Track season finally comes to Havre

Every single spring, there is one local track meet that stands above the others in terms of quantity of teams and athletes and that's the annual Cal Wearley track meet.

Normally, the meet, which is held every year at the Havre Middle School track, is held in the early part of April. However, this season, it had to be rescheduled twice due to weather and poor track conditions. Yet this Wednesday, the wait will finally be over as the 2018 Cal Wearley, will finally be held, and 34 teams from across the state will make the trip to Havre to attend. The meet is scheduled to start at 8 a.m.

Of course, North Star will be the host team once again for the meet and the Knights figure to have a lot of athletes competing. Some of the most notable athletes reside on the boys team as the likes of Dylan Miller, Devon Miller and Caden Rettig will lead the way for the Knights, under the direction of head coach Brian Campbell.

Dylan Miller is coming off an impressive performance in Choteau, where he won both the 100- and 200-meter dash. He also won the high jump, while his brother Devon Miller finished second in the 100, second in the discus and third in the javelin. The North Star girls also have a solid team led by throwers Janae West and Peytan King. West won javelin in Choteau. King on the other hand, was fifth in the discus and sixth in the javelin. Paij Peterson and Chelsea Donaldson are two others who should have a chance to get points for North Star.

In addition to North Star, two other teams from the 9C that should figure prominently at the meet are Chinook and Fort Benton. On the girls side, the Longhorns are the defending Class C state champions and they are loaded once again with standouts like Leah Gannon, Maddy Thompson, Aspen Giese, Abby Clark and many others. Thompson was an individual state champion a year ago, but broke her arm during basketball season. Yet, she appears to be 100 percent now as she won the 100-meter dash in Choteau in addition to winning the triple jump. Clark also won the 200 for Fort Benton, while Giese won the 400 and the 800.

Allie Wallace is another standout for Fort Benton and she finished in the top three in both the 100 and 300 hurdles. McKenzie Clark is another to watch out for, as is Cassie Nack and Nicole Axtman, who won both the triple jump and high jump in her last meet.

Fort Benton might be the best team in Class C again this season, but Chinook also has some talent, even if the Sugarbeeters girls don't have the depth of the Longhorns. Leading the way for the Beeters will be Megan Molyneaux, who finished second in the 100 and 200 at Choteau. She was a key performer last season for Chinook and looks on pace for another strong campaign in 2018. Kourtney Hanson is another Chinook athlete to watch, along with Raynee Hasler, who won the 3,200 in Choteau.

North Star, Chinook and Fort Benton will be three prominent teams at the meet, but there will be plenty of others from along the Hi-Line. For starters, both Havre teams will be in attendance, as well as the rest of the 9C such as Turner, Big Sandy, Chester-Joplin-Inverness, Box Elder and Hays-Lodge Pole. Some other local schools that will compete include Class B participants Harlem and Rocky Boy.

The action will get underway at 8 a.m. at the Havre Middle School track Wednesday. The meet will run all day with hundreds of athletes scheduled to be in attendance.