PHS comes on strong at Casper Classic

Posted 5/5/16

The annual meet brings together the top competitors in each event, regardless of classification, for true battles among the “best of the best.”

And in this rarified air of competition, five of the six Powell athletes who qualified for the …

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PHS comes on strong at Casper Classic

Posted

Though it was pushed back a few days due to the wild Wyoming weather this spring, the Wyoming Track and Field Classic went off Monday at Harry Geldien Stadium at Kelly Walsh High School in Casper.

The annual meet brings together the top competitors in each event, regardless of classification, for true battles among the “best of the best.”

And in this rarified air of competition, five of the six Powell athletes who qualified for the meet came away with placing finishes in their events.

Anissa Warner, in fact, placed in two events, the high jump and triple jump.

The senior and University of Wyoming commit, cleared 5 feet, 6 inches to come out on top of the field in the high jump and nearly broke her own mother’s still-standing Classic record of 5 feet, 7 inches.

“She put the bar up to 5-7.25 and just barely knocked it off,” assistant coach Ashley Hildebrand said.

Nobody else in the event cleared more than 5 feet, 4 inches.

Warner also placed fourth in the triple jump, though she fell short of her seed distance of 35 feet, 5.5 inches by hitting the sand at 34 feet, 9.75 inches.

Had she been able to match her seed jump, it would have been good enough for second place.

“Running from high jump to triple jump, I missed the time they gave for warm-up runs,” Warner said. “At this point of the season I should be able to get on the runway and make good attempts, but you have to have those days to appreciate the good ones. And for high jump, I had come here each year and finished fourth, so for that it was definitely a good day.”

Lexee Craig also came up just short of her seed mark in the pole vault of 10 feet, 2 inches, but did clear 10 feet to tie for second behind Burlington’s Zariah Tolman who went 10 feet, 6 inches.

“I have only cleared 10-2 once, but I know I have the ability to go higher,” Craig said. “I would have liked to get up to 10-3 or 4 to give me more confidence to go for 10-6. I know I can get 11 feet if I get on a bigger pole and put my mind to it. I just can’t wait to have some nice days this week for some awesome practices.”

Danna Hanks shaved more than one second off her seed time to 46.80 seconds in the 300 hurdles and would finish fourth in the elite field.

That time had her falling just .03 seconds out of third (46.77 by Campbell County’s Marie Doherty) and barely more than one second out of second (45.74 by Bailey Bard of Big Horn).

“I had a stutter-step at the last hurdle and (Doherty) caught me and then leaned in ahead of me at the finish,” Hanks said. “None of the girls that finished ahead of me are in 3A, so I won’t be racing against them at State. I see it as a really good experience and warm up for State.”

Hanks has already qualified for that biggest meet of the season in both the 100- and 300-meter hurdles.

The Panthers also saw Julia Kay O’Neill better her seed time in the 800, going from 2:27.71 to 2:27.52, and placing sixth, though less than two seconds out of fourth.

For the Powell boys, Cody Akin lost some time in the 1600, and would later be diagnosed with bronchitis which held him out of practice at least through Tuesday, though he was able to push through and claim eighth place and the final scoring slot in the event.

“It was a real good meet for us,” head coach Scott Smith said. “All the kids did a great job against the best competition they’ve faced all season.”

Next up for the full Powell team is the Cody Trackstravaganza, originally scheduled for Friday, but due to a foreboding forecast, has been pushed up to today (Thursday) beginning at 4 p.m.

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