PHS track brings home 22 medals

Posted 5/23/17

PHS junior JuliaKay O’Neill earned All State honors with runner-up finishes in the 400 meter dash and 800 meter run.

Among the 16 teams who competed at the state tournament, the Panther boys finished sixth with 50 points and the Lady Panthers …

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PHS track brings home 22 medals

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Twenty-four Powell High School tracksters battled the weather in 26 events at the Class 3A state track meet in Casper last weekend, bringing home 22 medals. To medal, one has to place in the top eight in the respective event.

PHS junior JuliaKay O’Neill earned All State honors with runner-up finishes in the 400 meter dash and 800 meter run.

Among the 16 teams who competed at the state tournament, the Panther boys finished sixth with 50 points and the Lady Panthers finished ninth with 39.

“This is about as bad a state tournament I’ve been at weather wise,” said PHS head coach Scott Smith. In his 25 years of coaching track, this was the first time he could remember events being rescheduled to another day instead of just delayed.

“It was a lot of fun,” Smith added. “I thought our kids competed really well, in both the bad weather and then when it got nicer, they did a nice job there, too.”

Thursday

Four running events and 18 field events were originally scheduled for Thursday, but in the end, only the 3200 meter and 4x800 meter relay races were held.

Running in the snow, sophomore Alan Merritt posted a sixth place finish in the 3200 meter run with a time of 10:35.75 — two seconds away from a personal best in awful running conditions.

Merritt also ran alongside freshmen Jay Cox, Colin Queen, Brody Karhu in the 4x800 meter relay for a seventh place finish in 8:56.22.

The girls relay team — comprised of seniors Rachelle Cole and Teo Faulkner, junior JuliaKay O’Neill and freshman Hailee Paul — finished fifth with a time of 10:54.05.

Smith said he was glad Faulkner got to compete one last time at state, because she fought through knee pain all four years.

The snow storm that led to Thursday’s cancellations also impeded Friday’s adjusted schedule, as the slightly warmer temperatures turned the snow to rain.

Some field events were slated to start at 9 a.m., but with precipitation still falling from the sky and melting the snow, some field events didn’t start until 11 a.m.; others, such as the pole vault, shot put and discus started even later.

Pole vaulting

At this year’s state meet, the boys pole vault team competed on Friday and the girls on Saturday. The boys struggled in the tough conditions.

“We had a really good group of kids this year and it was a lot of fun,” pole vault coach Greg Bennett said “The weather obviously didn’t cooperate with us too good — we were peaking at the right time.”

At practice, all the guys were vaulting over 14 feet, Bennett said.

“Then we were jumping into a head wind here, with snow the day before, so it was a little devastating, especially for [a] senior,” he said.

The boys’ three pole vaulters — senior Garret Henderson, junior Brooks Asher and freshman Brody Karhu — were unable to clear the crossbar in their attempts and received no heights. A fourth state qualifier, freshman Dacen Phister, was unable to compete due to an injury sustained at regionals.

“We had a good year, we had good kids,” Bennett said.

The Lady Panthers, meanwhile, competed in the pole vault on Saturday and both competitors reached the podium.

Junior Maddy Hanks tied her previous personal best, clearing 9 feet, 6 inches for third place, while sophomore Caitlyn Miner cleared 8 feet, 6 inches — a personal best and good for an eighth place finish.

“Luckily we got some good weather today and got to the podium today and that’s a good way to end the season,” Bennett said.

Bennett said Hanks and Miner are great girls who are just starting to get the gist of pole vaulting, getting the pole to bend and transitioning into longer poles.

Friday

On Friday morning, junior O’Neill and freshman Cox battled the weather in the 800 meter finals.

O’Neill finished second with a time of 2:17.29 — almost breaking the school record of 2:17.02 that she set in 2015.

“Ran just really really well,” Smith said. “She just ran beautiful.”

“I just really love the 800; that’s my favorite race,” said O’Neill. Her goal for her senior year is to beat her school record and be a state champion in the 800 meter race.

For the boys, Cox finished 10th with a time of 2:07.79.

In the mid-morning, sophomore Aubrie Stenerson finished 14th in the long jump, leaping 14 feet, 0.75 inches.

Friday afternoon, the sky stopped spitting down moisture.

Senior Mason Olsen posted a sixth place finish in the discus, throwing a distance of 136 feet, 10 inches. Zach Easum, a senior, threw 117 feet, 7 inches for 13th place.

