When it comes to sports, Hot Springs standout athletes Ben Aldridge and Daniel Slonaker will not stop trying to get better — even during the offseason.

Continuing their torrid track and field seasons started during a remarkable Hot Springs run of successes in the Western C and State C meets this past spring, Aldridge and Slonaker, have spent the last few months practicing and competing, exceling as members of the Mountain West track club in Missoula.

Back in May, Aldridge and Slonaker were the two of the biggest reasons why the Hot Springs boys surged to the Western C divisional team title and then on to third place in the State C meet the following week.

The Savage Heat duo, carpooling together for the daily drive and practicing four days a week with the Mountain West team and coaches at Dornblaser Field in Missoula, competed at Junior Olympic events in Butte earlier this summer and most recently at Pocatello last week in the Region 11 Junior Olympic national qualifying meet.

In Pocatello, at Davis Field at Idaho State University July 9-11, Aldridge and Slonaker both finished in the top five in one of their specialty events to qualify for the National Junior Olympics at Cerritos College in Norwalk, California July 27 through August 2.

Due to the high cost of attending, it was uncertain whether the Hot Springs boys will be going to California or not at press time. In any event, they both earned the right to go on if they wish, by placing in the boys 17-18 competition in Pocatello.

Clocking a lifetime best 11.06 in the 100 meters, Slonaker won fourth place to punch his ticket to California while Aldridge timed out in 1:01.04 to win fifth in the 400-meter hurdles.

What’s more, Daniel and Ben joined up with Hunter Cadena of Missoula Sentinel and Harrison Spethman of Missoula Loyola to win the 4 by 100-meter relay in a meet record time of 43.61 seconds, shattering the old meet mark by two-tenths of a second, also qualifying for nationals in that event.

Slonaker and Aldridge just missed qualifying by placing sixth in other events, Slonaker by posting a lifetime best of 22.90 in the 200 meters and Aldridge by clocking a personal best 15.54 in the 110-meter hurdles.

What’s even more remarkable about the Hot Springs duo’s success is the fact that both are recovering from recent, significant leg injuries.

Aldridge suffered an ankle fracture and underwent surgery near the end of football season last fall, while Slonaker tore an ACL and had knee surgery in October. Both have made incredibly quick recoveries ever since, Aldridge returning in remarkably short order to become an all-conference basketball player for the Plains Horsemen only several weeks later and Slonaker after finally getting cleared to run only in April.

Both seem to think they owe it to themselves to do everything in their power to get better, and genuinely appreciated the opportunity presented by the Mountain West Club experience, even if the recurring trip to Missoula did get a little old at times.

“We got to know the drive pretty well – Camas Prairie down to Perma and through Dixon,” Slonaker joked. “But it was nice to train in Missoula, on the nice rubber track with some good coaches and other athletes, it really helped us improve.”

“We decided to keep it rolling after the high school season and Mountain West has been great,” Aldridge said. “The facilities are really good and they have a lot of good coaches from the Missoula area there working with you.”

Although they both missed the end of what started as a promising football season last fall due to injury, both seem eager to right that wrong on the 6-Man gridiron this fall.

“That is another great thing about continuing to work out this summer,” Ben said. “This will help us better get ready for football season, we are really looking forward to that.”

“I’ve been itching to play football for two years, feel like I’ve missed out,” Slonaker said. "It would be great to hit the ground running this fall.”

Due to their stunning successes on the track this year, both Hot Springs athletes are now entertaining thoughts of continuing their careers in college and have been in contact with several schools.

In the meantime, there are the football and basketball campaigns coming up next school year, two more opportunities for Slonaker and Aldridge to try and be all that they can be.