Young Viking track team nears peak
Melea Burke
Melea Burke
Dalton Delaney, right, and Tristan Santee lead the field after one lap in the boys’ 1,600-meter run at the Lake County meet.
Melea Burke
Melea Burke
Melea Burke
Jordan Bilile nears the finish in the 100.
Melea Burke
Melea Burke
Senior Tra Ludeman leads teammates Michael Delaney, left, Jesse Long and Kail Pope over the hurdles at the Lake County Invitational track meet April 30 in Ronan.
Melea Burke
Shayna Nagy takes a leap during long jump competition April 30 in Ronan.
Melea Burke
Charlo athlete Kyle Couture flies over the bar in pole vault at the Lake County Invitational.
Melea Burke
Rachel Hoyt clears a hurdle amid snow flurries at the Lake County meet April 30. The senior has an offer to run hurdles for Great Falls University, but she hopes to join the team at Montana State University-Bozeman.
Melea Burke
Melea Burke
McKalistar Rosenbaum winds up to hurl the discus during competition at the Lake County Invitational.
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CHARLO — Charlo head track coach Bret Thompson has been a coach in the district for 27 years. In that time he’s seen many teams and players come and go and has watched many track teams from across the state. However, one thing remains constant at Charlo.
“Our kids work hard here,” Thompson said. “We have good kids.”
As head coach, Thompson oversees all the different events with the help of several assistant coaches — coaches Thompson called “really good, I mean, great coaches.
“They put a lot of time in as far as making sure the kids are ready to go. Because I have good people around me, it makes it easier. It makes sure the kids get what they need.”
Assistant coach Mike Krahn coaches shot put, discus and javelin. This is his 20th season coaching, and while the team is young, Krahn sees a lot of promise.
“We’re really young,” Krahn said. “We have about four freshman boys and one sophomore, so that’s tough. When you move up from junior high, the implements get bigger and strength is a big advantage in the throws. With the young boys, they’re still developing, but they’re doing well for their age.”
Krahn added that track is one of the only sports where players compete against themselves and know instantly if they are improving. If they beat their mark from the previous year, they know they’re doing better.
“Without a doubt, I know they’re improving,” Krahn said. “I try not to put a lot of pressure on them. I just want them to compete against themselves and if they happen to place in a meet and add points to our team score, that’s even better, but the thing I like about being at a track meet is that even though (the athlete) might not have placed, they know they just did their best. In track, you know that mark and you know if you’re improving on it. It’s a nice change from the super-competitive team sports we have.”
Tra Ludeman, a senior and future University of Montana slot receiver, said his favorite aspect of track season is meeting new people and that he doesn’t get nervous before meets — it’s just about having fun.
“Competition-wise, I don’t really get nervous as much as I would playing football or basketball. I just want to go out and have fun; I don’t worry about it,” he said.
Every coach and player said the season is going well. Hurdles and high jump coach Jared Miller said he has three returning all-state athletes and added that he expects many of his athletes to place at the state meet.
“I think depth is our biggest advantage,” Miller said. “We’re a lot deeper team than last year, and our kids have matured a lot.”
Rachel Hoyt, a fellow senior, placed in hurdles last year at state and has a standing offer to run hurdles at the collegiate level in Great Falls, but says she’s holding out for Bozeman.
“I really enjoy it,” she said of running hurdles. “It’s kind of bittersweet — painful, but you get a lot of reward at the end. It’s been pretty rewarding every year, so I guess that’s what keeps getting me to come back. It will pay off at the end. Whatever goes on during the season always seems to pay off at the end.”
And with the end of the season fast approaching, Thompson said his team is poised to peak at just the right time.
“Both our boys’ and girls’ long and short relays have the potential to be really good at the end of the year,” he said. “We returned a lot of them from last year, so they’ve had a chance to see what it’s like at state and we’ve had some good kids to fill in spots where we lost seniors to graduation last year.
“Time-wise, hopefully we’re peaking at the right time and we should start seeing some of our better performances here in the next three weeks.”
