Plains does well at state track meet
PLAINS ATHLETE Sinjin LeDeaux competes for the Horsemen in the high jump at the State Track Meet in Laurel Saturday. (Kylie Richter/Clark Fork Valley Press)
THE PLAINS High School track state-qualifiers pose prior to competing in the Class A & C state track meet Friday and Saturday at the Laurel Sports Complex in Laurel High School. (from left): Rusty Stuart, Jessica Thompson, Kara Altmiller, Hailey Coe, and Sinjin LeDeaux. (photo courtesy of Denise Montgomery)
Plains High School track and field continued its tradition of excellence in spite of having only five qualify for the Class-C state track meet held Thursday through Saturday at Laurel Sports Complex at Laurel High School.
Jessica Thompson was the team’s highest achiever, following in the foot steps of her sister Leah Thompson who is now with Brigham Young’s track team, and brought home some hardware of her own. Thompson captured two first-place finishes in the shot put and discus at state with a discus throw of 124 feet, 11 inches and a shot put throw of 38 feet, 6.50 inches.
Trotters, Horsemen coach Denise Montgomery said she had a feeling Thompson would be in the mix for state gold.
“We knew Jess would be solid,” Thompson said. “And she hit a home run.”
Montgomery had four other participants that qualified for state including Kara Altmiller (discus, shot), Rusty Stuart (shot put), Sinjin LaDeaux (boys triple jump), and Hailey Coe didn’t place in qualifying for her first-ever state competition.
Altmiller placed 9th in discus by recording a throw of 106 feet, 2 inches and 19th in shot put with a throw of 29 feet, 11 inches.
Stuart placed 13th in shot put recording a throw of 13 feet, 9.50 inches. Sinjin LaDeaux finished 13th in triple jump and high jump. In triple jump, he recorded a jump of 39 feet, 6.75 inches and 5 feet, 8 inches in the finals of the high jump.
“I think the meet went pretty well because we scored some PRs and had some good performances,” Montgomery said. “The kids were upbeat and really tried hard to do their best. You can’t ask anything more from them as a coach and they all did well at the last meet of the season.”
Montgomery said she felt her Trotters, Horsemen team prepared for the state meet “well” given the fact several of them had their first experience at state.
“On our way down, we traveled and watched a couple of movies,” Montgomery said. “We had good weather for our meet and the state meet was well run.”
Montgomery said she is “excited” for the future of her team.
“I am optimistic but I don’t know if our development is going to be that fast,” Montgomery admitted. “We might have to be patient because we need the numbers out to be able to score the team points in track that we need. It was a really fun season watching our kids have fun and being able to compete.”
Montgomery said she hopes that more members will come out for track next season.
“We are hoping that we can get more boys out for relays next year,” Montgomery said. “We just need to have a more balanced team. Last year was an exception when we won the state title and we really need to have people be at the top of their game. We need to have more kids out. I am encouraged and excited to go do it all over again. Being at state was a real honor and I want to be able to give that to the kids.”