Hot Springs' Christensen excels at Seeley-Swan Invite

There are plenty of local athletes who could lay claim to the unofficial “best overall athlete” in the Sanders and Mineral County areas.

And there are a lot of reasons some sports fans would have a different favorite than others.

But as the 2022 high school track and field season passes the midway point, one athlete is clearly having a year worthy of the speculative title.

This past weekend at the Seeley-Swan Invitational, which is held in Missoula, Hot Springs’ standout and all-state athlete Katelyn Christensen placed in five events, including a thrilling first-place finish in the 200 meters run, where she finished .01 seconds ahead of the second place runner.

Christensen, who is headed along with Superior standout Sorren Reese to Carroll College this fall where both will compete in track and field, added a pair of second place finishes, one third and a tenth place to wrap up her day.

The Lady Savage Heat senior who was also highly decorated in basketball and volleyball during her high school career at Hot Springs, took second in the 100 meters race with a personal best time of 13.26, just .02 behind the winning time at the Seeley-Swan event, which drew 17 girls teams from throughout western Montana.

The Hot Springs girls finished eleventh in the team chase, with the vast majority of their 18 team points coming from Christensen’s haul.

Christensen also finished second in the discus throw, third in the javelin, which was won by Reese with a throw of 125-9, and tenth in the shot put with a heave of 30-7.

Beaver County (Dillon) won both the girls and boys titles during the event, easily outdistancing the second place teams.

In addition to her winning throw in the javelin, Reese tied for ninth in the high jump event with a personal best 4’-8” jump.

The Superior girls team took third with 49 points, while Thompson Falls came in ninth and Plains tied with Charlo for seventeenth place.

Thompson Falls’ boys team finished seventh with 26 points, Noxon and weight throw standout Cade VanVleet tied with Powell County for eleventh and Superior’s boys placed seventeenth with 1.5 points.

Superior also got points from Braelynn Mangold, who placed eighth in the 400 meters run; Isabella Pereira, sixth in the triple jump; and senior Cassie Green who took home third place honors in the shot put with a PR of 34-4 and ninth in the discus.

Another area standout in the girls competition was Noxon’s Emily Brown, who was fourth in the 400 meters, ninth in the javelin throw, and eleventh in the high jump.

Thompson Falls, meanwhile, got a first place finish in the girls pole vault from Chesney Lowe with a vault of 8-6. The Lady Hawks also got a third place finish in the 3200 meters run from Faith Palmer, who also placed sixth at 1600 meters. Mollie Nichols also contributed to the Thompson Falls girls day with a fifth place showing in the 3200 meters.

In the boys competition, Thompson Falls distance ace William Hyatt led the Blue Hawks with a first place medal in the 3200 meters run, breaking the tape in 10:16.60, a personal record. Hyatt also added a fifth place finish in the 1600 meters event. The Blue Hawks also got points from high jumper Breck Ferris, who was fifth with a leap of 5-8.

Noxon weight thrower Cade VanVleet continued his season-long battle with Seeley’s Walker McDonald in the shot put, with McDonald winning the contest with a throw of 51-2. VanVleet was second with a season-best toss of 48-8. VanVleet also finished sixth in the discus throw, which was also won by McDonald.

Hot Springs got a ninth place showing from junior Garth Parker in the shot put, while Plains’ Mason Elliot picked up a pair of ninth place finishes in the 300 meters hurdles and the triple jump.

Plains, Thompson Falls and Hot Springs will compete in this coming Saturday’s Whitefish Invitational, while Superior and St. Regis will travel to Idaho today (Tuesday) to compete in the Wallace Invitational.