Sidney girls 2nd place state track & field team: Front (L-R) Coaches Steve Yockim, Steve O’Toole, Virginia Dschaak, Stacey Collins, Roger Merritt. Back (L-R) Sheridan Sundheim, Harmonie Hampton, Erin Harris, Mikayla Minow, Whitney Leuenberger, Jalyssa Gorder, Lexi Prevost, Ciara Sinks.
Whitney Leuenberger throws the shot put at the state track & field meet in Laurel.
Jalyssa Gorder pole vaults at the state track & field meet in Laurel.
The Sidney girls track team took second at the state track & field meet on Friday and Saturday, May 24 and 25 in Laurel.
Placing for the girls were Lexi Prevost, 3rd in the 100 hurdles, 4th in the 300 hurdles and 5th in pole vault. Erin Harris placed 4th in javelin, 2nd in pole vault and 5th in the 100 hurdles. Jalyssa Gorder placed 1st in pole vault and Whitney Leuenberger placed 1st in shot put and 1st in discus.
Placing for the boys was Daulton King with 3rd in the discus.
Whitney Leuenberger started track and field as a freshman, she qualified for discus and shot put at divisionals. At State that year she took the 6th place medal in shot put in Laurel, but didn’t place in discus.
As a sophomore, she won the shot put at divisionals and took second in the discus and at state in Missoula she won the shot put and was 2nd in the discus. She also qualified in javelin, but was one place shy of medal placing, she took 7th place. As a team Sidney took 3rd place that year. She broke the 35 year old school record in the shot put at the top ten meet in Glasgow that year.
Whitney’s junior year, she won the shot put again at divisionals and was throwing in the snow at State in Bozeman and won the shot put. She took 2nd in the discus at both divisionals and state.
Her senior year she won divisionals in the shot put and broke a 15 year old class A shot put divisional record with a throw of 41’4.5” and won the discus with a throw of 136’. At state in Laurel she won the shot put and won the discus. Her best throw in discus is 146’4”. She states “I struggled with my events this year because of class scheduling and the weather. I wasn’t able to get into the weight class I needed for training and the snow held us up.” Ending her senior year and her high school track and field career, she is a 3 time state champion in class A shot put, 1 time state champion in the discus and 2 time runner up, altogether a 7 time state placer.
She has had injuries during the years but she hasn’t let that stop her. Whitney suffers from scoliosis so she often goes in for an adjustment and travels every 6 months to a year to see Dr. Dacre in Billings. She also has a shoulder deformity which can cause her some discomfort. She suffered this year from a pulled tendon in her elbow in her throwing arm and a broken finger on her left hand. She states; “injuries are just part of the game and you just work through them.”
Whitney will be attending Dickinson State University majoring in pre-dentistry. She has also been given a Track and Field Scholarship, so she will be on the Blue Hawk Track and Field Team. Whitney looks forward to competing at the college level.
Whitney would like to wish the Sidney Track & Field team lots of success in the years to come and would like to say thank you to all the coaches. She states “they were so instrumental in my success as an athlete. Thank you Coach Steve O’Toole, Coach Roger Merritt, Coach Steve Yockim, Coach Stacy Collins and Coach Virginia Dschaak. I will miss all of you and God has granted me the privilege of knowing you and being one of your state champions. Thank You!”
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