Volume XIX, Number 41

Wednesday, May 5, 2004

Sports at a Glance

- All stories by Jean Schurman

Whitefish ARM track meet held

Florence Invite held

Corvallis softball team tops Stevi

Bitterroot Valley Tennis Invitational held

Hamilton was the only valley team represented at the Whitefish ARM Invitational track meet Saturday. Havre won the girls team scoring with 105 points. Hamilton finished with 10 points. Hamilton's Jessica Parker took fifth in the discus at the Whitefish ARM Tournament Saturday. She threw the disc 104-10. Sarah Lyons was second in the long jump with a leap of 15-2 1/2. On the boysı side of the score sheet, Whitefish was the big winner with 156. Hamilton finished fifth with 42 points.

Cole Pasinchnyk of Hamilton took fourth in the 100 with a time of 11.39. Cody Henning of Whitefish won with 10.92. Pasinchnyk was fourth in the 200 with 23.02 and teammate Ryan Senn was fifth with 23.03. The two placed fifth and sixth in the 400 with times of 52.29 and 42.88 respecitively. Henning won both the 200 (22.29) and the 400 (50.48) as well.

In the distance races, James Stanton was third in the 800 with a time of 2:07.85. Matt Helgath of Whitefish won with a time of 1:57.40 which was a meet record. Stanton was second in the 1,6000 with 4:54.98. Nigel Neaves came in sixth with 4:57.13. Josh Stone finished sixth in the 3,200 with a time of 10:57.17. Kasey Barstotti of Havre won the race, crossing the line at 10:06.44.

Ben Gantt finished third in the 110 hurdles behind Taylor Ferda of Whitefish and Matt DeLong of Eureka. Hamilton's 400 relay came in sixth and their 1,600 relay finished in third place.

Corvallis and Florence competed at the Wayne Estes Invitational in Anaconda. In the boys team scoring, Sentinel won with Corvallis finishing sixth and Florence in 10th in the 11-team field.

Gordy Jessop of Corvalls continued his pursuit of a first place ribbon. The speedster finished fourth in the 100 with a time of 11.34. Gordy Jessop was second in the 200 with 23.29. Dan Johnson of Livingston won both the 100 (11.21) and the 200 (22.60). The Corvallis 400 relay team was second, losing to Sentinel by 12 one hundreths of a second. The 1,600 relay team finished in fourth place.

Blake Jessop of Corvallis finished fourth in the 110 hurdles and second in the 300 hurdles. Russ Jessop took fifth in the javelin with a throw of 157-8. Taylor Hensen of Deer Lodge won with 166-11. Blue Devil Alex Quinsland took sixth in the discus with a throw of 138-8. Justin Heartly of Livingston was first with a meet record of 155-5.

Trystan Brown of Corvallis was fourth in the high jump at 5-10. Bradley Westmorland of Butte had the top jump at 6-0.

Florence's Dustin Burton finished third in the long jump at 19-8-1/2. Wade Schertenlieb was sixth in the 300 hurdles. Joe Fernandez finished fifth in the 110 hurdles.

Corvallis finished fifth in the girls' scoring with Anaconda winning their own meet.

The Blue Devils were paced by Athlene Allred's double win in the 1,600 and the 3,200. She ran the 1,600 in 5:30, besting Loyola's Sarah Stergious by one second. Allred topped Kaci Hockaday of Butte by eight seconds. Allredıs time was 12:07.

Corvallis notched another win when Sharon Peterson took first in the high jump. She cleared 4-10. Peterson took second in the 100 hurdles and the 300 hurdles.

Florence's Sarah Sullivan took first in the discus with a toss of 111-10, 11 feet farther than second place. Heather Martin was sixth in the triple jump. Natalie Slingsby took fourth in the javelin with a throw of 107-0.

Sixteen teams competed at the Florence Invitational at Big Sky in Missoula at the Florence Invitational Tournament.

Darby and Stevensville had strong showings, finishing second and third in the boys team scoring.

Darby's Jason Sperry took first in the 1,600 with a time of 4:46.1. Teammate Scott Theissen took first in the 800 with 2:04.8, and Sperry was second with 2:05.2. Michael Abrahamsen finished second in the 3,200. The 1600 relay team won as well. Theissen also placed second in the high jump when he tied with Carson Bender of Deer Lodge. He jumped 6-0. Zach Honey took sixth in the 300 hurdles. Travis Schallenberger finished in second place in the pole vault with a vault of 12-6. Justin Carlot finished sixth in the 400. Noah Stout took fourth in the 3,200 with a time of 10:48.0.

Stevensville was paced by Mac Bloom's win in the 3,200. He crossed the line at the 10:24.8 mark. Bloom finished second in the 1,600 with a time of 4:50.1. Roarke Baldwin finished fourth in the 300 hurdles. Tyler LeClaire threw the javelin 158-11 for third in the javelin. Travis Browne tied for fourth in the high jump at 5-10. He was third in the long jump and sixth in the triple jump. Zach Renstrom finished fifth in the long jump and Ryan Mickelson was third in the triple jump.

