State track medalists from Broadus include left to right Eli Heacock, Jaxon Bilbrey, Thomas Olyear, Matt Hansen, and Zeason Schaffer. The State C Track Meet was held last week in Great Falls. (Photo courtesy Sommer Schaffer)
The state qualifying members of the Broadus Hawk track team departed for state last week, making the drive to Great Falls on Thursday. The team was greeted with cold and windy weather on Friday for the first day of the meet – not too big of a surprise considering Great Falls regularly makes the list of "Top Windiest Cities In The US".
Action got underway at 10:30 AM, and continued through the afternoon. On Saturday, the weather was in the 60s and more pleasant.
Broadus athletes medaled in a total of seven events, with five individual placings and one relay. Zeason Schaffer won two individual medals; 6th in the long jump and 5th in the high jump. Jaxon Bilbrey placed 4th in the high jump, Thomas Oylear placed 2nd in the 1600 and 3200 and 5th in the 800. The boys 4x400 relay team, consisting of Eli Heacock, Jaxon Bilbrey, Thomas Oylear, and Matt Hansen, placed 6th as a team.
Broadus Head Coach Faith Dyrud indicated that it was a good meet for the team and they competed well, as a number of personal records were placed. Eli Heacock ran a 52.41 in the 400, which is a new school record.
"They worked hard and pushed themselves," Dyrud said of the Broadus tracksters. "You don't have PRs without hard work."
The records were not limited to Broadus, however, as other teams rose to the occasion. For example, in the boys 4x400 relay, each of the 20 teams had PRs at the meet.
The Broadus girls scored 3 points as a team, tying for 26th place out of 32 teams. Savage, Roberts, and Scobey took the first three team spots.
For the boys, out of 37 teams at the meet, Broadus scored 22 points as a team, placing 7th. Belt, Manhattan Christian, and Lustre Christian placed first through third.
Overall, the season went well considering the two cancelled meets and the number of cold, windy meets this spring, Faith indicated. One positive with the cool weather was that overheating was not a problem during the meets.
The end of the season brings an end to the high school careers of eight Hawk athletes. Four of those athletes – Jaxon Bilbrey, Eli Heacock, Matt Hansen, and Thomas Oylear, will go on to compete at the college level in track at Dickinson State and Black Hills State Universities.
The team next season is likely to be reduced in numbers compared to this year, but has a number of up and coming athletes that will look to make their mark in the annals of Broadus Hawk Track.
State Track Meet Results
Girls
800 meter
20th, Maddie Zimmer, 2L41.36
Long Jump
6th, Zeason Schaffer, 16-08.50, season record
High Jump
5th, Zeason Schaffer, 5.00.00
7th, Mia Mader, 5.00.00
Boys
400 meter
12th, Eli Heacock, 52.41, personal record, school record
800 meter
5th, Thomas Oylear, 2:00.35
8th, Eli Heacock, 2:03.98
1,600 meter
2nd, Thomas Oylear, 4:35.75
3,200 meter
2nd, Thomas Oylear, 9:57.39
4 x 400 relay
6th, Matt Hansen, Jaxon Bilbrey, Thomas Oylear, Eli Heacock, 3:32.68
110 meter hurdles
7th, Matt Hansen, 15.91
300 meter hurdles
14th, Matt Hansen, 43.96
Discus
21st, Landen Capp, 106.05
Long Jump
4th, Jaxon Bilbrey, 21-02.00, personal record
Triple Jump
9th, Jaxon Bilbrey, 40-06.25
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