The Columbia Falls track squad has about 100 athletes this year hoping to nab a spot on the podium. Last year the girls team took second at the state Class A tourney and they hope to be in the mix again this year, noted coach Jamie Heinz. The girls lose long-distance runner Samantha Mundel and jumper Carla Nicosia to graduation, but they have a lot of returning athletes, including all of last year’s state champion 1,600 meter relay team.
In addition, they’ll have jumpers Kiara Burlage and Ellie Johnson. Burlage took sixth in the long jump at state as a sophomore.
Allyson Gimbel will return to throw the shot put — she was second at state last year.
On the boys side, the Wildcats return senior jumper Stephen Lindsey who was fourth in the long jump at state last season. They should also see good things from long-distance runner Sage Wanner, who took eighth at the state cross-country meet last year. They’ll also get back sprinter Tanner Dana, who was sixth in the 200 at state and Kyler Burns, who took sixth in the high jump.
They also have several new athletes to the sport, including junior Dakota Bridwell, who will look to make his mark in the javelin and sophomore Austin Green, who will run sprints as well as toss the javelin.
The boys were 13th at state last year, but this year Heinz said the field is wide open. Gone is the Northwest A conference. The conference meet now encompasses the western half of the state.
Whitefish was the favorite, but Jed Nagler, one of the Bulldog’s best athletes, will be sidelined with an injury.
Belgrade to host ‘Time Trials’ on Saturday
New divisional format greets athletes in 2016
The 2016 track and field season begins Saturday for Belgrade High School, which will ease into the spring by hosting a small time trials.
There are more than 100 athletes — boys and girls combined — who are out for the teams this season, and they’ll all be competing in the season-opener. Bozeman may also participate in the meet, however the Class AA team’s participation had yet to be confirmed.
“It may be just us, that’s it. We’re going to run it like it’s a full varsity meet just so the kids can kind of see where they’re setting at this early,” girls coach Don Samuelson, who is beginning his 34th season at the helm, said. “There may be another team coming in, we don’t know. We’ve had a little interest that way (Bozeman). But we’re not interested in making it an all-day thing. We want to be done by 2’oclock, and that gives the kids a little rest too.”
Both the boys and girls squads have seen an increase in participation this season, and the time trials will help coaches and athletes see where they stack up against teammates.
“We’re kinda going to use it to separate our varsity and JV,” Scott Palmer, who is Belgrade’s boys coach, said. “A lot of times when kids first start out they’re unsure of where they rank against the junior or senior that’s been to the state competition. This will be a good opportunity for them to see what it looks like going against one of those top-teir kids.”
Both teams lost some key athletes from a year ago, but return plenty of talent too. On the girls side, junior Pipi Eitel is back after winning the divisional and state titles in the 800 meter run a year ago.
The girls’ roster has increased by more than a dozen athletes, but a majority of the team consists of underclassmen, including 13 freshmen.
“Some of this, we’ll just have to see who’s ready to get going,” said Samuelson. “We got some transfer kids in that look like really good solid kids. It’s awful early, I’m not real familiar with the kids yet to be quite honest.”
For the boys, junior Jacob Grinwis, who won the Central A Divisional championships in the 110 and 300 hurdles, is back for the boys. Like many of the team’s veterans, Grinwis put in plenty of hard work over the off-season to improve his times this season.
“I’m hoping to go for a multi, so I want to start getting better and do new things,” Grinwis said. “I jumped long jump in indoor. I had a good indoor season this year, and I jumped an 18 (feet) my second jump and then I stopped. So was a place to start.”
Automatic timing may be used for the meet, but times and marks will not be used as pre-qualifiers for state.
“We’re not looking at doing that,” Samuelson. “We just want to do it so the kids get good measurements, good times, so they can see where they are at.”
Other returners for the boys are senior thrower Derek Marks, senior jumper Morgan Eitel, and sophomore jumper Dawson Fowler. Marks won the divisional crowns in the discus and shot put, while Eitel claimed the high jump title and Fowler won the triple jump. The trio helped the Panthers win a sixth straight team title at the divisional meet.
But there has been a significant change to the postseason beginning with this season. The five-team Central A conference will combine with the six-team Eastern A conference to form an 11-team Eastern A Divisional meet.
“We used to kind of look at a divisional championship as ‘We’re Belgrade, we better win.’ We’re one of the biggest schools, we have the most kids out for track. Nothing against the other teams in our division, but we just have the numbers. So we should have rightfully won it and we have been,” said Palmer. “But now that we’re going to the bigger divisional it’s going to be a lot more competitive. No longer is a kid going to be able to have a lower mark and make it onto the state level. It’s going to be a more competitive state and a way more competitive divisional.”
Belgrade easily won the Central A championship a year ago, and then went on to place third at the state meet.
The Northwest A and Southwest A conferences are also teaming up to form the Western A Divisional meet, and the top 10 placers in each event will advance to the State A meet in Bozeman.
“We’re shooting to win it again. It’s a big number and we’re going for our divisional streak. But that means we’re going against another team that has a big divisional streak,” said Grinwis. “I think it’s going to make divisionals a lot more intense ... it’s going to be bigger and I think we’re all excited about that.”
Belgrade’s girls had their long string of divisional championships snapped last year at 10 by Park County High School, but the Panthers went on to place sixth at state. Claiming the top trophy at the divisional meet this season will not be an easy task.
“This year is going to be so odd. I’m not sure how it’s going to work out with 11 teams versus our normal little group of five,” said Samuelson. “It’s going to be very interesting to see how it all sorts out because as it is every year this conference usually has some really good strengths. The East has their strengths, and it’ll be interesting to see how it works out at divisional this size to see where the points are going to go.
“We’ll probably have a little better feel for that as we go along and get to see some results. Right now I don’t know how the points are going to end up. It’s going to be interesting. It’s going to be fun to see all those teams there.”
