St. Regis Runner looking to break records

Juliana Spencer is looking to break her record from last year before the season is up

The weather was not cooperative this week and as a result of rain showers both of St. Regis track meets were cancelled. The meets scheduled were the Charlo Invitational and the Superior Invitational. The Superior Invitational has been rescheduled for Thursday, May at 2 p.m. in Superior.

Runner Jeron Jennings will be out for the next few weeks according to Coach Maury Johnston with a foot injury, but other than the small setback, he said the rest of the team continues to work hard. Johnston said that the meet at Seeley on May 8 will be a good indicator of where the team stands for moving into district competition.

"We are continuing to focus on training hard and working towards peaking at the right time. A good indicator of where we are at should be the Seeley meet at Big Sky on Saturday," Johnston said. "I absolutely feel that we are in great shape and ready for our events."

Distance runner Juliana Spencer has been having good times in her two events the 1,600 and the 3,200. Johnston said her times are already as fast as they were when she ran the events at state last year.

In the 1,600, at Plains, she finished with a time of 6:21, well enough for fifth place. However, at Hot Springs, ran with a time of 6:06.54 for second place. In the 3,200 at Hot Springs, Spencer took first place with a time of 13:34.38 and before that had a faster time in Plains with a time of 13:20.06.

"She has an excellent chance at placing in both events this year at state," Johnston said. "She works really hard, is very committed and is naturally talented in the distance events. She'll continue to lower her own school records and her goal should be to win at state in the future."

Johnston said that Spencer should break her school records from last year: in 1,600 a time of 5:46 and in the 3,200, a time of 12:42. In the meantime, he feels that she has a very good chance of winning both events at districts in Polson on May 13.

In the realm of the high jump, Juliana's brother Thomas cleared 5' 8" in Hot Springs. Johnston said however that he has cleared 5' 10" in practice. Although Spencer started the season as a long distance runner and continues to compete well in those events, Johnston also believes that he has the potential to do well at districts.

"Thomas has the potential to win the high jump at districts if he can clear the heights he has in practice," Johnston said. "The two mile is usually an event that is wide open for anyone and I have told the kids that if they want to move on to divisionals they just need to want it bad enough. We are all in good shape."

Johnston believes that the Superior meet will be fundamental as they move into the season's end.

"Our focus all year has been on peaking at the right times and that is for the big meets at the end of the season that matter the most. The Superior meet will help to gain more experience," Johnston said. "As a small team we concentrate on individual goals that we set for ourselves and support one another during our events."