Flathead, Glacier split Western AA track titles

BUTTE — Two straight for the Braves. 

Ben Bliven swept the 100 and 200, Lane Chivers took the 400 and the Flathead Braves repeated as boys team champions at the Western AA Divisional track and field meet that concluded Saturday. 

It was a Kalispell sweep: Glacier, behind victories from Lauren Bissen, Jaidyn Pevey and its long relay team, took the girls team title at Bulldog Memorial Stadium.

Bissen, just a sophomore, won the 1,600 meters convincingly in 5 minutes, 9.92 seconds Saturday and the Wolfpack piled up 115 points to 95 for Missoula Hellgate and 76 for Flathead — with the Bravettes getting another banner day from Alivia Rinehart.  

Pevey matched her career-best of 5 feet, 4 inches to claim the high jump and the quartet of Dacia Benkelman, Alyssa Vollertsen, Emmery Schmidt and Carmen Eddy teamed up to win the 4-by-400 (in 4:04.62), completing a Wolfpack relay sweep. 

Benkelman added depth points (fourth in the 400, fifth in the triple jump), as did Eddy (fourth in the 200), Zeila Wagner (fifth in the 100) and the discus tandem of Rylee Bigelow and Allie Krueger (second and fourth). 

When it was done Glacier had its first divisional girls title since 2015, and did it with a youngish team: Alyssa Vollertsen, who was second in the 800 Friday, and fellow seniors Pevey, Eddy, Schmidt, Charlotte Osler and Breanna Barnes teamed up to score 58 points in Butte. 

Rinehart followed up her 300-meter hurdles win from Friday with victories in the 200 (25.15 seconds) and 100-meter hurdles (14.60) on Saturday. The senior’s time in the high hurdles was .20 off the divisional record, co-owned by Lexie Miller of Flathead from 1979. 

Rinehart’s teammate Josie Wilson followed up her 3,200 win from Friday with a third in Saturday’s 1,600; the Bravettes also had depth points from Reagan Castillo (fifth, 200), Bristol Lenz (third in the 100 hurdles) and Alice Dolezal (third in both the high jump and triple jump). 

Flathead’s boys piled up 123 points despite losing points in the 400 relay (bad handoff) and 400 (William Hollensteiner, the top qualifier in AA, false-started). Helena High was next at 91; Helena Capital edged Glacier 74-73 for third. 

Bliven was a blur, matching the meet record in the 200 meters with a time of 21.80. Butte’s Dan Hanley ran the same time in 1980, over 220 yards.  

It was a 1-2 finish for Flathead; junior William Hollensteiner was second with a personal record time of 21.90. 

Bliven began his day by winning the 100 in 10.97 seconds with Missoula Sentinel’s Jaxon Allery — who ran 10.90 on Friday — second at 11.06. In between, he finished third in the 400 meters (50.31) while teammate and fellow senior Lane Chivers won in 49.18. Both times were PRs. 

Hollensteiner hit another PR in the triple jump, going 46 feet. That was good enough for second because Butte senior Sam Henderson soared beyond the divisional record with a mark of 48-7.25. The old record was 46-7.5, set by Flathead’s Mathew Tokarz in 2012. 

Bliven and Henderson supplied the lone records from Saturday, and Bliven and Hollensteiner combined to score 70 points for the Braves, who didn’t have points in either relay. 

The top eight place-winners in each event, plus those who met the qualifying standards already, advance to next week’s State AA championships at Legends Stadium. The meet will start Thursday with AA boys pole vault, weather permitting, and conclude Saturday.