LMS track shines at first season meet in Riverton

Lincoln Middle School’s eighth-grade girls track team won a track meet in Riverton over the weekend, scoring 95 points by the end of the competition.

The competition marked their first meet of their spring season. While the season is much shorter than a high school season, lasting only six weeks from first practice to final competition, the team does get a lot of exposure on the track. For a few, the Riverton meet marks the first time they’ve competed.

Wally Cantrell, head coach for the middle school track team, said a few girls are within seconds of breaking long-time school records.

Carly Kettering, for whom Riverton was the first track meet she has competed in, is 1 second away from breaking LMS’s 21-year-old 400-meter record originally set by 2009 Green River High School Hall of Fame inductee Cheryl Harmon.

Kettering won the 400 and 800-meter events and was the anchor for the 4X400 relay team taking first in that event.

Another student knocking at the door of a longtime school record is Jade Arnell, who took third place in the mile and is five seconds from beating the seventh grade mile record.

Kezley Moore took second in the 400 and 800-meter competitions while Marcos Molina took first in the seventh grade 100-meter dash and Oran Watts finished the seventh-grade mile with a time of 5:32. In total, LMS students earned medals in 45 events.

“We’re seeing good progression with a lot of kids,” Cantrell said.

The team travels to Mountain View this weekend and will host a meet April 21 at Wolves Stadium. The meet starts at noon.

Cantrell said the meet is a good opportunity for residents to see some of the best athletes in middle school track and field compete, saying students from other schools in the southwest corner of the state are posting impressive results in multiple events.