The Alberton Panthers took their largest contingent ever to the State C championship track meet in Helena to compete against the strongest athletes in the state.

“It was pouring down rain and it was just unbelievable,” said Panthers head coach Rachael Clevenger.

Despite the inclement weather, two Alberton boys managed to get personal bests for the season and place in the meet.

Jerry Brovold beat out his brother Philip Brovold in the javelin and took third place with a distance of 160 feet, 8 inches, more than 10 feet farther than his qualifying distance at the Western Division C track meet in Missoula the previous weekend.

Clevenger said that Philip Brovold has been consistently throwing farther than his brother and the poor weather and pressure at the event seriously cut down on his distance.

In the long jump, Jordan Johnson took second place with a distance of 20 feet, 11 inches, adding a full foot onto his qualifying distance from Missoula’s meet.

“Overall, I think they competed really well,” said Clevenger.

The boys finished in 11th place overall with a total of 14 points at the meet. The girls’ team did not place any in the top six at the meet, so they did not place in the team events.

However, Jenna Rausch placed in the top 10 with her time in the 800-meter run. Clevenger said that since Rausch is a freshman she expects her to continue to do well in coming meets.

Clevenger also said that the Lady Panthers 400-relay team did very well considering the weather. They did not place but had a finishing time of 4:31, one of their best all year.

Clevenger said that taking as many athletes as they did to state was a huge accomplishment. “I think it was a really great season,” Clevenger said.

Clevenger, who has been coaching with the Panthers track team for six years, said that she has never taken this many athletes to state before.

She said that this year was a big year for their track team because they had more athletes on the team than ever and most of them steadily improved throughout the entire season. Clevenger said that she expects next year’s track team to do even better.