Clark Fork boys capture second at North Star League Meet

SILVERTON — The eight boys on the Clark Fork track team continued to shine at the North Star League Meet on Tuesday.

The boys took second out of the five teams at the event, finishing 30.5 points behind first place Wallace.

Head coach Matt Majors said this is a special group of kids and they continue to raise the bar for themselves.

"At the beginning of the year, I saw that we were pretty talented," he said. "They just have progressively gotten better every meet and I felt like we had a pretty good chance of doing good at this meet, and obviously we did."

Given the size of the schools at the meet, there wasn't a lot of time off between events. Once some of the Wampus Cats wrapped up a running event, they had to recover quickly and hit the track for another.

But the boys didn't seem fazed by the limited rest. They buckled down and rose to the occasion, Majors said.

"These kids see a challenge and they do a really good job of meeting that challenge and overcoming it," he said. "They've done a really good job this year of overcoming those obstacles."

No one showcased more perseverance than Sam Barnett. The junior placed first in the 800, 1600 and 3200 and was fourth in the high jump.

"A couple kids had to take one for the team to get some of those points and Sam was definitely one of them," Majors said.

Joe Bopp tied for third in the 400 and earned seventh in the 100 and 200. But his most impressive performance came in the long jump. He bested his previous personal record in the event by over a foot to grab second.

"Joe did awesome on the long jump," Majors said.

Clark Fork was the only team that ran the 4x400 relay at the meet. Carson Yetter, Hank Barnett, Ryan Matteson and Wyatt Mintken were on the relay. Hank Barnett, Yetter and Matteson also ran legs for the 4x200 relay team that placed second, along with Nathan Shelton.

Mintken stood out for the Wampus Cats in sprints. He was third in the 100, fifth in the 400 and sixth in the 200. Mintken posted PRs in the 100 and 400.

"We're so excited for Wyatt with him being only a freshman and him being that fast," Majors said.

Hank Barnett secured third in the high jump and seventh in the 400, and recorded PRs in both.

Shelton grabbed third in the 800, fourth in the discus and seventh in the shot put. Yetter earned sixth in the long jump and 13th in the 100, Lukas Birdsell was 12th in the discus and 13th in the shot put, and Matteson ran a PR in the 1600 to place fifth.

The Wampus Cats will now shift all their attention to the 1A Region 1 track and field championships set for Friday, May 14 and Saturday, May 15 in Lapwai. The top five individuals in each event and the top two relays will earn berths to state.

BOYS

TEAM SCORES — 1, Wallace 95. 2, Clark Fork 64.5. 3, Mullan 60.5. 4, Kootenai 47. 5, Lakeside 26.

Clark Fork athletes in bold.

100 — 1, JJ Hall, Lakeside, 11.9. 2, Alex Field, Wallace, 11.9. 3, Wyatt Mintken, Clark Fork, 11.9. 200 — 1, JJ Hall, Lakeside, 24.2. 2, Alex Field, Wallace, 24.6. 3, Carter McGann, Kootenai, 25.5. 400 — 1, JJ Hall, Lakeside, 54.7. 2, Brad Tesky, Wallace, 57.0. 3, Connor Denson, Wallace, 57.1. 800 — 1, Sam Barnett, Clark Fork, 2:15.3. 2, Aydin Hasz, Wallace, 2:17.8. 3, Nathan Shelton, Clark Fork, 2:32.8. 1,600 — 1, Sam Barnett, Clark Fork, 5:08.3. 2, Aydin Hasz, Wallace, 5:16.4. 3, Brady McGann, Kootenai, 5:19.4. 3,200 — 1, Sam Barnett, Clark Fork, 11:05. 2, Logan Petit, Mullan, 15:03.1. 3, Josh Houston, Mullan, 15:52.4.

110 hurdles — 1, Colton Pentland, Wallace, 17.3. 300 hurdles — 1, Colton Pentland, Wallace, 44.9. 4x100 relay — 1, Mullan (Riley Trogden, Alex Trogden, Kofi Appiah, Luke Trogden), 48.0. 2, Wallace, 50.3. 4x200 relay — 1, Wallace (Colton Pentland, Brad Tesky, Connor Denson, Alex Field), 1:41.3. 2, Clark Fork (Carson Yetter, Hank Barnett, Nathan Shelton, Ryan Matteson), 1:55.3. 4x400 relay — 1, Clark Fork (Carson Yetter, Hank Barnett, Ryan Matteson, Wyatt Mintken), 4:44.4.

Shot put — 1, Luke Trogden, Mullan, 38-11. 2, Liam Murdock, Wallace, 30-8. 3, Josh Houston, Mullan, 29-0. Discus — 1, Luke Trogden, Mullan, 126-0. 2, Will Farkas, Wallace, 103-5. 3, Colton Pentland, Wallace, 89-5. High jump — 1. Brad Tesky, Wallace, 5-7. 2, Connor Denson, Wallace, 5-7. 3, Hank Barnett, Clark Fork, 5-4. Pole vault — 1, Charlie Orford, Kootenai, 9-6. 2, Desmond Naccarato, Kootenai, 8-6. Long jump — 1, Riley Trogden, Mullan 18-0 ½. 2, Joe Bopp, Clark Fork, 17-6. 3, Charlie Orford, Kootenai, 17-1 ½. Triple jump — 1, Brady McGann, Kootenai, 33-3. 2, Charlie Orford, Kootenai, 32-10. 3, Logan Petit, Mullan, 27-6.