County athletes earn state bids

Call them Sanders County’s fantastic four of track and field, and they have already clinched berths in the State C and B meets next month.

Plains Trotters Jessica Thompson, Kara Altmiller and Lindsay Laws have all earned early invitations to the State C meet in Great Falls and Danny Hoisington of Thompson Falls has already punched his ticket to the State B meet in Laurel by surpassing standards set before the season began.

Thompson, who recently announced her intention to attend BYU to concentrate on her track and field career (she is also a standout player for the Plains-Hot Springs softball team this spring) has earned spots in three events for the State C meet, in the shot put, the discus and the javelin.

A senior, Thompson leads all Class C throwers in the shot put and discus with season-best efforts of 40 feet, 10 inches in the shot and 135-7 in discus, respectively, and is No. 2 in the javelin with a best effort so far of 125-6 in that specialty.

Also seniors at Plains, Altmiller will be going to the State C in the discus, where she owns a best mark of 112-8, and Laws will be going in the javelin, where she marked a season-best throw of 119-8 in winning the event at the Thompson Falls Invitational last week.

A senior at Thompson Falls, Hoisington broke the glass ceiling in the Class B triple jump by bounding 41 feet, 4.5 inches in that event earlier this season.