So far, Bethany Slovensky is enjoying an outstanding athletic season at Wellsville-Middletown High School that includes a trip to the cross country meet and all-Eastern Missouri Conference and all-district awards in basketball.

This spring, Slovensky is hoping to continue her successful junior year at W-M by going to the state track meet for the third year in a row. She has four all-state medals.

“In the beginning of cross country season, I was ready for track,” Slovensky said. “The days could not go by any slower. I just want track season. My whole motivation through cross country and basketball was to get here and I’m happy for it.”

Slovensky had reason to celebrate in the Tigers’ season opener at the Montgomery County Early Invite on March 21. She won three events – the triple jump, 100-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles. Slovensky was the only W-M athlete to get medals at the 14-team meet.

“I’m glad it happened because I was kind of scared,” Slovensky said. “We haven’t had many good days to practice. I went over hurdles only three times this season. I was kind of skeptical about it, but it ended up very well with some really good times.”

Slovensky finished with a school-record 32 feet, 8.25 inches in the triple jump, breaking her own mark of 32-5.25 that was set in her eighth-place finish at the Class 1 state meet in her freshman year. It was also Slovensky’s first victory in the triple jump.

“Having that good jump was really exciting,” said Slovensky, who placed second in the triple jump five times.

Slovensky finished in 16.90 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles and 53.15 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles. It’s the second year in a row the junior swept the hurdle events at the Montgomery County Early Invite.

Slovensky now has 26 first-place finishes in the hurdle events. She won the 100-meter hurdles at the Centralia Open on March 30.

“The hurdles are like my main thing,” Slovensky said.

Slovensky earned all-state medals in the hurdle events in last year’s Class 1 state meet, placing fifth in the 100-meter hurdles and eighth in the 300-meter hurdles. She also had a third-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles in her freshman year.

Slovensky also competes in the long jump. She finished with a season-best 15-0.25 in her sixth-place finish at the Centralia Open.

Last fall, Slovensky made her second appearance at the Class 1 state cross country meet. This winter, she was named on the all-conference and all-district teams in basketball after helping the Tigers finish 16-11, their first winning season in many years.

This year, Slovensky is leading a W-M girls track team that has just eight athletes. The junior believes her squad will turn in a strong season.

“We just have to keep the motivation up,” Slovensky said. “I have a whole team of girls out here. I don’t get to see them very much because of my events, but I’m sure they all are doing good.”