Bethany Slovensky didn’t show any signs of slowing down when she was competing at the Eastern Missouri Conference meet on April 25 at Montgomery County High School.

Competing in her second meet in three days, the Wellsville-Middletown senior turned in a strong performance under chilly and cloudy conditions in her final EMO meet, winning two events and placing second in two events and earning the conference’s Outstanding Female Hurdler of the Year award.

Slovensky placed first in the 100-meter hurdles and triple jump and finished second in the long jump and 300-meter hurdles. She tied a personal-best time of 16.06 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles and jumped a personal-best 34 feet, 0.75 inches in the triple jump, giving her a total of five first-place finishes in her four years competing at the conference meet. Slovensky won the EMO title in the 100-meter hurdles all four years.

“I was really nervous coming into today because I didn’t know how the weather would be,” Slovensky said. “I wasn’t too happy with my last performance in the 100-meter hurdles. I was really nervous. Today, it was kind of cold. But everyone has the same weather and everyone has these conditions. I just went out there and gave it my best.”

Slovensky finished in 50.39 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles and jumped 16-1 in the long jump at the EMO meet.

Two days before, Slovensky finished in the top four in four events at the Cunningham Invitational in Louisiana, placing first in the 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles, second in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump.

Slovensky said she felt ready to perform at the EMO meet despite having just one day of rest.

“Having those two meets in three meets didn’t bother me at all,” Slovensky said. “I was doing great today.”

Also, senior Meagan Cripe earned her first all-conference award in track after placing second in the shot put in 29 feet, 8 inches. She also finished sixth in the discus.

The Tigers also got a fourth-place finish from junior Cooper Henderson in the 110-meter hurdles, fifth-place efforts from freshman Elly Cash (200), juniors Gage Marshall (high jump) and Jonah Slovensky (triple jump), the girls 4x800 of Cash, Jenelle Boeckelman, Aubrey Harmon, Della Gosseen and the boys 4x800 of Marshall, Zachary Vogel, Shane Joles and Jonah Slovensky and a sixth-place performance from Henderson in the high jump.

W-M finished eighth in the girls division with 57 points and ninth in the boys division with 25.

In her victory in the 100-meter hurdles, Slovensky equaled her time from last year’s Class 1 state meet, where she finished second. She broke her own school record in the triple jump. Slovensky placed second to Wright City’s Elizabeth Riggs in the 300-meter hurdles and Mark Twain’s Ella Moss in the long jump.

Slovensky has a total of 15 medals in EMO competition. She said she enjoys competing against the big schools such as Montgomery County, Bowling Green and Wright City every year.

“Our conference is very good,” Slovensky said. “To see myself do well in the conference, it means that I’m up there with everyone else.”

Now, Slovensky will be preparing for the Class 1, District 2 championship meet at New Haven on May 4. Slovensky has seven first-place finishes in district competition in her high school track career.

“I’m super excited for districts because I get to compete against Class 1 schools that I haven’t really got to this year because we compete against a lot bigger schools, which is good for the competition,” Slovensky said.

Slovensky has 16 first-place finishes this season. She started her senior year with four first-place finishes at a meet in Van-Far on March 18.

“My jumps were great,” Slovensky said. “My times were a good starting point for the year. That first meet kind of made the whole season for me.”