Florence finished with 34 points. Levi Hawkinson was second in the 100 and fourth in the 200. Justin Moe finished sixth in the 100. Dakota Olsen was fourth in the 1,600 and sixth in the 3,200. Wade Schertenleib finished fourth in the 110 hurdles. The Falcon 400 relay team took first. Victorıs Kory Wemple was fourth in the javelin with 156-5. Cousin Bryan Wemple finished in sixth in the pole vault with 11-0.

Stevensville was paced by Kyla Wasser and Kristy Hill. Wasser finished first in the 100 (13.14), second in the 200 (28.8), and won the long jump with a leap of 16-1. Hill finished third in the 100, (13.42), and second in the high jump with 4-10. She was third in the triple jump as well. The 400 relay team took first.

Darby's Tara Ray won the 300 hurdles and took second in the 100. Kara Dewalt finished in second in the 800 and won the 1,600 with a time of 5:34.8. In the throwing events, Angie Anderson took fourth in the shot put. Michelle Lewis was sixth in that event and fifth in the discus.

Florence's Sarah Sullivan placed second in the discus with a throw of 110-6. Kristen Oberlander took third in the 800 and fourth in the 1,600. Malloy Mattheis was sixth in the 400. The 1,600 relay team finished behind Conrad, Charlo and Seeley-Swan.

Victor's Shannon Rhinehart took fourth in the 800.

The Corvallis Blue Devils defeated Stevensville in conference softball play Thursday evening, 11-0. Led By pitcher Amber Wilson who struck out 11 batters, the Blue Devils played tough defense to hold the Yellowjackets to only one hit.

"Our defense really backed Amber (Wilson) up," said coach Ken Larsen. "Amber pitched a great game."

Larsen went on to say her was pleased with how his team is coming together. "It's been an evoloution but we're really working well together."

Jayme Champion returned from an injury which has kept her sidelined for several weeks. "She laid out two bunts which were just awesome," added Larsen.

Shanda Bradshaw of Corvallis had a triple and Laurie Garber added two doubles. Wilson had a double as well. Bradshaw also had two RBIs.

Florence defeated Mission in Class B action Friday night, 4-2. Kate Street had 11 strike-outs, one walk and one hit batter. The win was the sixth of the season for the freshman. Liz Ashworth had two doubles. Florence had RBIs from Ciara Hansen, Angela Vandeburgh, Kolbi Beneitone and Street.

All the valley teams will be playing at the Butte Central Invitational this weekend.

The tennis courts at Hamilton, Corvallis and Stevensville were filled with teams from Anaconda, Butte Central, Columbia Falls, Corvallis, Dillon, Hamilton, Polson and Stevensville for the annual Bitterroot Valley Invitational tournament. This event gives the tennis players a chance to see what they will be facing at the divisional tournament in two weeks.

Hamilton's Tim Shonkwiler defeated Abe McCormick of Stevensville and then Brian Dubuque of Polson for the top seeded championship. Collin Fehr of Corvallis won the consolation match, defeating McCormick in straight sets. These matches were held at Corvallis.

The number 3 and 4 seeds competed at Stevensville. Chris Payne of Corvallis took the championship. He defeated Stevi's Kyle Christensen and the Zach Brown of Polson. T.J. Warner of Corvallis won the consolation championship.

In the doubles competition, Stevensville's Thor Renstrom and David Stephens dominated their matches. The two Yellowjackets defeated Mitchell Grove and Josh York in the semi finals and then stopped Price Richardson and Trevor Fehr of Corvallis for the championship.

The team of Grove and York then defeated Brett Vandeberg and Dennis Roberts for the consolation. Both teams were from Polson.

Corvallis' team of Tony Gold and Forrest Jessop defeated the team of Kevin Cropp and Clayton Johnson of Columbia Falls and the team of Ian Freemole and Shane Holly for the number 3 and 4 seed championship. The team of Joel Carlson and Riley Lubbers defeated Cropp and Johnson for the consolation.

The girls competed at Hamilton. Dillon's Eve Xanthopoulous marched through the ranks for the championship. She defeated Hamilton's Katie Mildenberger in the semi finals and then stopped Hamilton's Audrey Barnes for the championship. Barnes had defeated Corvallis' Morgan Maul-Smith in their semi final match. Mildenberger won the consolation by default.

Tabatha Carrol of Dillon defeated Blue Devil Nicole McAfee to advance to the No. 3 and 4 championship. Hannah Walker of Anaconda defeated Megan Burgmuller of Hamilton to advance as well. Carrol defeated Walker for the championship. McAfee defeated Burgmuller for the consolation trophy.

The strong team of Tiffany Stoddard and Valory Monaco of Dillon topped Hamilton's No. 1 seeded doubles team of Lindsey Schallenberger and Jennifer Conwell.

Polson's team of Val Aman and Jen Orchard stopped Stevensville Alecia Jessop and Emma Laughlin in the other semi final match. Schallenberger and Conwell then defeated the Yellowjacket team to take the consolation match.

In the No. 3 and 4 match-ups, Stevensville's Sam Cypher and Erin Montgomery defeated Sarah Parrazzo and Jessica Bowers of Polson for the championship. The consolation was won by Emily Keegan and Michelle Hensen of Corvallis.