Powell earns 50 slots at state meet

The Powell Panthers boys’ and girls’ track teams finished third in a talent-packed 3A West regional meet on Saturday. Between the team’s weekend performances and a smattering of automatic qualifications during the regular season, Powell will compete in 50 event slots at this week’s state championship meet in Casper.

“This is the highest quality meet I’ve seen at the regional level,” said Panther track coach Scott Smith.

It’s hard to argue with that assessment. The 3A West field was so loaded with talent that all eight of the boys 4x400 relay teams ran faster than the state qualifying time. In some individual events, as many as the top 11 finishers clocked times faster than what was needed to qualify for the state meet.

Or you could consider individual performances. Gretchen Morretti beat Katie Bieber’s 2001 school record in the girls’ 3200 meters by roughly three seconds on Friday, but could manage only a seventh-place finish in the field. Justin Lynn took almost four seconds off his season-best 800-meter time, clocking a time of 2:04.57 for two laps of the track. That was only good enough for ninth place in a race where the top three runners all crossed the finish line in times faster than 1:59.

Lynn will still be going to Casper by virtue of running faster than the state qualifying standard.

“Our kids had a great meet against great competition,” said Smith.

The Panthers competed in 98 event slots during the two-day meet. In 74 of those cases, competitors turned in season-best performances. In some cases, the improvements were quite marked — both Morretti and Zander Andreasen shaved 30 seconds off their season-best times in the 3200 meters.

Elsewhere, the improvements were simply historic. Junior Vince Sleep broke a 35-year-old school record in the shot put with a throw of 54-1/4, then proved the mark was no fluke by turning around two throws later and launching the shot put 54-11.

The previous school shot put record had stood on the books since 1977. It had been held by Greg Lynch, father of current Panther sophomore thrower Garrett Lynch who also flirted with the previous best with a toss of 53-3.

“It’s great having Garrett because we push each other every day in practice,” said Sleep after setting the record. “I just want to thank God for giving me the strength.”

For Desiree Murray, a busy weekend ended with four region titles. The Panther senior captured 3A West titles in the 200 and 400 meters, as well as the 100 and 300-meter hurdles on Saturday. The commanding performance led Smith to jokingly present Murray with a broom on the medal stand after her victory in the 200  meters, symbolizing her sweep of the competition.

“Desiree had an incredible set of performances this week,” said Smith. “Not only did she win all four events, but she had to run preliminary races in all four events. She was pretty tired by the end of the day. Spreading the events out over three days will help her out a lot.”

While the Panthers had some of their best times and distances of the season, the teams suffered their lowest finishes of the year. For the Panther boys, it marked the first time all season the team did not finish a meet holding the championship hardware. The Panther girls, who had placed second at every meet this season, were similarly third in the final 3A West standings.

All Powell competitors finishing in the top eight at the region, the top four relay teams and all competitors who have surpassed state qualifying standards during the season advance to take part in the Wyoming High School track and field championships this week in Casper. Competition begins at 11 a.m. on Thursday and runs through Saturday afternoon.

The Panthers will have 50 event slots at this year’s championship meet — 25 on the girls’ side and another 25 on the boys’ side. Powell is the defending 3A state champion for the boys. The Panther girls finished last season as the 3A state runner-up.

“State is going to be a great meet this year,” said Smith. “There doesn’t appear to be one or two teams poised to run away from the pack like the last couple of years on the boys’ side. There’s probably four or five teams with chances to come through this week. On the girls’ side, Cody looks to have a leg up with about five teams looking to battle for the rest of the trophies.”

