Meet The Athlete: Fergus High's Jaree Mane

Jaree Mane is a junior at Fergus High. She just wrapped up her season on the track, where she had three second-place finishes at the Class A state meet last weekend in Laurel. She accumulated all 30 of her team's points as the Golden Eagles placed sixth overall.

Q: How did last week go for you?

A: I felt pretty good about it. I don't know, I placed second in three events (100, 200 and 400). (Mane also finished fifth in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump.)

Q: Yeah, the races were really close. You finished behind Katelyn Frost of Corvallis in all three. Was that frustrating?

A: Yeah, a little bit. But she's a senior and she's a good athlete, so I was pretty happy with my results.

Q: How do those times in the 100 (12.65), 200 (25.82) and 400 (58.99) compare to your all-time bests?

A: Um, they were all personal bests. Except for my 100, I tied my personal best. And the 200 ended up being a school record, so that was pretty nice.

Q: Wow. Congrats on that. That must feel good, huh?

A: Thank you. Yeah.

Q: Now that everything is over, how would you assess how the track season turned out for you?

A: I thought overall it was pretty good. Last year I got sick, and it kind of took me out of the track season, so it was nice to have healthy full year and be able to compete well.

Q: What were you sick with?

A: Last year I got mono like midseason. It just ended up wiping me out. I was tired at state and out of shape. So that was kind of frustrating.

Q: How do you remember your freshman year?

A: My freshman year I ended up with fallen arches in my feet, so they kind of ended up messing up that season. I did end up competing at state, though.

Q: So it sounds like the last couple years you've been dealt some setbacks. You were pretty healthy this year, though, right?

A: Yeah, this year was a great year. I was able to compete the whole season and stay healthy, so that was really nice.

Q: And you play some other sports, right? What are those?

A: I play basketball and volleyball.

Q: So what's your favorite sport out of the three?

A: Probably basketball.

Q: Why is that, you think?

A: Uh, I don't know. I like the competitiveness of it. I just think it's a fun game.

Q: What position do you play?

A: I can really play anywhere. They have me more as like a wing right now.

Q: How tall are you?

A: I'm about 5-11.

Q: Is that a sport that you want to pursue in college?

A: Yeah, that's the dream.

Q: It sounds like you had a pretty successful year in all three sports.

A: Yeah, it was. We ended up making it to state in basketball, and it was like the first time we made it in a while. And then we made state in volleyball, so it's been a very successful year for sports.