BOZEMAN — The third and final day of the USA Track and Field Region 11 Junior Olympic Championships highlighted some of the best athletes from Montana, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming.
Boys and girls age 7-18 competed for the right to advance to nationals. Among the many competing in the weekend-long event was Mountain West Track Club runner Jaden Foster, who picked up a win in the 17-18 boys 100-meter dash, clocking in at 11.18 seconds. Foster, who won the Class AA state 200- and 400-meter dashes in Kalispell in late May, talked about the difference between training for high school events and Junior Olympic events, and also how he feels confidence-wise now that the national events are in his sights.
“It’s really no difference,” said Foster. “Missoula Sentinel’s sprint coach is coaching for this club, Mountain West, as well, so it’s pretty similar. I’m training as hard as I can until then because I went there my freshman year and didn’t do very well, so hopefully this season I can do at least third or fourth place.”
Foster also won the meet’s 400, running a personal-best time of 48.98.
The Region 11 Championships was hosted by the Bozeman Track Club, which earned a title in the girls 9-10 800-meter run, as Lillian Bartholomew finished in 3 minutes, 3.09 seconds. Tessah Hamling (6:02.08) added a win in the 15-16 1,500-meter run, while Ethan Kimm, Quinn Clark and Garret Coley earned the Bozeman Track Club wins in the high jump, Kimm in the 9-10 division, Clark in 13-14 and Coley won the 15-16 division.
Kimm also won his division’s long jump title.
The Helena Novas continued the program’s successful run, winning 22 individual events. According to the club’s Facebook page, Nova athletes set four regional records: Kylie Hartnett’s 10:25 in the girls 15-16 3,000-meter run, Odessa Zentz’s 57.53 in the girls 15-16 400, Trey Tintinger’s jump of 6 feet, 8.75 inches in the 17-18 high jump, and Madilyn Todorovich’s clearance of 5-01 in the girls 13-14 high jump.
For full results from the meet, please click here.
