Troy track ties for third at state meet; Opland wins 200-meter, places second in three additional events
<p>Troy sprinter Sean Opland cruises during the 100-meter finals at the Class B state track and field championship in Kalispell on Saturday. Opland finished second in the 100-meter dash and won the 200-meter dash. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Troy's Scott Pate crashes into the pit during the long jump at the Class B state track and field championship in Kalispell on Friday. Pate finished in second with a jump of 20 feet, 11.5 inches. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
Legends Stadium in Kalispell played host to the Class B state track meet Friday and Saturday, with Troy’s boys coming home in a third-place tie with Glasgow.
The boys racked up a total of 41 points, with Huntley Project placing second at 56 and Manhattan dominating the event with an impressive 109.
Sean Opland was Troy’s stand-out athlete of the event, winning the title in the 200-meter and placing second in the 100, 400 and high-jump events.
Opland finished the 200 in 22.6, nearly a full quarter-second over Manhattan’s Turner Stone, who came in second at 22.84. Whitefish’s Patrick McCarthy placed third at 23.09.
Stone reversed the finish in the 100, running the race in 11.19, edging out Opland and Eureka’s Christian Langston, both recorded at 11.20, with Opland placing second and Langston third by 1/100th of a second in the photo-finish.
It was Manhattan’s Caleb Neth who edged out Opland in the 400. Neth finished at 49.46, with Opland trailing close behind at 49.49. Boulder’s Rankei Eyer took third at 50.70.
Opland’s 6-2 finish in the high jump was enough to net him a tie for second place with Deer Lodge’s Brandon Porter. The championship went to Glasgow’s Chase Fossum with a 6-4 jump.
Troy’s Pate Scott also brought home a second place finish, with his long jump of 20-11.5. Manhattan’s Neth took the championship with a jump of 21-10.75.
The girls from Plains took home the championship trophy, edging out Bigfork and Choteau.
The Trotters were carried on the all-star legs of senior Hailey Phillips, who won championships in the 100 and 300 hurdles and won the 400-meter. With her second-place finish in the 200 and third in the 100 she racked up 44 points for the Trotters by herself, a finish that would have placed her third in team competition by herself.
Eureka’s boys finished 17th at the event, behind Langston’s third place finish in the 100 and Nolan Hofstee’s fifth in shot-put.
Bryn Morley of Bigfork broke the Class B record with her 4:47.76 finish in the 1,600.
Bigork’s girls’ 1,600 relay team also set a new Class B record, finishing in 4:01.71.
Plain’s Hailey Phillips was given a “wind-aided” class record for her 14.75 finish in the 100 hurdles.
GIRLS
Team scores – 1, Plains 115; 2, Bigfork 110; 3, Choteau 36; t-4, Manhattan 30; t-4, Malta 30; 6, Thompson Falls 29; 7, Joliet 28; 8, Townsend 26; 9, Glasgow 18; t-10, Boulder 12; t-10, Plentywood 12; t-12, Baker 11; t-12, Red Lodge 11; 14, Three Forks 10; 15, Fairfield 8; 16, Roundup 7; t-17, Colstrip 6; t-17, Shelby 6; 19, Ronan 5; t-20, Loyola Sacred Heart 4; t-20, Columbus 4; t-22, Huntley Project 3; t-22, Forsyth 3; t-24, Florence 1; t-24, Wolf Point 1; t-24, Cut Bank 1.
BOYS
Team scores – 1, Manhattan 109; 2, Huntley Project 56; t-3 Troy 41; t-3, Glasgow 41; 5, Bigfork 40; 6, Boulder 39; 7, Townsend 26; 8, Thompson Falls 25; 9, Red Lodge 20; t-20, Joliet 14; t-10, Forsyth 14; t-10, Shelby 14; 13, Deer Lodge 11; t-14, Baker 10; t-14, Fairfield 10; t-14, Colstrip 10; 17, Eureka 9; t-18, Plains 7; t-18, Cut Bank 7; 20, Whitehall 6; t-21, Florence 4; t-21, Big Timber 4; 23, Loyola Sacred Heart 3; 24, Shepherd 2; t-25, Ronan 1; t-25, Malta 1; t-25, Conrad 1; t-25, St. Labre 1; t-25, Columbus 1.