school. The Darby administration has looked into the incident and spoken to Gideon.

Although he wasn’t involved in the original idea to put the runner on the team, it is his name that is listed as head coach. He is ultimately responsible. It’s not one of the track lessons, or for that matter, life lessons, that Gideon expected to teach this year. But I’m sure he will show, by example, how to step up and take responsibility for something that shouldn’t have happened. It may be the most important lesson he’ll deliver.

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