St. Regis track returns core athletes
Junior Brooke Filek, shown here in a file photo from last season, qualified for the Divisional tournament last year and is among those expected to have solid seasons for the St. Regis track team this year. (Chuck Bandel/MI-VP)
Small but mighty.
“That’s how we roll,” said St. Regis head track and field coach Jesse Allan with a smile as he describes this year’s Tigers team.
St. Regis had single digit numbers in terms of turnout last season, and it appears the same is true for this year’s Tigers. Fortunately, all of those back for this year were also out last year on a team that had no seniors.
That pattern has repeated itself this year as the team is again without a senior in the lineup.
Heading the list of returnees is sophomore Ayden Rael, who had a solid year as a freshman, posting divisional qualifying marks int the 100 meters, 200 meters and triple jump. Rael is also the team’s leading long jumper as the 2023 season opener, the Dave Tripp Memorial Invitational in Polson this Friday approaches.
The girls team is led by junior Brooke Filek, who was as a 2022 divisional qualifier in the shot put event.
Sophomore Kaleb Park is also among the short but solid list of divisional qualifiers out again this year, having made the grade last season in the high jump.
Allan also points to a pair of freshman girls, Jamie Kearbey and Lily Sansom as returnees who had promising years as eighth graders.
“The two incoming freshmen ladies did very well as eighth graders last year, so we are excited to see them compete at the high school level”, Allan said. “We are young, but it’s always fun to watch these young kids improve and achieve new personal records at each meet”.
The Tigers jump into the fray in a major way this weekend, with an appearance in the Frenchtown Invitational on the schedule for this Saturday, a day after they compete in the Dave Tripp event in Polson.