The Banner County High boys were after a state track champion with their squad of five qualifiers but came up a bit short of the goal finishing sixth in the team standings with 34 points. None the less, coach Kenny Hessler was proud of the way his four seniors and a freshman performed. “We gave it our best shot” Hessler said. Senior Jaymes Talkington, a University of Wyoming Track recruit, came up short of his best efforts on the year also but still was a three event medal winner finishing second in the triple jump in Class D with a leap of 45’5.5”, second in the long jump at 21’4”, and fifth in the high jump at 6’2”. At the District meet Talkington set a new meet and school record of 47’10.5”. Senior Tyler Gifford returned to Harrisburg a state champion winning the Class D 3200 meter run on Friday with an excellent time of 9:59.727. His win was a photo finish victory with Cliffords of Osceola running second in 9:59.735. This was the second gold medal performance by Gifford this year as he also won the gold at the State Wrestling tournament his senior year as well. Gifford wasn’t done yet however as he came back on Saturday to run seventh in the 1600 with another outstanding time of 4:42.223. Brett Cross added a seventh place medal to the stack with his seventh place finish in the triple jump with a leap of 42’0”. Chase Wickard, a four event state qualifier failed to place in his individual events getting a best jump of l8”5.25” in the long jump and running prelim times of 18.167 in the 110 meter high hurdles and 42.734 in the 300 meter hurdles. The four seniors also ran in the 4x400 relay finishing fourteenth with their time of 3:40.216 and freshman Jordan Knaub got a taste of state track meet experience running in the 800 meter run and clocking 2:13.561 finishing twenty second. In the girl’s division senior Rebekah Knaub was one place out of winning a medal in the discus finishing nineth with a throw of 106’10”. Bethany Cooper was nineteenth at 99’5”. Cooper was also fourteenth in the shotput at 33’10”. Laura Monsees, a three event state qualifier, ran tenth in the 1600 in 5:48.042, and twenty fourth in the 800 with a time of 2:43.153. The 3200 relay team of Kinsey Knaub, Hannah Benavides, Kaylea Stoddard, and Laura Monsees ran sixteenth with a time of 10:43.513. The 2009 track season will be one to remember, especially for the boys, as they set several new records throughout the season. Gifford’s gold medal in the 3200 was the first gold since coach Ken Hessler brought home the gold back in 1981. Talkington set all of those records including breaking coach Hessler’s school record in the triple jump and to win three state medals is quite an accomplishment. The Banner County “Four Horsemen” made up of Gifford, Talkington, Cross, and Wickard set a standard that will be hard to repeat, but they will be remembered for their accomplishments for years to come.