What a wild, wonderful spring of sports action we just witnessed. Who could ask for more?

Although the weather was not always that great (many meets and games ended up being delayed, rescheduled or flat out canceled), the efforts of our local athletes were still consistently fine, and ended up being historic, memorable to both the participants and their devoted fans by the time late May arrived.

The spring sports season of 2026 turned into one that left this area boasting of a state tennis championship team (that being Superior), a divisional championship track and field team (the Hot Springs boys), and two state trophy earning track teams (those same Hot Springs boys, who won third in the State C meet, and the Plains boys, who won second in the State B).

That’s not even mentioning the standout individual efforts of others in track and field – like the record-setting duo of Landon Richards and George Hanson of Superior, for example.

Maybe then, it’s time to mention them again, just a few of our local sports heroes from the spring just passed, once more for posterity’s sake.

BEN ALDRIDGE, Daniel Slonaker, Chase DePoe, Samson Jakabosky and Bill DeTienne, you can now say their names in the same breath as Todd Riech, undoubtedly the greatest athlete in the history of Hot Springs sports, and certainly one of the greatest ever in Montana.

Like Riech, the original Hot Springs one, who famously, single-handedly won State C boys team track titles for the Spa City in 1988 and 1989 (and later threw the javelin representing the United States in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics), the 2026 Hot Springs five have earned the distinction of being compared to him by being the little team that did big things this spring, the first being the team’s surprising win of the Western C divisional championship in spite of their limited numbers, and the second being the winning of the State C third place trophy the next week for the same reason.

During their postseason run of success, Aldridge and Slonaker provided big points for the Heat in the hurdles and sprint races, DePoe was good for quality points in the hurdles and jumps, Jakabosky was productive in the shot put and the sprint relay, and DeTienne was the valuable fourth man in on the 4x100 meter relay, giving Hot Springs way more scoring power than any small team should expect to have.

Making their accomplishments even more remarkable, Aldridge and Slonaker were both coming off serious football injuries last fall which required surgery, Aldridge on an ankle and Slonaker a knee.

Coach Jason Colyer got all the Heat’s athletes healed up in time, all the moving parts synchronized and heading in the same direction at the right time this spring, producing two of the more unexpected but well-deserved trophies in Hot Springs High School history in the end.

PLAINS COACH JESSE JERMYN knew his team could score well in the State B boys meet but his initial calculations were upset somewhat by a midseason injury to sophomore Cord Greer.

Armed with perhaps the best distance runner in the Montana Class B ranks in son John Owen Jermyn, the defending State B cross country champion, and Greer, who won third in the State B XC, and promising freshman Simeon Costner, coach Jermyn was optimistic heading into the district, divisional and state meets after going slow with Greer and helping him regain his health in time for the postseason, and that patience paid off.

John Owen did his part holding off Harlem’s Ethan Walker in a classic duel down the stretch to win the 1600 meters, and running away with the 3200, and Greer did his part as well, finishing fourth in the 1600 and second in the 3200.

Only a freshman (Jermyn and Greer are only sophomores), Costner won a solid third in the 3200, to give the Horsemen 38 of the possible 62 points available in the two distance runs.

Plains, with Matthew Thurston’s four fourth place points from the 300 meter hurdles tacked on, finished the meet with 42 points to win second place in final team standings, taking home Plains’ first State B boys team trophy in many years.

RICHARDS AND HANSON rewrote the Superior record book in the high jump and pole vault this spring, Richards in sometimes spectacular fashion.

A graduating senior, Hanson impressively set the new Superior pole vault record of 14 feet, 3 inches at a meet in Bigfork in early May. Heading for Whitworth College in

Spokane to continue his track and field career (Hanson is also a standout jumper), Hanson cleared 13-6 at the State C meet in Laurel to finish third.

A rising senior now in every sense of those words, Richards set a new Superior school record of 6-8 in the high jump early this spring and ended up matching that height several more times before pulling out all the stops and soaring a new State C record 6-9.5 in winning the event in Laurel.

To illustrate Richards’ dominance in the event this season, the second place winner in the State C high jump cleared only 6-2 in Laurel.

Of interest to local fans, the State C record jump of 6-9.25 that Richards broke in Laurel belonged to Noxon’s Ricky Williams, who set the record in the 2025 State C meet. Williams is now on the Montana Tech track team in Butte.

Likely headed for a college track and field career of his own (Richards is also a standout hurdler), the Bobcat high jumping phenom will be looking to clear seven feet and perhaps make a run at Montana’s all-class high jump record of 7-1.5 next year. That record was set back in 2017 by Treydarius Tintinger of Helena, and Tintinger went on to compete for the University of Oregon.

    NOXON SENIOR Justice Kayser and his Red Devil teammates completed the program’s second season of high school baseball this spring. Kayser is pictured making a throw from the shortstop position in Noxon April 28. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)  

    SHOWN FLIGHT FOLLOWING her ball after a chip shot on No. 1 at Wild Horse back on April 10, Thompson Falls senior Solveig Nygaard eventually qualified for and played in the State B tournament this spring. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)  

    SUPERIOR BOBCAT sprint relay members Turner Milender and Gannon Quinlan in action at the Western C divisional meet in Missoula May 22. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    ST. REGIS SENIOR Denver Thomas, pictured playing in the Plains Invitational April 10 at Wild Horse golf course, won third place individually in the State C meet in Shelby last month. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    SHOWN FLIGHT FOLLOWING her ball after a chip shot on No. 1 at Wild Horse back on April 10, Thompson Falls senior Solveig Nygaard eventually qualified for and played in the State B tournament this spring. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)