Alberton tracksters have high hopes

Slowly but surely the varsity sports program at Alberton High School, now in it’s second year of existence as a non-co-op team, is producing some quality athletes.

Track and field has two of them, one a junior and one a sophomore who the Panthers hope can bring some medal glory to the school and its fledgling athletic sports program.

Junior Colton Baughman, who has been sidelined and rehabbing a shoulder injury for several months, is hoping he can return to the form that led to an eighth place finish at last year’s State Class C championships.

Baughman burst onto the scene late in the season last year on his way to earning a trip to State. He made the most of the chance, throwing the javelin a personal best distance of 148-8, coming up just short of the medal stand.

In the meantime, with Baughman sidelined, sophomore Shea Fredette stepped in to the quarterback role left vacant by Baughman’s first game of the season injury. Fredette, a rangy, athletic 6-2 multiple sport standout, also was the leading scorer and rebounder on the Panthers’ basketball team.

Now he is hoping to surpass his freshman year in track last year when he also qualified for the state championships, where he set two personal best times. Fredette placed ninth in the 800 meter run at the state meet with a time of 2:11.13, and also recorded a personal best time in the 1600 meter run (4:58.58), which was good for 13th place in the state Class C ranks.

Alberton begins its 2024 Track and Field season this meet in Corvallis, where they are entered in the Blue Devil Invitational.