For the girls, sophomore Rachel Bonander threw to a 15th place finish in the shot put with a distance of 19 feet, 10.25 inches.

Junior AJ Lewis, and seniors Olsen, Paige Gann and TJ Abraham finished third in the 4x100 relay in 45.07.

Saturday

“It’s kind of funny, we talk about how nice it was [on Saturday] and everything, but the weather was in the 50s,” Smith said. “But it was just so bad the days before it felt so good. And the wind being down was a lot of it.”

Under blue skies, no adjustments were made to the schedule.

“Saturday was a good day, just everywhere I turned around, somebody was doing something good,” said Smith. “It was a lot of fun.”

Bonander posted a personal best in the discus, throwing 107 feet, 11 inches.

Colby Warner finished third in the high jump, clearing 6 feet, 2 inches. Warner’s personal best is 6 feet 3 inches, but at the state meet, the bar is raised 2 inches with each advancement; Warner went out at 6 feet, 4 inches.

“I was really happy with [Warner’s] jumps at state. He looked really good over 6 foot and 6 foot, 2 inches and had three good attempts at 6 foot, 4 four inches. He is only a sophomore and is still growing so I look for him to have that height easily next year as he gets bigger and stronger,” said jumping coach Ashley Hildebrand. “All parts of his jump, from the approach to the takeoff to his technique over the bar, are very good and it will be fun to see what he accomplishes over the next two years.”

Senior Nate MaGill finished sixth in both the 110 meter hurdles and 300 meter hurdles in 16.02 and 43.24 seconds, respectively. Gann finished third in the 300 meter hurdles in 40.87 seconds.

Freshman Sabrina Shoopman placed eighth in the 100 meter hurdles in 16.99.

In the 400 meter dash, both Karhu and O’Neill posted their best times of the season. Karhu took seventh for the boys in 51.99 while O’Neill finished second on the girls side in 1:00.96.

Abraham finished fourth in the 100 meter dash in 11.15 — a personal best — and fifth in the 200 meter dash in 23.08, just a few hundredths of a second away from a personal best.

Miner placed seventh in the 200 meter dash in 27.58 seconds, a personal best.

Merritt finished eighth in the 1600 meter run in 4:56.46, also a personal best.

The final event of the meet was the 4x400 meter relay.

The girls team of Hanks, Shoopman, Natalie Dillivan, a freshman, and O’Neill finished second with a personal best time of 4:14.62.

The boys team of Cox, Abraham, Gann and Karhu finished third in a personal best of 3:34.25. Abraham ran the third leg of the relay less than an hour after competing in the 200 meter dash finals. It was also the first time he’d run that relay this season — which was his first year going out for track.

“He was a good addition and everything he ran was great,” Smith said.

Strong competition

Coach Smith added that he was pleased with how his young team competed.

“This is probably one of the higher quality fields in 3A I’ve seen in years,” he said.

Powell had no individual state championships, but some participants’ times would have won titles in past years.

“These young kids, there’s a lot of talent there,” Smith said, adding that the Panthers’ performances were what he’d hoped for.

Of the 26 Panthers who competed at state, eight are seniors, four juniors, five sophomores and nine are freshmen.

The seniors were Abraham, Easum, Gann, Henderson, MaGill, Olsen, Cole and Faulkner. With the exception of a couple athletes, most were on the track team all four years.

“They’ve just done a great job of steadily improving and getting better every year and working hard and having fun at what they’re doing,” said Smith. “It’s been a really good group of kids to work with.”

One of the track team’s annual goals “is to get as many freshmen to state as we can,” Smith said. He cited the experience the tournament provides and how it becomes a goal to strive for throughout the regular season. That goal was accomplished with the freshman class making up the largest share of Powell’s contingent at the state meet.

Freshmen enjoy experience

“It’s really big and it’s kind of scary at first, but I appreciate the opportunity that I got and I worked hard all season to get here,” said Shoopman. She said she wants to progress in her events, especially the hurdles.

“I’m just happy to be here,” she said in Casper. “It’s really fun and it’s really nerve-racking but after it’s all done, I’m just so glad that I came.”

Cox and Karhu qualified for state in four events. (Abraham was the only other Panther boy to compete in four.)

“It’s really just a big rush and it’s very exciting to know that this is just one of four years that we get to compete,” Cox said. “I mean, me and [Karhu] will both keep growing and get stronger and hopefully just keep getting better at each event that we do. Being able to compete at four events at state, it’s just special.”

Karhu similarly described himself as “super excited” to be at state for the first time.

