Apr. 5—HAMILTON — One year removed from a second-place finish at the State A meet, the Columbia Falls Wildcats have literally fielded a team.
While Jack Phelps picked up big points in the sprints — and won the 200 in a Class A-leading 22.84 seconds Friday — Isak Soyland and Lane Voermans led a push in the field events that helped the Wildcats outpoint defending state champion Corvallis 82-72 for the boys team title at the Hamilton Invitational.
Frenchtown's boys tied Corvallis for second with 72 points; Hamilton was a distant fourth at 52. Polson was sixth at 37, behind Missoula Loyola (40).
Hamilton won the girls title with 83.33 points, with Frenchtown next at 68.33. Polson was seventh at 38. Columbia Falls had five.
Phelps added a third in the 100 and a second in the 400 (51.82; race winner Evan Bennett of Hamilton ran a class-best 50.15), but Columbia Falls really racked up points in the jumps and throws.
Voermans threw 167 feet, 8 inches to beat a strong field in the discus (four throws went 154 or better) and set the early Class A standard in the event.
Wildcats Oliver Kress and Soyland finished 2-3 in the pole vault, with Kress (13-0) losing to Frenchtown's Brody Hardy on criteria.
Hardy ran the fastest 110-meter (14.82) and 300-meter (41.12) hurdles times in Class A Friday.
Soyland's long jump mark of 20-8.5 sits second in A; his teammate Stanley Stremick went 42-3, a PR, to win the triple jump. Stremick now sits fourth in Class A in that event.
Polson's David DiGiallonardo was third in the 3,200 in 10:23.08 Friday, but that's still the second-best time in A to this point. The Pirates' Astin Brown threw 58-9 to win the shot put; he reached the same exact mark, the best in Class A, in Frenchtown on March 29.
On the girls side, Polson's Morgan Delaney won the 3,200 in 11:34.32 and was second in the 1,600 to fellow sophomore Annalise Lewis of Hamilton.
Delaney's 3,200 leads Class A. In the 1,600 Lewis ran 5:17.98 and Delaney 5:19.63; the pair and Polson freshman Kimora Scott (5:33.41 Friday) now sit 1-2-3 in Class A.
It was a fast meet, with several winning marks now leading Class A, including Frenchtown (4 by 100) and Hamilton (4 by 400) in the relays.
Complete results can be found at athletic.net.
