Man, sounds like a headline from my days in high school. Sad to say; but, I can actually remeber racing on cinders. In fact, I can remember racing on a dirt (yes dirt) track at an indoor meet in Brick Breedan Field House at MSU in 1980 (but, that's a whole other story).
With weather, spring breaks and the Easter holiday, it's been a slow start to the HS track season. And, in general, the early season performances have been a bit sluggish as well. But, as with all things, there have a been some exceptions.
Although I'm a distance guy at heart, I also have a real affection for the throws. Don't know why - but I really get a kick out of seeing guys like Lars Reidl, Lance Deal, Virgiligus Alekna and Jan Zelezny tossing their implements. So it's been a real pleasure to watch Corvallis' Dalton Sybrant throw the discus and put the shot the last couple of years. At Friday's Florence Invitational, he had a big day, throwing the discus a whopping 180' 9" (winning by over 20'). If he can add a few feet and pull off that kind of throw at the state meet, he could find his way into the all time top 10 performances in Montana.
But, as expected, we need to get back to the distances. The heat of the week came on the girls side as some of the fall XC competition has carried into the spring. In Billings on Friday, the Aragon sisters of Billigns Senior, Kelli Dennehy of Butte, and Nicole Reitz of Billings West ran more like it was the end of May than early April.
In the 800, Reitz, Dennehy and Dani Aragon had a wire to wire battle finishing in 2:18.58, 2:19.01 and 2:19.91 respectively.
The 1600 was no different, although the cast of characters changed slightly. This time the battle was between Dennehy and Alexa Aragon (both being juniors, we get an entire 'nother year of watching these two) with Dennehy eking out the win, 5:07.08 to 5:07.25. Could Heidi Lane's state record be in jeopardy????
Alexa A got a win in the 3,200 at 12:24. The time could potentially have been quicker; but, she also had to anchor the leg of Senior's win in the 4 X 400 and get a second place finish in the pole vault (10' 1"). [Given the fact that Alexa is also a state champion level gymnast, it's possible that she may be the most althetically talented athlete (boy or girl) in the state right now.]
Looking forward to some big stuff from the youngsters over the next couple of months. If you get the chance to stop by a local HS meet in the near future, I would encourage you to do so. It's some great, low cost weekend entertainment.
The Muddy Buzzard
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