By Trevan Pixley
Sports Editor

  The track season officially began March 18, coming off a season where the girls and boys are losing some state placers, but the youth of this team begins to shine.  
  The boys saw the return of some familiar faces that were able to make the state meet last year, such as current seniors Austin Byrer and Dustin McClean, along with juniors Joey Perez and Sakti Woodbury. However, they will also have to adjust due to the absence of Kempton Sharp and Robbie Van Idour, who both graduated and placed at state in their respective events in 2016.
  As for the girls team, they returned current seniors Mallory Bernatz and Olivia Reynolds along with junior Miriam Ames and sophomore Ashley Dahl. The lady Bengals lost graduate Tesa Phillips, who was one place from the podium at state in 2016, and graduate Katie Havens who placed at state in the triple-jump event.   
  At the first meet of the year at home the boys took first overall March 18 (all scores and times provided by athletic.net) with superb individual performances by senior Layton Ahlers, who took seventh in the open-400 event with a time of 55.47, as well as Woodbury who placed third in the open-800 event with an end time of 2:03.
  In the open-1,600 event March 18 the Bengals saw three of their own place in the top six with Byrer placing first (4:26),  Perez taking third (4:34) and  Woodbury taking sixth (4:38).
  That day Byrer and Perez also placed in the 3,200-event with junior Connor Turpin. Byrer took first in his second event of the day with a time of 9:35. Perez wasn’t too far behind, placing second with a time of 9:54, and Turpin got fifth with a time of 10:20.
  The next event was the 110-meter hurdles, which saw sophomore Ozzy Wexler take third (17:31). Wexler improved as the meet went, on taking second in the 3,200-meter hurdles (43.71).
  And in the boy›s final competition March 18, the Bengals took first in the4x400-meter relay (3:44.20). The four guys on this team included three boys who placed earlier on that day (Ahlers, Wexler, Woodbury), along with junior Dmitri Whitcomb. In the throwing events, McClean placed second in shot-put and third in discus.
  As for the Lady Bengals, they placed seventh overall as a team March 18. However, the future seems bright for the team.  
  Three out of their four placers were sophomores, starting with Kassie Collins who got sixth in the open-100 (13.74). Meagan Wootton took fifth in the open-400  (1:07), Finally, Dahl took third in the 110-meter hurdle (17.55) and placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles (51.40).
  The ladies 4×400 team also had much success, placing third overall with a final time of 4:33. And senior Olivia Reynolds placed second in the high jump event , jumping a 4-08-00.