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Local teams post solid results at Libby Invite

Chuck Bandel, Clark Fork Valley Press & Mineral Independent, Plains, Mont.
·4 min read

Apr. 17—Bigfork boys and girls pretty much dominated the Libby Invitational track and field meet this past week at Logger Stadium on a blustery Tuesday afternoon.

Thompson Falls and Noxon were the only two local teams (Sanders County) to take part in the meet, which attracted athletes from eight area schools.

Bigfork won the men's varsity competition with 117 points, while Browning's boys finished second with 108 team points. In the girl's competition, Lincoln County (Eureka) won the women's varsity team title, amassing 114.5 points while Bigfork's girls were the runners up with 100.

Thompson Falls women were fifth with 64.5 points, while the T Falls men came in seventh with 17 points.

Noxon finished eighth in both categories as the only Class C school in the field of Class B teams.

There were some good results for the Lady Hawks in particular, highlighted by the outstanding day enjoyed by senior Trinity Riffle, who won the 200 meter sprint with a personal best time of 28:96, finishing just ahead of runner up Willow Cohen of Eureka, who ran a 29:25. Riffle was also first in the women's high jump, clearing 4-10.

Riffle also finished second in the women's 100 meter sprint with a personal best time of 13:62, just :03 seconds behind Cohen. Lady Hawks freshman Addyson Deal was sixth in the 100 meter event, while a pair of Noxon runners, Maygan Swanson and Emma Swanson finished eleventh and fifteenth respectively.

Maygan Swanson also finished ninth in the 200 meter sprint.

Freshman middle and distance standout Aubrey Baxter was third in the 400 meter race, while teammate Peighton Kenney finished sixth in the 800 meter run.

Noxon's Natasha Fisher finished fifth in the 100 meter hurdles, which was won by Eureka's Haidyn Guckenburg, who broke the tape at 17:71.

Deal tied for sixth in the pole vault with a personal best vault of 7 feet.

T Falls finished 2-3 in the triple jump competition, with Baxter grabbing second place via a 29-7.5 hop, skip and jump, and Deal taking third at 29-5.75. Bigfork's Peyton Benson won the event with a leap of 29-10.75.

Maygan Swanson was tenth in the discus for Noxon with a heave of 71-3, while teammate Fisher was 18th. Eureka's Zoey Hanson won the discus with a throw of 95-4.

Deal also scored points for the Lady Hawks with her third place showing in the women's javelin (101-10). Eureka's Kara Stanger won the event with her pitch of 105-9.

In the men's competition, T Falls' Braxton Dorscher placed sixth in the 100 meters sprint with a time of 11:85, a personal record. The event was won by Eureka's Emmet Manges, who broke the tape at the 11:48 mark in the tight, highly competitive field. Noxon's Owen Ramsey came in 16th with a time of 12:39.

Noxon junior Chance McDaid took sixth place in the men's 400 meter run, while Thompson Falls had two runners in the top 10, Braedon Ferris and Ian Myers, eighth and tenth respectively. Dorscher was twelfth.

Dorscher and Ferris also finished fourth and fifth in the 200 meter race, which was won by Bigfork sprinter Tayden West who posted a 24:15 for first place.

Myers added a ninth place finish in the 800 meter run to his day's work, while Noxon's Shane Murray was twelfth in the event.

Blue Hawks' long distance runner Cael Thilmony was ninth in the 3200 meter run and tenth at 1600 meters. T Falls also got a ninth place finish from junior Ethan Geisbusch in the men's 300 meter hurdles competition.

Ferris placed seventh for the Blue Hawks in the shot put competition with a put of 38-.5. Libby's Greg Bache won the event with a throw of 42-10. T Falls junior Zach Ames was ninth and Murray (Noxon) was 17th.

Ferris continued his outstanding day with a first place finish in the discus, tossing the plate 140-7 to easily outdistance second place Jacob Gromley from Troy. Jame Schmidt was 11 in the event for T Falls and Ames was twelfth. Kade Hill came in 14th for Noxon.

Murray finished fifth in the javelin throw with a chuck of 136-9, while Schmidt was 13th. Libby's Tristan Anderson won the javelin with a mark of 149-8. Myers placed seventh for T Falls.

Dorscher also added an eighth place finish in the long jump to his daily total for T Falls.

In the jumping events, Noxon standout junior Ricky Williams, a state placer from last year in the high jump, did not mark in either the high jump or triple jump at the Libby meet. Williams is still battling a lower leg injury he sustained last year.

Next up for T Falls and Noxon is the Thompson Falls Invitational today (Tuesday, April 16), followed by the Seeley-Swan Invitational this Saturday in Missoula.