HELENA — Helena sisters Madi and Logan Todorovich spent last week in Sacramento, California at the USA Track and Field Junior Olympics. Madi took home the highest honors in the 15-16 heptathlon and Logan took third in the 17-18 division.
The last time the girls went to the Junior Olympics, they competed in the same age division, so this was a different experience for the pair.
“I think I like having her with me better. Having someone there to talk to while you're competing, and it helps to get your nerves out a little bit more,” Logan said.
During the spring, the girls are a part of Helena High’s track and field team, and this past season they helped the Bengals bring home the hardware at state. During the summer, the girls are a part of the Helena Novas, a USA Track and Field member club.
“We have a few coaches to help us through a lot of it. And I think that's really fun having more than one coach. And then also with the Novas, it's different because we're practicing with younger kids. And I think that's really cool. Because they get to also watch us and we get to kind of teach them because I remember when I was at (a young) age and I was watching all the older kids, I really looked up to them. So I think looking at having them look up to us is also super important,“ Logan said.
“Yeah, I agree. And it's always fun too because our dad does a lot of our coaching for us,” Madi added.
Their year-round practicing paid off majorly. On day one of the heptathlon, Madi came in second in the hurdles, first in high jump, fourth in shot put, and third in the 300-meter dash. On day two she came in first in long jump, second in the javelin throw, and second in the 800-meter run to secure her first-place win.
As for her sister, Logan, she came in sixth in the 100-meter hurdles, second in high jump, fifth in shot put, seventh in the 200-meter dash, first in long jump, fifth in javelin, and 14th in the 800-meter run to snag third place.
As you can see by their scores, the girls really excel in the jumping events.
“I would say I love having a good jumping day. Because you know, I can be very inconsistent. So I'm always really excited when I do get a good jumping day,” Madi said.
Logan shared her jumping tips.
“I think when I'm practicing it's not as stressful for me because I know I'm jumping. I'm just jumping into a pit and I just have to pretend like I’m jumping over something or I look at mountains, and I just jump over the mountains. So that kind of helps me a little bit,” she said.
When the Todorovichs came back to Helena, they came back to heaps of support from the community.
“It actually means so much because I think it's really fun going and like meeting all these new people and stuff and then when we get to be away, but then when we come back and everyone's like congratulating you or wishing you good luck to things, I think that means a lot that they care and that they're supporting you because I just feel like that's really cool,” Logan said.
Both Logan and Madi are now looking towards next season at Helena High. They now enter next season as two-time USATF Junior Olympics All-Americans.
