By Rob Everingham
HELENA The nine-man Chinook track team had a good weekend at the Class B state track meet in Helena, but not quite good enough.
The competition was very tough at the state meet, said head track and field coach Don Olsen, with some of the best athletes in the state competing.
On the boys side, Mason Roseberry ran his fastest recorded time this year in the 800 meters, but came up short and did not qualify for the finals.
The boys' 1600 relay team came in on fire and, after not expecting to make the finals, they finished third in their preliminary race. In the finals, the Beeters were just edged out of the top six and took seventh in a very closely contested race.
For the Chinook girls, Caroline Moores ran in the 100 but failed to make the finals. Lindsey Buhmann ran well in the 400 and qualified for the finals on Saturday. She finished at eighth place in the state.
Erin Acra was also at state for the girls and ran in both the 1600 and 3200.
The girls 1600 relay team was fouled and tripped-up in the final. They were allowed to re-run the race 15 minutes after the entire meet was over and, competing only against the clock, did not fair well.
However, Olsen said he was very pleased with how his athletes performed at state.
To finish in the top 10 is significant, Olsen said.
After the girls' 1600 relay, Olsen said it is very tough to ask any relay team to run the same race twice in one day and the fact that it was against the clock was another factor.
Chinook returns a majority of their athletes from this year's squad and Olsen said the future looks very bright.
They need to pat themselves on the back and be proud of what they accomplished," Olsen said.
