Pioneer Track season under way

Track in Montana has always been a mix of snow, rain, wind, or hot sunburn weather. When I went to Fort Benton to watch the Pioneer's first track meet, I went into Lehman's, and it started to snow. They said, "Lorrie, you brought the snow!" And I said, "No, there is a track meet in town today!" Everyone laughed and agreed with me. It did snow a little and was a cold day for track. The Pioneers were down several athletes as many were on an FFA trip. They also had five athletes down with injuries. But even with that, I enjoyed watching the Pioneers complete for the first time.

Wendy Taylor, head coach of the Big Sandy Pioneers, told me they were excited for the year because they had 25 high school students out for track and 28 Jr. High students. So many athletes, even with six coaches there, aren't sure how they will manage. It's a good problem. The other coaches are Shersteen Cline, Ella Jurenka, Thomas Dilworth, Kurt Strutz, and Charlie Klimas of Havre.

Wendy knows that many athletes go out for track because it makes everyone better in their favorite sport. Her philosophy is to help kids be better people. She wants to help inspire them to see they can be better.

"Track coaches all have a different technique. We sprint. We sprint at 100% for a short distance." They work on their form, so that posture, the core of the body, knees, heels, hands, and elbows are all right. Currently, they sprint 50-yard fly, then it will be 60 yards, and later 70. They have a "death day" (lactic acid day) where they work extremely hard. "We hit that wall and learn to run through. Long-distance runners have a totally different program."

Spring track practice often starts in the gym and sometimes in the hall and the auditorium. The most significant injury in track is pulled muscles, which can happen quickly in cold weather when the muscles aren't warmed up enough.

The Fort Benton Snow Buster track meet was the first meet of the year. The standouts at Fort Benton's were: Braydon Cline, who took 3rd place in the 400 meters with a time of 1.01 minutes. Rusty Gasvoda, Kody Strutz, Braydon Cline, and Austin Haugen took 4th as members of the 4 X 100 relay team with a time of 51.1 seconds. Wylee Snapp took 5th place in the shot put, 4th in the discus, and 5th in the javelin. Rusty Gasvoda took 5th in the discus. Kody Strutz took 2nd in the triple jump with a jump of37'2.5". In Fort Benton, the Big Sandy boys took 6th out of 14 teams.

In Havre, on a very nice, strangely beautiful day with no wind, both the boys and the girls took 4th place out of 16 teams. Schools from A, B, and C were present at the track meet, so there was some excellent competition.

The girls 4X 100 relay team comprised of Mattie Gasvoda, Jenny Sant, Carmen Tan, and Eva Wagoner took 5th with a time of 57.82 seconds. Wagoner took 5th in the 200 meters in 29.61 seconds, 3rd in the 100meter hurdles in 17,81 seconds, and 3rd in the 300 hurdles in 52.72 seconds. Amy Gasvoda took 4th in the 800 with a 2.54.66, while Alex Worral took 5th in the same event running a 2.54.91, and 4th in the 1600 with a time of 6 minutes 24 seconds. Jai Bauman took 3rd in the triple jump leaping 31' 7.5".

At the Havre Lions, Meet Lane Demontiney took 3rd place in both the 16,000 and the 32,000 with times 6:10.3 and 12:01. Wylee Snapp took 5th in the shot put with a throw of 36"4". And 2nd in the discus with a throw of 113'7". Ryder Galbavy took 3rd with a 95'.2', and Cooper Taylor took 5th with a throw of 89'6.5". What was exciting is Big Sandy took six places in the top nine in the discus. Charlie Klimas should take a bow because there was great coaching and significant effort on the part of the Big Sandy boys. Cooper Taylor went on to qualify for state in the javelin with his first-ever throw in a track meet, of 145' 5.75".

The women's Big Sandy Pioneers team, Eva Wagoner, Kaya Demontiney, Jai Bauman, Lainey Terry, and Eva Yeadom are all nursing injuries.