Lady Grizz 400-meter relay team breaks school record

Saturday’s Powell Track Invitational brought warm weather, lots of new sunburns and several new personal records to the RMHS track team.

The highlight of the meet was a 400-meter relay school record by Shelby Wambeke, Brittly Boettcher, MacKelle Moss and Kaitey Christensen. 

“They’ve been flirting with the record since last year,” said head coach Tobee Christiansen. “It was fun to see them finally get it.” The two juniors and two seniors “really ran an outstanding race from start to finish.” Their time of 52:89 easily broke the former school record of 53:05 held by Angelina Helms, Teagan Townsend, Abrianne Crosby and Marissa Arnold set in 2017.

MacKelle Moss followed up her new record by setting personal bests in the 200 meters at 27:58 and the 400 meters by running 61:62. She placed fourth in both those races. MacKelle continued the trend by placing fourth in high jump as well with a jump of 5-1. When asked about Moss’ success, Christiansen said, “MacKelle has been putting in work. She pushes herself consistently and knows what it takes to succeed. It has been fun to watch it pay off.”

The Lady Grizz continued to show promise in the pole vault with both Tarynn Schoening and Layla Gardner posting personal bests. Gardner placed seventh with a vault of 7-0 and Schoening placed eighth with a vault of 6-6. Keylee Christiansen only missed placing because of the tiebreaker rule with her vault of 6-6. “Overall it was a great day for these ladies,” said the coach.

The girls throwing team has continued to improve this season, with two girls placing. Rylee Winland threw three feet over her season best with a shot put of 33-4, placing fourth. Elliahna Scheeler placed seventh with a discus throw of 98-8, beating her personal best by more than 10 feet. 

“It has been fun to watch our throwers working hard. Rylee and Elliahna had some great success this weekend in a huge meet with a lot of competition. They are two great girls that have put in time and effort.” said Christiansen.

One more RMHS girl that placed was Christensen as she continues to contend across the state with a leap of 14-2 in the long jump, placing eighth.

“Although the boys team is strong in numbers, they are younger and less experienced than our girls team this year. It is difficult for young athletes to compete in middle school for so long and then suddenly be thrust into varsity competitions with athletes from big 3A and 4A schools. I appreciate their willingness to work at every practice to do their best at every meet,” Christiansen said, adding, “We have a strong group of distance runners at RMHS that are putting in the miles everyday, and I’m sure they will be placing more in the small meets.” Christiansen specifically mentioned “his appreciation for Lafe Files and Emma Sponsel, both running the 800 for their first time this weekend.”

One athlete who competes right along with the best athletes from the state is Hudson May. May placed seventh in the 200 meters with a time of 24:64, and in the 400-meter dash he flew to a second place finish with a time of 53:32. 

“I would love to see Hudson May get around that 50 mark in the 400,” Christiansen said. “He’s battled some sickness this week, so I felt like he really gutted that time out this week.” 

Grizz athlete Landon Pruett also placed seventh in the 400 with a time of 58:59, his personal best.

“It will be good to have a full week of practice,” said Christiansen. “We’ve had a lot of distractions the past several weeks with school breaks and state events like FFA, FBLA and music competitions. They are all very worthy activities, but it gets tough to keep kids thinking about track. Hopefully we can have some great weather to bring us back to the center.”

This Saturday, April 20, the Rocky thinclads will compete in the Lovell Invitational Track Meet at LHS.