Hot Springs seniors shine at home meet
Devon White wins the 300 m hurdles at Hot Springs.
The Hot Springs track team has quite a few stars on the team and at a home meet last week many of those stars were finally given the opportunity to shine.
Unlike other meets in Missoula and Kalispell where the competition is tough with both Class A and B schools, the Dave Tripp Memorial only featured local teams and many of the hometown heroes shined on the day including several underclassmen.
The Hot Springs track team has quite a few stars on the team and at a home meet last week many of those stars were finally given the opportunity to shine.
Unlike other meets in Missoula and Kalispell where the competition is tough with both Class A and B schools, the Dave Tripp Memorial only featured local teams and many of the hometown heroes shined on the day including several underclassmen.
"It's just nice for those underclassmen to see some success at the smaller meets and get some points," said Hot Springs track coach Dustin Herbert.
Nine Hot Springs' tracksters placed at the meet helping the boys' team place third and the girls take home fourth place.
Reiley Winebrenner already near the Class C lead in 110 and 300 hurdles led the boys with two first place finishes in the hurdle races and placed second in the 400 and the discus.
"It's nice for Reiley to win both those hurdle races as a senior in his last meet," said Herbert.
One of the underclassmen that got a chance to grab some hardware at the meet was Wyatt Nagy who placed fourth in the 300 hurdles and sixth in the triple jump. As a freshman Nagy competes in five events and Coach Herbert thinks he could make it to the district championship in at least two of them.
"He'll be a pretty good athlete as he matures and his legs get stronger," said Herbert.
On the girls' side, Devon White placed first in two events and fellow seniors Randi Arnold and MacKenzie Wood also placed.
On Saturday it was a different story as the team traveled to Missoula for a highly competitive Seeley Invitational.
Despite the competition both White, Winebrenner and Arnold all still shined at the meet with White bringing home a first place medal in the triple jump with a leap of 33-4 and grabbing fifth place in the 300 hurdles prompting her coach to cite her competitive spirit as most impressive on Saturday.
"She's a girl that really thrives off that competition. In big meets she steps up," said Herbert.
Winebrenner placed second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 41.77. By the end of the year Winebrenner is hoping to get down to the low 40s or even to 39.
Arnold was the final Hot Springs trackster to place at the meet by placing fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 32-0.5.
This week Hot Springs will be traveling to Charlo on Thursday for a similar smaller meet like the one at Hot Springs. On Saturday they'll be traveling to Whitefish where they will see several Eastern teams from the Hi-Line. That meet will also have several bigger schools, but the meet will have a JV section allowing the underclassmen the opportunity to grab some hardware.