Girls team scores:

Cody 198, Star Valley 142.33, Powell 104.33, Mountain View 63.33,  Jackson 50, Lyman 31, Lander 31, Pinedale 30

100 — 4. KaDee Harrison 13.09, Jada Swires 13.94, Mikaila Moore 14.07

200 — 1. Desiree Murray 26.41, 3. KaDee Harrison 27.16, SarahJean O’Neill 29.19

400 — 1. Desiree Murray 59.09, SarahJean O’Neill 1:05.57, Brooke Lensegrav 1:06.06, Brooke Nisley 1:08.56

800 — 8. Bailey Sanders 2:30.88, Sierra Morrow 2:32.17, Gretchen Morretti 2:33.43, Tally Wells 2:35.05

1600 — 8. Gretchen Morretti 5:41.77, Tally Wells 5:55.08

3200 — 7. Gretchen Morretti 12:13.43, Tally Wells 12:56.88, Sierra Morrow 13:42.47

100m hurdles — 1. Desiree Murray 15.98, 6. Mikaila Moore, 17.71, Megan Wagner 19.02

300m hurdles — 1. Desiree Murray 46.48, 8. Mikaila Moore 51.63, Megan Wagner 53.88

4x100 — 4. Mikaila Moore, Brooke Lensegrav, Jada Swires and KaDee Harrison 52.22

4x400 — 4. Brooke Lensegrav, Bailey Sanders, SarahJean O’Neill and KaDee Harrison 4:22.65

4x800 — 4. Bailey Sanders, Brooke Nisley, Tally Wells and Sierra Morrow 10:26.62

High jump — Cassidy Lynn 4-7

Pole vault — 6. Kadi Cooley 7-3, 8. Devin Rausch 6-9, Bailey Sanders 6-9

Long jump — 8. Jada Swires 14.1 3/4, SarahJean O’Neill 13-3 3/4

Triple jump — 5. Jada Swires 31-10 1/4, Brooke Lensegrav 29-1/4, Cassidy Lynn 26-5

Shot put — 3. Shawnea Harrington 38-9, 4. Tori Sleep 37-11 1/2, 8. Alice Pinter 31-11, Emily Kath 30-8

Discus — 3. Shawnea Harrington 109-8 3/4, 5. Tori Sleep 105-1, 8. Alice Pinter 100-9 1/4, Emily Kath 100-9

Boys team scores:

Jackson 142.5, Star Valley 141, Powell 113.5, Cody 78, Lander 58, Lyman 48, Mountain View 39, Pinedale 36

100 — Garrett Lynch 11.78, Logan Harsh 12.00, Vince Sleep 12.08

200 — 5. Blaise Gann 23.45, Jakob Bowers 23.99, Logan Harsh 24.57

400 — 5. Blaise Gann 51.56, Marshall McArthur 53.63, Zach Thiel 54.11, Jakob Bowers 54.13

800 — 5. Zach Thiel 2:02.24, Justin Lynn 2:04.57

1600 — 7. Zander Andreasen 4:43.61, Andrew Feller 4:55.87, Mat Abraham 4:56.94

3200 — 4. Zander Andreasen 10:16.25, Andrew Feller 10:38.47, Mat Abraham 11:13.43

110m hurdles — 3. Kalei Smith 15.80, 4. Hayden Cragoe 16.39, Brendon Phister 17.95, Josh Cragoe 15.50 in prelims.

300m hurdles — 6. Brendon Phister 43.08, 7. Kalei Smith 43.58

4x100 — 4. Blaise Gann, Garrett Lynch, Logan Harsh, Josh Cragoe 44.96

4x400 — 1. Marshall McArthur, Zach Thiel, Blaise Gann and Josh Cragoe 3:28.99

4x800 — 3. Zander Andreasen, Marshall McArthur, Justin Lynn and Zach Thiel 8:31.56

High jump — 7. Hayden Cragoe 5-11, 8. Josh Cragoe 5-11, Kalei Smith 5-9

Pole vault — 4. Hayden Cragoe 12-9, 6. Brendon Phister 11-9

Long jump — Kalei Smith 18-11 1/2

Triple jump — 3. Hayden Cragoe 40-9 3/4

Shot put — 1. Vince Sleep 54-11, 2. Garrett Lynch 53-3, 4. Garrett Michael 45-8 1/2, Riley Stringer 40-11 1/2

Discus — 1. Garrett Lynch 155-8 1/4, 2. Vince Sleep 150-10 1/2, Garrett Michael 115-3 1/4, Riley Stringer 112-5 1/2