St. Regis misses first meet, will now have first go at Thompson Falls Invitational

With too many kids away for spring break, St. Regis ended up not attending the Jim Johnson Invitational last Wednesday in Missoula as was originally planned. Coach Maury Johnston said that rather they have added the Thompson Falls Invitational to their schedule for April 15 and that will be their first track meet of the season. The team has a small number of only five individuals. Johnston said that the challenges for the team remain the same.

"Our challenges remain the same with a small team and essentially no track to practice on," he said.

Despite having no track and few numbers, Johnston said that the group, which consists of Thomas Spencer, Juliana Spencer, James Jennings, Jeron Jennings and Zach Lott, are still continuing to work hard. He said that before the first meet they will just need to find some time out on a real track.

"The kids continue to work hard and we will just need to get some track time to work on time splits and pacing for the distance events," he said

Johnston is in his first year of coaching the team at the school and said that when the high school is small, and with two different sports to chose in the spring, it can be tough to get recruits. He said that for past few years, the numbers have typically been small.

"With a small school, you don't get the recruits and the kids that you got are the recruits," he said.

But Johnston feels that kids he's got are a "good group" and he feels he should be able to help them along.

Juliana made it to the state competition last year as a distance runner. Johnston feels that she, as well as other members of the team, will see success this season.

"My goal is to have as many kids as possible go to state," he said. "That's where I think we should be and three out of the five certainly should be there."