Proving too good to be denied, the Western C divisional track and field champion Hot Springs Savage Heat boys followed up their stunning win of the divisional meet a week earlier by earning third place in the State C meet in Laurel last weekend.

For the Hot Springs girls, senior multi-sports standout Kara Christensen threw the discus a career-best 118 feet, 7 inches for third place and the Heat girls’ only scoring in the meet.

With Ben Aldridge, Chase DePoe and Daniel Slonaker doing the majority of the scoring, as they did the week before in the stunning Western C win, the Heat boys scored 39 team points to win third place in team scoring behind Cascade (82) and Lustre Christian (65) in Laurel.

Coach Jason Colyer said the Heat’s final placing fate was out of their hands with the 4x400 meter relay coming up and no team in the race at the end of the meet. A lightning storm delay only added to the drama.

Colyer said Park City and Denton-Geyser-Stanford were sitting tied for fourth place at 34 points behind Hot Springs’ 39, with the meet coming down to the relay.

“What a roller coaster of a day,” Colyer said. “After a two-hour lightning delay and a couple events finishing it came down to the final event, and we didn’t have a 4x400 relay team.”

By now it was Saturday evening. As a team, the Savage Heat sweated it out together, waiting for the race to determine their final placing destiny. Then they caught a break when Park City scratched from the race, leaving only D-S-G as a threat to their third place standing.

Once the race was finally run, D-S-G placed fifth to score only two team points and fall short of catching up with Hot Springs, leaving the elated Heat with some more postseason hardware to place in their trophy case from the 2026 season.

Aldridge had another great meet to lead the Heat, winning second place in both hurdles’ races, clocking a lifetime best 15.60 seconds in the 110 meter race and 41.31 in the 300 hurdles.

Also continuing his 2026 postseason tear, DePoe placed in three events, winning third in the 300 meter hurdles in 42.07, placing fourth in the high jump (clearing 6-0) and taking sixth in the 110 hurdles in a personal best time of 16.50.

Slonaker also continued his hot streak of late by burning to second place in the 100 meters in yet another personal best time of 11.30 seconds. Slonaker, Samson Jakabosky, Bill DeTienne and Aldridge teamed up to place fourth in the 4x100 relay in 44.53 seconds in the final after posting a new school record 44.50 in the trials.

Colyer remains impressed with his team’s efforts after the fact.

“Chase really stepped up in both hurdles and the high jump which gave us a shot at placing third. The 4x100 relay team set the school record, and Ben and Daniel had solid days of their own,” he said. “Some unexpected things fell into place for us and our athletes rose to the occasion and performed extremely well.”

Speaking of which, Christensen, who already had earned All-State C honors for her fine play in volleyball and basketball earlier this school year, capped her productive sports career with the third place win in the discus in Laurel.

Richey-Lambert won the State C girls meet with 74 points, Turner took second with 35 and Belt third with 34.