Personal bests pile up in Sundance

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
Though track practice began early in March, the Dogies went to Sundance last Friday for their fifth, and final regular season meet of the season, and according to head coach Chad Ostenson, it was the best weather they’d had all season as well. There were no more pre-qualifiers for the state meet, however several athletes took advantage of the environmental conditions to put forth their best efforts to achieve season or career best performances on the day.
“The kids really did pretty well,” Ostenson began. “There wasn’t a lot of wind and it wasn’t terribly cold, so it was nice that they had a decent day for their last meet.”
Sophomore Dylan Drost seems to be hitting his stride given that for the second week in a row, he posted personal best times in his events. In the 100, 200 and 400 Meter races, Drost finished seventh, ninth and seventh with times of 12.32, 25.20 and 58.51 respectively.
Conrad Prell and Peyton Purviance also PR’d in their individual events which included the 1600 and 3200 Meter runs. Each finished fourth and sixth in both
races while setting their career best times.
Like his brother, Zach Purviance had a good day as well, shaving off quite a lot of time in the 800 Meter race where he finished second with a PR of 2:11.86. Gunner Ramsey took flight, winning the high jump with a PR of 5-10 in that event.
Sawyer Roberson had a season best performance in the Shot Put, throwing a distance of 39-07.25 for a 10th-place finish, while Braden Jenkins was the top Dogie finisher in the Discus tossing a PR of 85-01.
Cade Ostenson’s day was cut short after his first attempt at the long jump. The senior won the event with that one jump, however he tweaked his hamstring on the second attempt which sidelined him for the remainder of the day.
“It wasn’t good, so we held him out of everything else,” coach Ostenson began. “He won’t run at Regionals this week either because he’s already qualified in everything. He’s hitting therapy pretty hard, and holding him out of competition this week will give him extra time to heal. Hopefully, he’ll be ready to be back at it by the state meet.”
Like their counterparts, the Lady Dogies had several good performances throughout the day. Avery Alishouse won the Long Jump with a personal best leap of 14-10, and was second in the Triple Jump soaring 30-02.50. Hailey McGuire was the top Lady Dogie finisher for the second week in a row. She finished sixth in the 100 Meter Dash with a PR of 14.11, eighth in the 200 Meter and fourth in the mile. Lauren Steveson launched the shot put 30 feet, nine inches, giving her a fifth-place finish and a personal best as well.
With the regular season in the books, the Dogies are looking forward to the Regional meet this Friday and Saturday in Burns.
“We didn’t get any more qualifiers this week, but we’re young,” Ostenson stated. “I think in another year that will change, and we saw the kids improve across the board week after week this season, so that’s awesome.”
Ostenson went on to state that he feels good about the chances of qualifying a few more for State this weekend, as the top eight in each individual event and the top four in the relays will all advance regardless of their times or distances/heights.
“I think we will have quite a few distance kids get qualified from looking at the numbers in the 3A East,” Ostenson predicted. “We should also have a couple of relays who are right there, because our times fit right in the middle of the pack, so I’m hoping to get another six to eight kids qualified. I hope the weather holds, but we are kind of used to it by now, and it will be the same for everyone so we will all be in the same boat.”