Bethany Slovensky’s sophomore season with the Wellsville-Middletown track team got off to a sizzling start, sweeping the hurdle events at the Montgomery County Early Invite on March 22.

Since then, things were golden for Slovensky. She went on to become the Tigers’ top performer, earning 12 first-place finishes and two all-state medals. She wrapped up her season by placing fifth in the 100-meter hurdles and eighth in the 300-meter hurdles at the Class 1 state track meet in Jefferson City.

“I thought I really excelled during the postseason,” Slovensky said. “That’s what you’re supposed to do. I did my season like how I was supposed to do and how I was trained to do.”

Slovensky was part of a W-M team that had five other athletes who competed at state. Seniors Isaac Seabaugh, Keaton Mayes and Layne Norris, junior Jacob Mandrell and freshman Hunter Bickell also were the W-M representatives in Jefferson City, but they didn’t place.

The Tigers had a total of 26 athletes – 19 boys and seven girls. Seabaugh, Mayes, Norris, Jason Hollensteiner and Lucas Peak will be the only athletes W-M lose to graduation.

Slovensky said she enjoyed working with her team for two months.

“I really love my team,” Slovensky said. “This is probably my favorite team so far. It’s been a joy to work with them every week.”

Besides the Montgomery County Early Invite, Slovensky also swept the hurdle events at the Wright City Invitational, the Glasgow Relays, the Louisiana Invitational and the District 2 championship meet. She also won an Eastern Missouri Conference title in the 100-meter hurdles.

Slovensky qualified for state in three events. She also competed in the 100-meter dash, but didn’t qualify out of preliminaries.

The sophomore said she enjoyed the experience of competing at state for the second year in a row. She received all-state notice in the 100-meter hurdles and triple jump in her freshman year.

“It's awesome watching the crowd cheer for you and everyone else beside me,” Slovensky said.

Mandrell had a strong season in the field events for the Tigers in the boys division, getting six first-place finishes, including four in the triple jump. He earned his first win in the varsity level on April 7 after coming out on top in the triple jump at the Eugene Invitational. Mandrell competed at state in the triple jump and the 110-meter hurdles.

Seabaugh, Mayes and Norris competed at state for the third time. Seabaugh won a district championship in the 800, Mayes ran a personal-best 2:12.10 in the 800 at sectionals to qualify for state and Norris ran a season-best 11:32.66 in his second-place finish in the 3,200 at the Montgomery County Early Invite.

The boys team accomplished a big feat at the district meet on May 7 at Glasgow. The Tigers finished second in the team standings at the meet, making it the first time in program history they earned a district plaque.