Spring is back, so is the Cal Wearley Meet

There are a lot of big sporting events in Havre every year, and one of them is the annual Cal Wearley Invitational track meet — which is also the first meet held each spring at the Havre Middle School Track.

And once again, the Cal Wearley meet, which gets underway at 8 a.m. Wednesday in Havre, should be an exciting and highly competitive meet. The Cal Wearley always brings in some great teams from around the area, and this year’s meet should be no different, as all of the District 9C teams will be joined by the likes of Havre High, Malta and many top teams from the Northern B and Northern C.

Of course, the meet is also an outstanding showcase for the local Class C teams, many of which will be making their season debuts. And it should be another year of excellent track and field action on the Hi-Line. On the boys side, two of the more accomplished tracksters returning are Shane Ketchum of Box Elder and Justin May of Chester-Joplin-Inverness. Ketchum competes in the 800-meter run, the 1,600 and the 3,200. Last year at the Class C state meet, he finished third in the 3,200.

May, who along with Ketchum is a three-sport athlete, excels in a number of different events, but placed at state in the javelin last year. One team that didn’t have anyone place at state, but still enjoyed a lot of team success last season was the North Star Knights, who won the 2015 District 9C meet.

The Knights, who have been one of the more consistent programs in the 9C under the direction of head coach Brian Campbell, have a number of solid athletes coming back such as Payton Peterson, who won divisional crowns in the pole vault and the high jump last season. The Knights also have Matthew Helmbrecht and Gavin Spinler.

In addition to North Star, another top team in the district is Chinook. The Sugarbeeters have a deep pool of athletes and should be able to compete with anyone in the district behind strong relay teams and individuals such as Kyler Johnson.

The other teams that compete in the 9C are Turner, Fort Benton, Big Sandy and Hays-Lodge Pole. Tyson Shambo is one of the top athletes from HLP, while Eddie Harmon is one of the top returners for Turner.

On the girls side of things, both Chinook and North Star sustained some big losses to graduation. Brittney Nelson is gone, as is Kailey Kleinjan for Chinook, but Abbie Ellison, Taylor Neibauer and Kelsey Mathon are three of the Beeters’ top returners and all should make big contributions this year.

Fort Benton had a strong track season a year ago and despite losing a number of athletes, the Longhorns should once again, be very competitive. Turner also has some good athletes to boast about, including Ella Billmayer. HLP, CJI and Big Sandy are the other teams that will be competing in the 9C.

The 2016 Cal Wearley Invitational will get underway at 8 a.m. Wednesday. The meet starts a big week of track and field at the Havre Middle School Track, as the Havre Blue Ponies will also host the Havre Lions Invite Saturday.