Seeley-Swan High School Boys posing for photos after winning the Class C State Championship. Pictured (L-R): Walker McDonald, Sawyer Shelmerdine, Chase Haines, Owen Hoag, Klayton Kovatch, Seth Dunster and Coaches Mike Haines, Zelda Haines, David Cahoon and Kal Kovatch.
Seeley-Swan High School's Girls took third place at the State Class C Track Meet. Pictured (L-R): Sariah Maughan, Trista Alexander, Emily Maughan, Kyla Conley, Aubrey Matthew and coaches David Cahoon, Mike Haines, Zelda Haines and Kal Kovatch.
Walker McDonald prepares to release the discus during his state record-breaking throw.
Sariah Maughan heads into the final straightaway of the 400. While she had to settle for second place with a time of 57.59, she broke a 1985 Seeley-Swan High School record by 0.61 seconds.
Chase Haines leads the 110-meter Hurdles final.
Sawyer Shelmerdine runs in the 800-meter. He took third place with a time of 2:05.32.
Emily Maughan flies through the air in the Long Jump. She cleared 17 feet 5.5 inches for first place.
Owen Hoag rounds the corner of the 200-meter.
Top Left: Seth Dunster runs the second leg of the 4x400 relay. Top Right: Klayton Kovatch hands off to Owen Hoag in the 4x100 relay. Bottom Left: Aubrey Matthew heads out on the third leg of the 4x400-meter relay after receiving the baton from Kyla Conley. The pair was joined by Sariah Maughan and Emily Maughan and won the event finishing in 4:07, their best time of the season. Bottom Right: Trista Alexander hands off the baton to Kyla Conley after the first leg of the 4x100 relay.
GREAT FALLS – Seeley-Swan's Boys earned the top spot on the podium for the second time in the school's history at the State C Track Meet in Great Falls May 28. The Boys accumulated 84 points to beat out Manhattan Christian with 62.5 and third place Belt with 40 points. The Girls earned 52 points putting them in third behind Manhattan Christian with 65.5 and Plentywood with 74. Seniors Walker McDonald and Sariah Maughan both set new state records.
The last time the Seeley-Swan Boys won the gold was in 2000 at the State Class B meet where they tied with Plains.
Walker went big on his first throw of the Discus prelims throwing 174 feet 3 inches pushing his school record out more than 3 feet and breaking Mason Ophus's 2004 State record by nearly 2 feet.
Walker said statistically speaking, some of his first throws are his farthest. However, he was still in disbelief that he got the record on his first throw.
Coach Kal Kovatch said the State record was always in the back of their minds but their number one goal was to win State. He felt the pressure got the best of Walker at the Divisional Meet where he had to settle for second.
"You get to State on skill and you win State being mentally prepared," said Kal.
The Discus competition was in the afternoon on the second day of the meet. Walker took advantage of it. He said he was able to spend some time practicing on day one of the meet. He spent the day of the competition mentally preparing.
"I tried to take my mind off of everything and just relaxed all day," Walker said. "It paid off."
"Him having the State record and having a great meet, he deserves every bit of it," said Kal.
In addition to the Discus championship, Walker defended his Shot Put championship taking first place with a throw of 53 feet 11 inches.
Walker wasn't the only one bringing home gold for the Boys. Owen Hoag, Chase Haines and the 4x400 relay team were also champions.
Owen claimed the top spot in the 200 and 400-meter races with times of 22.57 and 50.58 respectively. Owen also earned points finishing in second place in the 100-meter with a time of 11.37 and set his personal record (PR) in the 100-meter prelims with a time of 11.32.
Chase claimed gold in the 110-meter Hurdles with a PR of 15.84 edging out his season's nemesis, Drummond's Samuel Bryant, by a mere .03 seconds.
Sawyer Shelmerdine earned points finishing third in the 800 with a time of 2:05.32 and fourth in the 400 with a PR of 53.06.
The Boys 4x400 relay team of Owen, Chase, Sawyer and Seth Dunster won with a time of 3:30.81. Their 4x100 relay team consisting of Owen, Chase, Sawyer and Klayton Kovatch earned third place while putting down their fastest time of the season, 44.54.
For the girls, Sariah shaved down her own Class C and school 800-meter record earning a gold and set a new school record in the 400-meter. She took second in the 400 and 1,600-meter.
This season, Sariah's goal in the 800-meter was to beat her mother Lisa Maughan's record of 2:09. She fell short of that but she was pleased to cut nearly a second off of her own 2021 State and school record. She finished in 2:13.89, nearly three seconds ahead of Class C's top distance runner, Belt's Lindsey Paulson, who swept the 1,600 and 3,200 this year.
Sariah broke another school record in the 400-meter. Her time of 57.59 seconds beat Amy Hahn's 1985 school record of 58.2 seconds.
Emily Maughan brought home the Girls' other individual gold, winning the Long Jump with a jump of 17 feet 5.5 inches.
The Girls 4x400 relay team of Sariah, Emily, Aubrey Mathew and Kyla Conley won first place finishing in 4:07, their fastest time of the season while the 4x100 relay team of Sariah, Emily, Kyla and Trista Alexander took third place.
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