Wemple adds to long jump record

Matt Unrau

Mineral Independent

After breaking the long jump school record last week at Districts James Wemple is now on the path to completely destroy it.

For the second consecutive week the senior jumper leapt over 21 feet and this time he set a new divisional meet record by jumping 21 feet 8 3/4 inches.

Finishing the season strong and setting new records is even more special for Wemple this year as he was suspended from the team last year after he got an M.I.P.

“I feel really, really good. It’s really important that I was able to come back and excel,” says Wemple. Although it’s special for him, Wemple originally had hoped for more this season. Because, was not able to train last year he basically had to relearn a lot of the technique.

Wemple feels that if he had been training throughout he could be now jumping at 22 feet. His goal for the state meet next week is 22 feet and 5 inches.

Wemple is inching ever closer to the all-time class C state record set by Tyler Bucklin of Outlook in 1995 with a jump of 22 feet 5 1/2 inches.

Alberton as a team will be taking six tracksters to the state meet, four girls and two boys. “They did really well. I was impressed by some of their marks,” said track coach Rachael Clevenger.

The four girls heading to state are part of the short relay team, which took fifth at the meet. It was their best time of the year. They set their time of 53.88 seconds behind a heroic performance by Jenna Rausch who ran in the relay despite having mono.

Blaine Myrstrol also set a new personal record in the 100 M dash with a time of 11.71 seconds. It was good enough for fourth place in the event. Myrstrol also placed second in the 200 with a time of 23.55 seconds.

At the state meet Coach Clevenger hopes to see all of her athletes make it to finals along with Wemple winning the long jump and placing in triple jump.

The Alberton girls finished the day with eight points, while the boys counterparts finished with 28 points.

The St. Regis track team also finished with eight points and features two girls heading to the state meet. Juliana Spencer placed fourth in the mile and two mile races, while teammate Jessica Taylor placed sixth in the shot put.

The team will head to the state meet in Kalispell on Friday. The state meet will start in the morning and go two days ending on early Saturday afternoon.

Field events start at 9 a.m. on Friday and running events kick off at 10:30 a.m. on the same day.