BUTTE — As the Class A state track and field meet begins Thursday in Laurel, the Butte Central Maroons will have the McGree family to contend for state titles in their respective events.
However, the Maroons have a big ace up their sleeve that has silently been putting in work to take home state titles of his own.
Junior Aaron Richards is coming off a first-place discuss performance at Saturday’s Western A divisional meet. He also placed sixth in the shot put, which makes him a contender to podium in both events at the state meet. The competition he’ll face as he joins throwers from the East is fierce, but Richards doesn’t feel any added pressure.
“There’s really good throwers in the East, it’s pretty loaded this year, especially — I do shot and shot is pretty loaded, disc is pretty loaded, too, so we’ll see how it goes, but I’m feeling pretty confident,” said Richards. “I think you got to focus a little bit more, but you just got to realize it’s another track meet. You can’t think about it too much. You just got to focus more, but don’t freak yourself out.”
