Bryce Carver of Dillon sliced up the track at the 2009 State Class A and C Track Meet on Friday afternoon in Butte.

He placed third in the finals of the Class A boys 400 meters while also qualifying in 100, 200 and 400-meter relay.

Carver placed behind Seth Marshall of Laurel who ran a sizzling 48.56 which is less than a second off the State record of 47.9 set back in 1976.

"It's awesome running with Seth. He's only about a second off the State record. It's fun to race against those kind of guys," said Carver after his race.

Carver, a senior who is slated to play football for the Grizzlies in the fall, ran the final straightaway like a racehorse while picking off three or four struggling runners. Carver finished in 50.71. Carver's third place gave the Dillon boys their only points of the day.

Truly the best race in Class A for the boys took place in the 1,600-meters with Whitefish's Drew Coco.

Coco sat back in fifth place after the first lap. He seemed content to allow Polson's Colter Bull to manage the pace throughout the first two laps.

"It was a tactical race today," commented Coco after picking up his medal in the infield. Coco, who sports a white patch of hair on his right temple, said he was "assessing the field" from the onset. "I didn't want to go out too fast. The State Meet is nerve-wracking," he added.

Coco's 4:33.28 was three seconds off his best mark of the season. "I've been overworked the second half of the season. That may have slowed me down some," Coco remarked.

But Coco's finish in the 1,600 was a thing of beauty on Friday at Bulldog Memorial Stadium. At the half-mile mark he pulled up alongside Bull and then took over the lead on the back stretch. Coco's form was textbook as his long, loping strides outpaced the other runners easily with one lap to go.

By the finish Coco was easily 25 yards ahead of Shawn Whitman of Columbia Falls.

Coco joked about the white patch on his head saying he tells people who ask him about it that it's just "paint in my hair."

He plans on attending the United States Naval Academy next year and will run for the Midshipmen.

Coco's win helped propel the Bulldogs into a second-place finish after the first day of competition. Whitefish tallied 29 total points while the Corvallis boys hold onto first with 32 points.

Corvallis garnered first-places finishes from Dalton Sybrant in the shot put and Slater Powell in the 300 hurdles. The Corvallis boys also posted the fastest time of the day in the 400-meter relay preliminaries with a 42.74.

Joey Raymond of Anaconda placed second behind Sybrant in the shot put with his toss of 51 feet, 10 ½ inches.

On the girl's side Brianna Dudley of Butte Central claimed a fifth-place finish in the 800 meters. Her time of 2:21.58 was clearly her best effort of the season, a result of her hot first lap of 68 seconds.

"I was third after the first lap. My coach said I needed to be in the 60's after one lap, and I was at 68," said an elated Dudley after the race.

Her fast first lap, however, may have been one reason why Dudley was passed in the final lap. She began to labor and slipped to fifth in the final 300 meters allowing Jackie Elliot of Billings Central and Brook Rodgers of Lewistown to power by her in the final stages.

The Butte Central girls tallied four points on the day. The Belgrade girls lead with 46 points while Lewiston and Polson follow with 23 points apiece.

Competition resumes for Class A at 10:30 on Saturday morning with the finals of the 400-meter relay.