For the second year in a row, the Wellsville-Middletown track team had three athletes make trips to the awards podium at the Class 1 state meet.

Senior Bethany Slovensky and juniors Cooper Henderson and Gage Marshall earned all-state medals for the Tigers at the Class 1 state meet, which was held on May 17-18 at Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City. Slovensky finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles, fifth in the long jump and sixth in the 300-meter hurdles, Henderson came in sixth in the 110-meter hurdles and Marshall placed seventh in the high jump.

“That’s awesome,” Marshall said. “With a little school like this, what more can you ask for?”

Two other W-M athletes competed at state, but didn’t place. Freshman Elly Cash ran 13.21 seconds in the preliminaries of the 100-meter dash, breaking a school record that was set by Elizabeth Bohl in 2003. Junior Jonah Slovensky, who made his second state appearance, finished 16th in the triple jump in 36-8.25.

Bethany Slovensky wrapped up her high school track career with 10 all-state medals. It’s also the second year in a row she earned all-state honors in three events. Slovensky made her fourth and final appearance at Jefferson City.

Slovensky earned an all-state medal in the long jump for the second straight year after finishing with a 16 feet, 3.75 inches on May 17. A year ago, she placed second in the event.

The senior picked up her all-state medals in both hurdle events on May 18. She ran 16.20 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles and 48.70 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles. She finished with her fourth all-state medal in the 100-meter hurdles and her third in the 300-meter hurdles.

Slovensky qualified for finals in the 100-meter hurdles by finishing second in her heat with a time of 16.17 seconds in the preliminaries on May 17. She placed third in her heat in 48.81 seconds in the preliminaries of the 300-meter hurdles to advance to finals.

Slovensky also competed in the triple jump on May 18, but didn’t place. She earned all-state honors in that event in her freshman year.

“(Saturday wasn’t my best, but it was really about coming here and competing and that’s what I did,” Slovensky said. “I made it to the podium three different times and that’s important.”

Henderson, who made his first state meet appearance, finished in 16.60 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles on May 18. The previous day, he ran a personal-best 15.94 seconds in the preliminaries of the event to qualify for finals.

“It felt pretty good,” Henderson said. “When I looked up at the board and saw that I ran a 15.94, I was ecstatic about it. I PR’ed by quite a bit.”
Henderson also competed in the high jump on Saturday, but didn’t get a medal.

Marshall received all-state honors in the high jump for the second year in a row after jumping six feet, one-half inch. Last year, he finished in a tie for eighth.

The junior cleared 5-10.5 in his third attempt after missing the first two. He cleared 6-0.5 in his first attempt to clinch a berth to the state podium.