Libby, Troy track and field athletes headed to state
Here are the Class A state qualifiers from Libby who will compete in this weekend's track and field championships, Rylee Boltz, Cy Stevenson, Aurora Smith, Gaige Bache, Tristan Andersen, Gabe Hollingsworth, Mauro Vazquez-Otero, Bergen Fortner and Greysen Thompson. (Scott Shindledecker/The Western News)
Troy's Kempton Sloan is competing in the high jump at the Montana Class B Track and Field Championships this weekend in Butte. (Scott Shindledecker/The Western News)
Troy's Nolan Morris. (Scott Shindledecker/The Western News)
A dozen athletes from south Lincoln County will set foot on the big stages for the Montana High School Association Track and Field Championships.
Competition begins Friday and ends Saturday.
The Libby Loggers are sending nine competitors to the Laurel Sports Complex for the Class A event. Six are boys and three are girls.
Freshmen Tristan Andersen is competing in three events. He is seeded ninth in the javelin with a season-best throw of 160 feet, 1 inch. In the high jump, he’s ninth with a top jump of 6 feet. In the long jump, his top leap of 20 feet, 1 1/2 inches has him seeded 15th.
In the triple jump, junior Greysen Thompson is seeded 15th in the triple jump with a top leap of 39 feet, 10 3/4 inches.
For Mauro Vazquez-Otero, he’s seeded 21st in the 100-meter dash in 11.49 seconds.
The Loggers have two shot putters competing. Senior Cy Stevenson has the third-best throw in Class A with a heave of 53 feet, 2 1/2 inches. Junior teammate Gaige Bache’s top put of 43 feet has him seeded 16th.
Senior Gabe Hollingsworth is competing in the pole vault. His season-best of 11 feet has him seeded 14th.
For the girls, senior Aurora Smith is seeded 10th in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 48.91 seconds. She’ll run in the first section. In the 100-meter hurdles, Smith is seeded 12th with a time of 17.38 seconds.
Senior Rylee Boltz looks to be in the hunt for a state title in the high jump. She is seeded second with a season-best jump of 5 feet, 2 inches. Boltz is also competing in the 400-meter run with a top time of 1:00.46, good for the ninth seed.
Bergen Fortner, a sophomore, is competing in four events.
She is seeded 20th and will run in the second section of the 300 hurdles. Her best time was 51.18 seconds. Fortner is also competing in the triple jump. She has the 15th best distance in the field at 32 feet, 8 inches. Fortner is in the long jump and seeded 18th. Her best leap is 15 feet 4 inches. In the 100-meter hurdles, Fortner is seeded 13th with a time of 17.55 seconds.
All nine had top 10 finishes or better in last weekend’s divisional.
For the Troy Trojans, they have three state qualifiers for the Class B Championships in Butte.
For the girls, freshman Jaylee Meyers is seeded 19th in the 3,200-meter run with a season-best time of 13:30.24.
The boys squad has two qualifiers. Freshman Nolan Morris is seeded 15th in the 1,600-meter run with a season-best time of 4:49.02. Sophomore high jumper Kempton Sloan is seeded 17th with a top height of 5 feet, 6 inches.
