ARLEE — Arlee had a core group of talented athletes last season that competed in several different events and racked up the points. This season, a lot of those athletes are back — and then some.

Head coach Russ Baker has 29 athletes this season, including a bevy of upperclassmen. There will be 14 seniors taking to the track this season for the Scarlets and Warriors.

ARLEE — Arlee had a core group of talented athletes last season that competed in several different events and racked up the points. This season, a lot of those athletes are back — and then some.

Head coach Russ Baker has 29 athletes this season, including a bevy of upperclassmen. There will be 14 seniors taking to the track this season for the Scarlets and Warriors.

“We had a lot of upperclassmen and we’ve also got a good group of younger athletes,” Baker said. “The turnout is higher than we’ve had in the past five years.”

Two sets of twins should bring a tremendous amount of production to the team this year. Becca Nelson was a do it-all wunderkind for Arlee last season, placing fourth at state in the javelin. Nelson set a personal best for the shot put event two weeks ago in her season-opening track meet and won the discus event as well.

Her twin, Sam Nelson, should be a big point-getter for the boys track team. He set a personal record in the javelin two weeks ago and placed in two other events. Being very athletic means Nelson can do a lot of things for the Warriors. Another set of twins, Aspen and Rachelle Meidinger, will combine with Nelson to make a strong throwing group for the girls team. The Meidingers and Nelson should jostle for top five placings in all three throwing events at most meets this season.

“The girl throwers will be tough,” Baker said. “They always are.”

Skyla Perry brings some speed for the Scarlets in the 100 and 200-meter races, while Alex Adams and Violet Pablo will bolster Arlee’s depth.

For the boys, Arlee returns the fastest kid in Lake County, Zack Carver. While a late-season injury hobbled him last year, Carver should bring back that lightning speed to the 100 and 200-meter races. Dustin Baker and Brandon Hergett will be new additions to the team this season, and have already placed for the Warriors in early meets.

With the added depth, Arlee is going to be extremely tough in relay races. At the Corvallis meet last week, the Warriors finished just a hair behind the defending state champion Charlo team to finish second in the 4x100 meter race.

“We’ve got some speed on the boys side,” Baker said.

It appears this season that Arlee is going to be bigger, faster and stronger than last year’s rendition and that should be a scary thought for opposing Class C schools. Expect to see plenty of Warriors and Scarlets standing on the podium throughout the season.

Arlee fields winners at early-season meet

CORVALLIS — Arlee athletes made themselves known at the Gene Hughes Invitational in Corvallis on Saturday, with six individuals placing in their respective events.

The Scarlets had four of those, three of whom placed in multiple events. Aspen Meidinger launched a shot put throw 32’10” to finish in third place and finished fourth in the discus with a 92’5” heave.

Arlee head coach Russ Baker was very pleased with Meidinger’s performance, and rightfully so.

“Aspen did pretty well,” Baker said. “She set PRs in both the discus and shot put.”

Javelin state threat Becca Nelson earned second place with a 108’7” toss and finished just behind Meidinger in the discus with a 90’5” throw, finishing fifth. Whitney Malatare jumped to third and fourth-place finishes in the long jump and triple jump with 13’10” and 30’7.75” showings, respectively. While those marks are impressive, Baker said that Malatare is capable of more, but should get there as the season moves along.

“They weren’t bad for the first meet,” Baker said of Malatare’s distances. “I think she’d like to go 15 in the long jump and 32 in the triple.”

The Scarlets also had Jessica Knoll represent them on the track with a fifth-place performance in the 400-meter dash. Knoll’s time of 1:16.91 was just nine seconds behind first. The Warriors, who finished ninth of 13 teams, were led by Brandon Hergett, who finished less than a tenth of a second off the pace in third in the 100-meter dash at 11.85. Hergett also impressed in the 200, finishing fourth in 24.39, just 44 hundredths of a second behind first place. Zack Carver came in right behind Hergett in 24.5 seconds to finish fifth.

The 400-relay team of Hergett, Carver, Clayton Trimble and Sam Nelson had an outstanding run, ending up second in 45.86 seconds, just four-tenths of a second behind Charlo’s winning time.

Baker said that Hergett, Carver and Trimble were impressive in individual performances on Saturday.

“Those three sprinters turned in some good times,” Baker said.

Arlee went to Ronan for Tuesday’s track meet, but results were unavailable at press time.

- Reporter Dylan Kitzan