Even the chilly conditions didn’t stop the Wellsville-Middletown track team from turning in a strong performance at the season-opening Van-Far Open Meet on March 18.

The Tigers had 10 first-place finishes from six different athletes at the six-team meet, which was held at the new all-weather track at Van-Far High School. They turned in the second-most first-place finishes in a meet that included Van-Far, Community R-6, Wright City, Missouri Military Academy and Clopton.

Now, W-M is hoping to continue that strong start for the rest of the season. The Tigers have nine returning athletes, two of them were on the awards podium at the 2023 Class 1 state meet.

Senior Bethany Slovensky and junior Gage Marshall are the Tigers’ returning all-state medalists. Last year, Slovensky finished second in the 100-meter hurdles and the long jump and came in fourth in the 300-meter hurdles, giving her a total of seven all-state medals. She finished with nine wins in the 100-meter hurdles, four in the 300-meter hurdles, two in the long jump and one in the triple jump. Marshall finished in a tie for eighth in the high jump for his first all-state award. He also won the event at the Class 1, District 2 championship meet and the Wright City JV Invitational.

Both Slovensky and Marshall turned in solid performances at the Van-Far meet. Slovensky, who plans to continue her track career at State Fair Community College next year, placed first in the 100-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles, long jump and triple jump. Marshall won the high jump, placed third in the javelin, finished fourth in the 300-meter hurdles and helped the 1,600-meter relay come in second.

Junior Jonah Slovensky, another state qualifier from last year, is back on the team. He qualified for state in the 4x100 in 2023. At Van-Far, he won the triple jump, finished third in the long jump and eighth in the javelin and was part of the 4x400 team that placed second.

Junior Cooper Henderson, who was a sectional qualifier in the 110-meter hurdles and 4x200 last year, won the 110-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles at the Van-Far meet.

Marshall, Henderson, Jonah Slovensky and sophomore Zackery Vogel are returning athletes from last year’s W-M boys squad that won its first district championship in program history last spring. The Tigers won the Class 1, District 2 championship at South Callaway.

Juniors Brennan Cash, Haskell Davis and Justin Beabout and freshman Shane Joles round out the boys roster. All of them play with the W-M baseball team.

Besides Bethany Slovensky, Meagan Cripe and Jenelle Boeckelman are the other seniors on the girls team. Cripe won the shot put and placed second in the discus at the Van-Far meet.

Junior Della Gosseen, sophomore Brooke Stroup and freshmen Elly Cash and Aubrey Harmon are the other members on the girls team. Cash won the 200-meter dash and Stroup came in seventh in both the discus and javelin at Van-Far.

The Tigers’ next meet will be the Centralia Invitational on March 28.