Clark Fork boys capture seventh at Booster Invitational

KELLOGG — The small, inexperienced Clark Fork track team continued to hold its own against some stiff competition at the Booster Invitational on Saturday at Kellogg High.

The eight Wampus Cat boys led the squad to a seventh-place finish out of 10 teams.

"I thought we did outstanding," head coach Matt Majors said.

After the meet was over, Majors gathered his team and asked how many of them recorded new personal bests in at least one event — all eight Wampus Cats raised their hands.

Majors said that showed just how much of a step forward the athletes took this weekend.

"For everyone to raise their hand and say that they've gotten better at one thing is pretty awesome," he said.

Sam Barnett had another strong showing in the distance events. He placed fourth in the 1600 and 3200. He was also fourth in the high jump.

It was Sam's first time running the 3200 this season, and Majors was really proud of his effort.

"Sam is one of those kids where you can kind of put him in any event and he's going to do pretty good at whatever he does," Majors said.

His younger brother, Hank Barnett, earned eighth in the 400 with a PR of 1:02.57.

Nathan Shelton tallied a trio of PRs. He was eighth in the 800, ninth in the discus and 14th in the shot put.

Shelton made the finals in the discus and Majors said the sophomore looked strong in his throwing events.

"Him and coach Nona [Young] have been working really hard on upgrading his technique in both the shot and the discus ... and it obviously showed up in his marks because they were so much better," he said.

Freshman Wyatt Mintken didn't slow down. He secured fifth in the 100 and seventh in the 400 with a PR of 59.49.

At the Kootenai Invitational on April 10, official results had Mintken running a 12.50 in the 100 and capturing first. Majors didn't think that time was quite accurate due to some hand times they recorded, but apparently it was right because Mintken ran nearly an identical time Saturday.

"We were very excited for that," Majors said. "That's super fast, especially for a ninth grader."

Clark Fork brought home fourth in the 4x200 relay. Carson Yetter, Hank Barnett, Joe Bopp and Mintken ran legs on the relay.

Bopp grabbed 10th in the long jump and 200, and 18th in the 100. He posted PRs in all three events.

Yetter also ran PRs in the 100 and 200. Ryan Matteson notched a PR in the 1600 to place 11th.

Majors had some of his athletes try new events on Saturday to find their strengths and keep things interesting.

"We're so inexperienced that I'm kind of letting them do a few things that they want to do," he said, "and try new things out and see what combination works."

Clark Fork heads to the Priest River Invitational at 10 a.m. Saturday.

BOYS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Bonners Ferry 199. 2, Coeur d’Alene Charter 98. 3, Priest River 78. 4, St. Maries 71.5. 5, Wallace 63. 6, Mullan 29. 7, Clark Fork 28.5. 8, Lakeside 26. 9, Kellogg 24. 10, Kootenai 23.

CLARK FORK RESULTS

100 — 5, Wyatt Mintken, 12.52. 18, Joe Bopp, 13.35. 22, Carson Yetter, 13.55. 200 — 10, Joe Bopp, 26.20. 15, Hank Barnett, 28.68. 16, Carson Yetter, 28.75. 17, Nathan Shelton, 29.16. 400 — 7, Wyatt Mintken, 59.49. 8, Hank Barnett, 1:02.57. 15, Ryan Matteson, 1:09.84. 800 — 8, Nathan Shelton, 2:28.93. 1600 — 4, Sam Barnett, 5:02.40. 11, Ryan Matteson, 6:00.98. 3200 — 4, Sam Barnett, 11:00.06.

4x200 relay — 4, Clark Fork (Carson Yetter, Hank Barnett, Joe Bopp, Wyatt Mintken), 1:50.74.

Shot put — 14, Nathan Shelton, 30-3. 26, Lukas Birdsell, 13-4.5. Discus — 9, Nathan Shelton, 87-10. 25, Lukas Birdsell, 30-5. High jump — 4, Sam Barnett, 5-0. Long jump — 10, Joe Bopp, 16-1. 12, Sam Barnett, 15-7. 13, Wyatt Mintken, 15-1.5. 18, Carson Yetter, 13-1.25. 23, Ryan Matteson, 11-2.5.