First meet sees three qualifiers

Saturday, the Hot Springs County High School Track and Field Team competed at the Yellowstone Sports Medicine Invite at Cody. The girls’ team placed seventh of nine with a team score of 42, while the boys placed sixth of eight, with 58.

On the girls’ side, Elizabeth Rhodes set a personal record in shot put, with a distance of 29’4.5”. She placed fifth in the event. Additionally, she placed fourth in discus with 87’5”.

Haley McDermott placed fifth in the high jump with a height of 4’5”, fourth in the 800 meters with a time 2:41.07, and hit a height of 6’6” in the pole vault. All three were personal records for McDermott.

McDermott and Rhodes both earned nine team points.

Makayla George won fourth place in the high jump with a height of 4’5”, and sixth in the triple jump with a distance of 30’1.25” Chandra Maddock won second in the 400 meters with a time of 66.69. Jules Ward won second in the 3,200 meters with 12:04.41. Ward’s time automatically qualifies her for state.

George, Maddock and Ward each earned eight team points.

As for the boys, the 4x100 relay team of Jacob Hart, Cody Bjorhus, Ethan Becher and Chandler Maddock automatically qualified for state, with a time of 46.83. The team placed third in the event.

Bjorhus also qualified for state with his 200 meters second place time of 23.73. Cullen Becher set a personal record with a 5:07.38 fifth place time in the 1,600 meters. Cameron Igou also hit a personal record, with 16’10.5” in the long jump.

Aaron Hanson placed seventh the 1,600 meters with a personal record of 5:13.19, and earned two team points.

Hart placed second in the 400 meters with 52.91, third in the 200 meters with 23.94 and seventh in the 100 meters with 12.36. He earned 17.5 team points.

Bjorhus placed third in the 100 meters with 11.91. He earned 15.5 team points.

Cullen Becher placed fourth in the 800 meters with 2:11.95. He earned nine team points.

Ethan Becher placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles with 47.92, and earned 6.5 team points.

Igou placed fourth in the triple jump with 35’7”, and earned five team points.

Maddock placed eighth in the 400 meters with 55.00, and earned 2.5 team points.

Coach Ernie Mecca said there were several members of the team who did not attend the meet for various reasons. He later added with three events scheduled over Spring Break, there could be a lack of students able to attend. Though the first practice is March 7, he said, realistically the first meet with the full team is the Roy Peck Invite at Riverton April 16.

Looking at the results from the Cody meet, Mecca said there were a lot of good students who previously did not have measurements of their abilities. He noted though the team is limited, they performed well against larger schools, and any day they can set personal records is a good day.

Something unique about 4x100 relay team, Mecca noted, is that there were two freshmen on it. The team may or may not be the primary this season.

From his perspective, Mecca said it was a good start to the season, with a couple state qualifiers and a good read of where students are.