Area 1A athletes converged on S&S Consolidated High School’s track Wednesday to compete in the combined area/district meet for a chance to qualify for regionals on April 27-28 at Whitney High School.
The top four competitors from each event advanced with multiple athletes from Montague County one step closer to a state appearance.
Prairie Valley’s Molly Gilleland swept past the competition in the 200-meter dash with a time of 30.26 to take first place. Teammate Shelby Roof was right behind her in second with a time of 30.69.
For the boy’s 200-meter race, it was a Saint Jo athlete who beat out the competition for first place as Chance Bennet crossed the finish line with a time of 27.20.
Meanwhile, Saint Jo’s Paityn Holley blew past the other runners in the 800-meter with a time of 2:27.36 to solidify her place at the regional meet.
“Paityn’s race was huge on Wednesday. She has been working all season to break 2:30 so to finally break that and earn a area title was such a reward for all her hard work this season,” said Saint Jo Coach Taylor Klement. She’s been improving her time with each meet, so I’m excited to see her compete at regionals for a trip to Austin.” In the boys 800-meter run, Mark Gill will represent Bellevue after finishing fourth with a time of 2:22.65. In the 1,600, Prairie Valley’s Julian Rohde was the lone area athlete to advance with a second place finish and a time of 5:26.70.
However, in the 3,200-meter run, Bellevue’s Kaylee Trail (17:17.61) and Prairie Valley’s Julian Rohde (12:16.95) both earned third place.
Sky Embry (first), Alyssa Hennessey (second) and Bear Osteen (first) advance in the 100-meter dash.
For the relay teams, Prairie Valley girls will advance in the 4X100-meter relay with a third place finish, as will Bellevue who finished in fourth.
The Lady Eagles also will advance in the 4X200-meter relay with a second place finish, while Prairie Valley goes after earning third. The Saint Jo Lady Panthers finished second in the 4X400-meter relay for their chance to advance.
For the boys, Forestburg goes on to regionals with a third place finish in the 4X100-meter relay, while Prairie Valley (second) and Forestburg (third) earned a spot with their strong performances. Prairie Valley is the lone boy’s team to advance in the 4X400-meter relay.
Lady Horn Cayla Smelser hurdled her way to a first place finish with a time of 17.27 in the 100-meter division, while Saint Jo’s Emily Haney finished a close second and Zoe Berry, Bellevue, earned fourth.
Haney also will compete at regionals in the 300-meter hurdles after a second place finish with a time of 55.35. Prairie Valley’s Kaden Fleming (third) and Calvin Smith (fourth) advance from the district meet.
“The boys competed well. They have practiced hard all year in preparation for the Area Meet. Their hard work paid off by advancing eight of our athletes. We are going to continue working going into the regional meet next week,” said Prairie Valley Coach Zac Tabor.
Several athletes advance to regionals in field events, including Smelser, who earned first in long jump with a distance of 15-11 1/2. Saint Jo’s AlTrack
Continued From Page 1Byssa Hennessey finished second with a distance of 15 – 1 3/4. In the boy’s division, Anthony Roof, Prairie Valley, finished second (18-5 3/4) and Blake Allen, Gold-Burg (18-5 1/2) earned third. Forestburg’s Alexia Britain edged out the competition in girl’s shot put with a first place finish (34-6 1/2) ahead of Saint Jo’s Rachael Vogel in second (29-9). Lady Panther Hannah Reyling took third and Gold-Burg’s Kiley Jones took fourth.
“I am so excited that we had four kids qualify for regionals, which is half of our small team,” said Gold-Burg Coach Cheryl Cromleigh. “Our kids have a great chance at regionals, I am so thrilled for them.”
Area athletes also took the top three spots in boy’s shot put with a first place finish from Forestburg’s Zach Bradley (41 – 5 3/4), Gold-Burg’s Will Hamilton (39- 3 3/4) and Saint Jo’s Ethan Wagner (35- 7 3/4).
Britain will not only compete in shot put at regionals but will throw the discuss after earning second with a throw of 85 – 1 1/2. Gold-Burg’s Ashley Rainey will join her with a throw of 76- 6.
It was the Osteen brothers from Forestburg who led the competition in boy’s discuss, with a first place throw from Bear (129- 10 3/4) and Bannon (108 – 4 1/2). Their teammate Zach Bradley finished right behind them in third while Saint Jo’s Jose Gam advanced with the fourth place spot.
In triple jump, Prairie Valley’s Hailey Winkler goes after a third place finish with a 29’ – 9 1/2”.
FreeDom Morris, Bellevue, finished third for girls high jump and Prairie Valley’s Chase Edwards took first. In pole vault, Saint Jo’s Maddie Ogden (first) and Caitlyn Holley (second) will compete at regionals.
For boy’s pole vault, the cousin combo of Anthony Roof (first) and Lane Roof (second) beat out the competition. Saint Jo’s Hunter Garrett finished third.
“I was super proud of the way all of our athletes competed. We had several athletes earn personal bests in their events so to see that type of effort so late in the season is a big notion to how hard our kids work,” said Klement. “I expect the same type of work ethic next week at regionals. It’s a much bigger meet and the stakes are a bit higher but our kids are ready to go out there and compete for a chance to advance.”
Forestburg Coach Tommy Tritz also feels his school will be represented well at regionals with strong performances.
“We had a great area track meet. Our teams competed well and came away 4th in area for the boys and 5th for the girls. We had nine boys advance and two girls advance to the Regional meet next week in Whitney,” said Tritz. “Overall, Forestburg will be well represented in Regionals.”

For results, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.