A little bit more

Before writing the article on this year’s honor grads, Aleksey McColloch, the valedictorian, and Fatima Chavez, salutatorian, I sent them e-mails with a list of questions — some required, the basics, and others from which they could pick and choose.

One of the required questions was what activities they had been involved in during their four years in GHS. Unfortunately, they “flunked” that part of the e-mail. But I will give them a pass on that.

Several of the questions they answered did not make it into the article.

Aleksey said her favorite subject was math. That surprised me. She said she loved math. It came easily to her. She was usually the first one to complete assignments and hand in her work.

But after she got her work done, she was always available to help classmates who were struggling or just needed some help understanding a problem. She quickly would volunteer to help them. 

One question Fatima answered but it didn’t make the cut was: “What do you envision your life will be like 10 years in the future?”

She responded, “I will be happy and living surrounded by the people I love the most; nothing could be better than that.”

Two pretty, very intelligent young ladies who will leave their mark on the world.

Attended a huge track meet in Sheridan Saturday. Mostly large schools — think Big Horn and Tongue River were the only 2A schools competing against teams from Billings, Casper, Cheyenne, Gillette, Spearfish, S.D. and others I have forgotten.

Great competition, great weather, well run. With both junior varsity and varsity, there were lots of athletes.

The most exciting event of all was the boys’ varsity 300-meter hurdles. 

I was sitting near the finish line and when they passed me, it was like a solid, five-man line of athletes, stride for stride, followed by three more hurdlers not too far behind.

You may be wondering, how close was the finish?

Well, just five-tenths of a second, plus a skosh, separated those five hurdlers. Now that is what I would call a photo finish. The winner? A senior from Tongue River. And may I brag a bit and tell you Hagen took third? The happy hurdlers almost in a straight line. And when they crossed the finish line, and the results were announced, just five-tenths of a second plus, a skosh, separated them. That is what is truly known as a “photo finish.”

I have been to lots of track meets, but have yet to see that many hurdlers, or racers,  finish in such an exciting finish.

And please walk softly lest we wake up Mother Nature. Just let her nap for a couple more weeks.

Scott got the potatoes, peas and onions planted Sunday. So I guess I should be praying for a gentle rain ... but perhaps a hose will do until after track is over.