“This was so much fun. I wouldn’t trade it for the world and I’m just super stoked for the next few years, because we have two very young relay teams and as we go each year, we are going to improve and improve and get faster and get first place,” he said. “It was an honor to do four events.”

On the girls team, O’Neill was the only member to compete in four events.

Though it can be stressful, “I like being able to compete in four events, I like having that opportunity,” she said. O’Neill added that she really likes competing in Casper because of its lively atmosphere.

Thanks

Shoopman, Cox, Karhu and O’Neill thanked their coaches for pushing and helping them throughout the season.

Karhu said it’s not always easy after running a race — when you’re trying to catch your breath — to thank a coach, but once you take a few seconds, “you realize they helped you get there.”

Shoopman thanked not only her coaches, but also her friends in track, “because they are all super supportive. They’re awesome,” she said, equating the track team to a family.

O’Neill said middle distance coach Tracy McArthur “really encouraged me this year ... and I am just really thankful to have her as my coach.”

Beyond the coaches, Cox thanked family and friends, “for supporting me through everything, even through the bad times, because that’s when you need it the most.”

Coach Smith thanked all the high school and middle school coaches.

“A lot of these kids have been doing track since seventh grade in Powell and had a good experience working their way up and that has everything to do with those coaches,” Smith said, saying he appreciates “everything they’ve done.”

With a young team, this PHS track season was kind of a rebuilding year and next year the team will still be young, but experienced. 

“The pieces are there to be a really good team on both sides,” Smith said. “I’m really excited about the future.”

100 Meter Dash Preliminaries

5. TJ Abraham 11.55, 18. Paige Gann 12.34

100 Meter Dash Finals

4. TJ Abraham 11.15

200 Meter Dash Preliminaries

7. TJ Abraham 23.42

200 Meter Dash Finals

5. TJ Abraham 23.08

400 Meter Dash Preliminaries

8. Brody Karhu 52.90, 11. Jay Cox 53.70

400 Meter Dash Finals

7.  Brody Karhu 51.99

800 Meter Run

10. Jay Cox 2:07.79

1600 Meter Run

8. Alan Merritt 4:46.46

3200 Meter Run

6. Alan Merritt 10:35.75

110 Meter Hurdles Preliminaries

4. Nate MaGill 16.29

110 Meter Hurdles Finals

6. Nate MaGill 16.02

300 Meter Hurdles Preliminaries

2. Paige Gann 42.67, 5. Nate MaGill 42.87

300 Meter Hurdles Finals

3. Paige Gann 40.87, 6. Nate MaGill 42.87

4x100 Meter Relay

3. AJ Lewis, Mason Olsen, Paige Gann and TJ Abraham 45.07

4x400 Meter Relay

3. Jay Cox, TJ Abraham, Paige Gann and Brody Karhu 3:34.25

4x800 Meter Relay

7. Jay Cox, Colin Queen, Alan Merritt and Brody Karhu 8:56.22

High Jump

3. Colby Warner 6’ 2”

Shot Put

9. Mason Olsen 43’ 7.75”

Discus

6. Mason Olsen 136’ 10”, 13. Zach Easum 117’ 7”

200 Meter Dash Preliminaries

8. Caitlyn Miner 28.62, 12. Kady Wells 29.07

200 Meter Dash Finals

7. Cailtyn Miner 27.58

400 Meter Dash Preliminaries

2. JuliaKay O’Neill 1:02.50, 11. Natalie Dillivan 1:06.50

400 Meter Dash Finals

2. JuliaKay O’Neill 1:00.96

800 Meter Run

2. JuliaKay O’Neill 2:17.29

100 Meter Hurdles Preliminaries

8. Sabrina Shoopman 17.37

100 Meter Hurdles Finals

8. Sabrina Shoopman 16.99

300 Meter Hurdles Preliminaries

11. Sabrina Shoopman 53.12, 13. Maddy Hanks 53.98

4x400 Meter Relay

2. Maddy Hanks, Sabrina Shoopman, Natalie Dillivan and JuliaKay O’Neill 4:14.62

4x800 Meter Relay

5. Rachelle Cole, Hailee Paul, Teo Faulkner and JuliaKay O’Neill 10:54.05

Pole Vault

3. Maddy Hanks 9’ 6”, 8.

Caitlyn Miner 8’ 6”

Long Jump

14. Aubrie Stenerson 14’ 0.75”

Shot Put

15. Rachel Bonander 29’ 10.25”

Discus

8. Rachel Bonander 107’ 11”

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