LHS presents track and field awards

Athletes, coaches and parents celebrated a successful track and field season for the Lovell Bulldogs Tuesday, May 26, at the final awards night of the 2025-26 school year at LHS at the high school multipurpose room.

Head coach Joshua Sanders led the proceedings and first thanked a variety of people including team parents, athletic director Chris Edwards, the newspaper for coverage and assistant coaches Caleb Sanders, Josey Allen, Bob Weber, A. Jay Montanez and volunteer Gavin Robertson, to whom he presented a gift for his work this season.

Sanders honored throwing coach Montanez, who will be teaching and coaching in a different school district next school year, noting, “I appreciate everything he does. He has been with us a long time both as an athlete and coach. A. Jay has coached multiple state champions and brings a ton of energy and experience. It will be tough to see him go.”

After showing a video displaying each athlete’s top performance of the season, Sanders noted the success of the season that saw the boys place second at both Regionals and State and the girls place fifth at both meets.

“We’re extremely proud of our teams, proud of what they’ve accomplished,” he said. “This was the highest the girls have placed in 3A that I can remember.”

Sanders and his coaches passed out letters to the athletes who qualified and listed their season accomplishments. During the process he honored four with top awards: senior Becca Nichols as the outstanding female track athlete, sophomore Ali Walker as the outstanding female field athlete, Matthew Newman as the outstanding male track athlete and Owen Walker as the outstanding male field athlete. He also noted the accomplishments of sophomore sprinter Hunter Krei, who was chosen for the New Balance competition this summer.

Montanez then announced indoor track awards, naming Krei as the male track athlete of the year, senior Halen Strom as the male field athlete of the year and junior Celeste Lindsay as the female athlete of the year. He also honored senior Jacob Thomas with the Outstanding Leader Award.