40 years in the making: RSI earns third-place trophy at state
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BOZEMAN — In 1973, a Ronan Boys track and field team consisting of Jay Krantz, Ken Franklin, Doug Starkel, Dan Salomon, Jim Darlington, Ken Harvey, Rick Jore, Ed Loder, Jim Fangsrud, Jerry Tatum, Tom Harvey, Gary Christson, Mark Shannor and Marty Esquibel and coached by Larry Anderson and Ron Kimmel brought home a 3rd place trophy from the state ‘B’ track meet.
Forty years later, on May 25, another Ronan boys’ track and field team brought home a third-place class ‘B’ trophy from the AA & B State Track and Field Meet held at Bozeman High School.
With just one event left, the third place trophy was still up for grabs.
Red Lodge took first in the boys’ 200, they were only behind Ronan-St. Ignatius by six points. Red Lodge was entered in the final race of the day, the 1600 relay, with the best time and good chance to win it. If they did, Red Lodge would pull ahead of Ronan/St Ignatius by four points.
“Our hopes were for them to finish third or lower, and by chance put us in a tie for the third place trophy,” coach Crystal Pitts said.
As the race began, Pitts said they were cheering for Manhatten, Thompson Falls, Bigfork, Malta — just anybody to get first, second, or maybe third, instead of Red Lodge.
“We needed a miracle, but as the race progressed Red Lodge was the clear favorite,” Pitts said.
However, in the final 75 yards Manhatten took the lead and won the race. Red Lodge placed second and moved ahead of Ronan/St. Ignatius by two points.
Figuring RSI missed a third place and a trophy by just two points, the team began to pack up camp and head for the bus.
“Then I stopped and thought, ‘wait, Thompson Falls has 46 points… (but) they have not placed in the final five events.’” Pitts took a second look at the results and realized her team had scored 48 points.
Pitts quickly called back the boys who had headed out, and told them to “come back to camp … we might be getting a trophy.”
When all the points were tallied, Ronan indeed placed third with 48; Red Lodge placed second with 50, and Manhatten won state with 73.
“I am so happy for the boys. I just wanted to burst. They did it! They did it! They snuck through the back door and they got the 3rd place trophy,” Pitts said.
En route to the final score, Jalen Bell captured the state title in triple jump and set a new Ronan High School record at 44’10” beating the old record of 44’09.50” set in 1977 by Bobby Camel.
Bell also took state in the long jump at 21’08”, just missing the school record of 21’09” held by Shane Moss.
Cole Gerhardt threw the discus 117 feet; Nikko Alexander putted the shot 43’08” and Connor Benn pole-vaulted 11’00.
The 1600-meter relay of Connor Benn, Ryan Talsma, Robby Hocker and Paden Alexander ran a 3:49.
Alexander ran “out of his mind,” according to Pitts, setting three St. Ignatius High School records while capturing two state titles: the1600 meter with a 4:26.54 and the 3200 meter with a 9:32.86. Alexander was also runner up in the 800 meter with a photo finish time of 1:59.47.
This year’s co-op Ronan-St. Ignatius Track and Field Team included five Ronan students and two from St. Ignatius.
Students Jalen Bell, Paden Alexander, Nikko Alexander, Robby Hocker, Connor Benn, Cole Gerhardt and Ryan Talsma were coached by Pitts, Noelle Decker, Rod Harris and Cameron Barber.
“This was the last track meet for a co-op program that has been in existence for 13 years, and the boys went out together in a big way,” Pitts said.
The girls’ team peaked at the right time, placing in two events while setting personal bests.
Aspen Jore took 5th in the javelin with a throw of 116’01”, tying her Ronan High School Record set earlier and threw the shot put 30’08”. Sydnee Clairmont took 4th in the high jump with a personal best of 5’00”.
Auxie Cates jumped 13’09” in the long jump along with Sydney Caster who jumped 14’09”, while Kaylie Durglo jumped 30’08” in the triple jump. Kiana Howell ran a personal best in the 400 meter with 62.8; Jessie Lewis ran a 13.6 in the 100 meters; the girls’ 4x100 relay of Alex Dennis, Jessie Lewis, Lindsay Barber and Kiana Howell ran a season best of 52.5; as did the 4x400 relay of Kiana Howell, Lindsay Barber, Sydney Caster and Sydnee Clairmont with a 4:23.5.
“The weather was good, the competition better, and it was a great finish to another track season,” Pitts said.
Pitts thanked everyone who helped work at the high school and middle school track meets plus parents, bus drivers, high school coaches and middle school coaches Shelly Buhr, Bill Becker, Gabe Johnson and Riley Dennis.
