29 turn out for track team

A talented group of returning athletes will lead the way for the 2018 Whitehall High School Track team.

According to head coach Dan Lacey, the Trojans not only have multiple returning state competitors, they also return many athletes who were very close to qualifying last season.

"On the boys side, Max Feight and Wyatt Alexander lead the way in the hurdles and sprinting events respectively, while Cade Briggs and Braden Smith both anchor the jumping events. Smith also posted impressive marks in the javelin. Dawson Hoerauf is also our top thrower returning from last year's team. Steven Japhet is also a returning sprinter that has shown great strides in early practices," Lacey said.

The Whitehall boys squad will also have some strong newcomers this season. Lacey said Justin Gipson, Tegan Robbins, and Dylan Smith will be ones to watch for the Trojans.

Looking at the girls squad, Lacey said Asha Noyes leads the way in the jumping events, and multiple newcomers will help to increase their female athlete field.

"We have three throwers with varsity experience coming back from last year -- Alexys Mercer, Stephanie Strong, and Hannah Tebay. Some newcomers to watch for this year would be Madison Loomis who is coming back from an injury last season, Katie Whitehurst in both sprinting and jumping events, and Hope Slater in the distance events. She came up just short from qualifying for state last year in Thompson Falls. Others newcomers this year are Ashlynn Ellison, Violet and Hope Shockley, and Kendra Klapan who have also all been working hard and will be fun to watch as the year goes on," Lacey said.

Whitehall will open their season April 7 in Belgrade, and after several weeks of practice Lacey is pleased with the team. He also praised all those who have helped the squad.

"We had a lot of help from our maintenance staff as well as administration, coaches, and athletes to get the facilities ready. They were in really bad shape so it took a few days to get the track serviceable," he said.

A total of 29 have come out for the team this season.

" One thing I really enjoy about track it is an individualized team sport. You really get out what you put in and your biggest competitor is yourself. Each athlete has individual goals and our overall goal is to see progress in all our athletes week by week," he said.

With a tough field of 5B teams scheduled for the Belgrade meet, Lacey said it will be great to see where they stack up.