Owen Hoag placed first in all three of his events, the 100m, 200m and 400m.
BOZEMAN - Three Seeley Lake natives competed in the USA Track and Field Junior Olympic championship meet in Bozeman June 9-10.
The USATF Montana Association meet featured youth from across the state. Athletes competed in age categories ranging from 17-18 year-olds at the top end, and an 8 & Under division for the youngest competitors.
Seeley Lake residents Mitch Parcell, Tyler Haines and Owen Hoag made the trip to Van Winkle Stadium on the Montana State University campus to compete.
Parcell competed in the 800-meter and 1500-meter runs, finishing third and second respectively.
"At the Junior Olympics I had a 2:16, which is a whole 16 seconds slower than state, so that's kind of demoralizing," said Parcell.
Parcell was coming off a solid senior track season at Seeley-Swan High School and hoped to improve enough for some college coaches to take notice. Unfortunately he missed his goal time in the events, but hopes he'll be able to race in the future-potentially for Rocky Mountain College.
Haines competed in the 9-10-year-old division. He ran the 100 and 200-meter dashes and long jumped. He won the long jump and finished fourth and third in his two sprints.
"It was overwhelming really," said Haines about competing in Bozeman. "I felt thankful and proud of the other people because they did pretty well too."
Hoag had the most successful meet of the Seeley Lake representatives. He ran three sprinting events and didn't lose a single one.
"I didn't think I would be able to win them all," said Hoag. "It felt pretty good."
Hoag started doing track last year as a fifth grader at Seeley Lake Elementary and has made a big impact so far.
At the middle school Meet of Champions earlier this year, Hoag competed in the same events and won two of the three, including the 400, his favorite event.
"Running is one of my favorite sports," he said. "I hope to compete next year!"
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