LMS thinclads look strong at Best of the Best

The Best of the Best meet in Lander Tuesday, May 13, was the final event for Lovell Middle School track athletes. To attend this annual event in Lander, athletes must meet a certain qualifying mark. It is a big accomplishment to attend this meet, and all athletes attending worked hard this season to make it there.

Making it to this meet would not have been possible without the support of the coaches. Coaches for the Lovell Middle School Bulldogs were Collin McArthur, head and running coach, Marci Durtsche, hurdles and high jump coach, Brad McConnell, jumping coach, and Kenneth Mayes, throwing coach. About the Best of the Best meet, McArthur noted, “The kids did a fantastic job. In most of the events that our kids were entered in, we had a kid on the podium.” 

8th grade Boys

The eighth-grade boys had two at Best of the Best to represent them. Isaac Sanders and Oscar Garcia both ran the 800 meters. Sanders placed fifth, running a time of 2:28.96. Garcia was close behind with a time of 2:30.71. 

7th grade Boys

Bradley Mickelson, Garrett Henley and Landen Peterson all had successful performances in the field events portion of the meet. Mickelson ended the high jump in fourth place, clearing 5-2 to secure his placing. Henley competed in the triple jump, where he placed fifth with a jump of 31-5.5. Peterson placed 10th in the shot put, throwing 29-3.75. 

Other Lovell seventh-grade boys results were: 

400m – Garrett Henley 23rd; long jump – Bradley Mickelson 12th, Henley 14th; triple jump – Landon Asay 28th; discus – Landen Peterson 11th. 

8th grade Girls

Last week’s story missed mentioning that Gracie Angell placed second in the triple jump at the conference meet in Worland. Angell jumped 30-7.5, a personal best for her.

At the Best of the Best meet, Myles May was a top finisher from Lovell. May placed second in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 17.18. May later secured third place in the long jump by leaping 14-4.25. Later, jumping 30-9 in the triple jump put May in third place once again.

Macie Anderson had four top five finishes at the meet in Lander. Anderson began by placing fifth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.79. Running a 28.42 in the 200-meter dash secured a fourth-place finish for Anderson in that event. In the field events, Anderson cleared 4-6 in the high jump, good for fifth place, and to finish off the day, she placed fourth in the long jump with a leap of 14-3.75. 

Morgan Harshman was the Best of the Best champion for the eighth-grade girls in shot put. Harshman threw 32-6.5, almost two feet farther than the athlete in second place. Harshman also placed third in discus with a throw of 85-0.

Other Lovell eighth-grade girls results were: 

800m – Gracie Angell 11th; long jump – Angell 16th; triple jump – Angell 10th; pole vault – Daisy Carpenter fourth; discus – Brynnlee Spanier 18th, Randi Ayotte 21st; shot put – Ayotte 12th. 

7th grade Girls

Rubie Weber took two Best of the Best champion medals home. Weber placed first in the long jump with a leap of 14-8.25. She later placed first again in the triple jump, where she jumped a 32-2.5. Weber also placed sixth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 29.64. 

Oakley Anderson had two top 10 finishes in Lander. Anderson placed seventh in the 100-meter dash, with a time of 14.14. Anderson went on to place third in the 100-meter hurdles, completing this event in 17.93, less than a second behind the first and second place finishers. 

Other Lovell seventh-grade girls results were:

200m – Oakley Anderson 14th, Greenlee Pillow 28th; 100m hurdles – Janelle Asay 14th; 200m hurdles – Asay 17th; long jump – Anderson 35th; triple jump – Laney Felkins 13th; pole vault – Oakley Bischoff seventh; 4x400 relay – Lovell 11th. 

6th grade Girls

Though she was competing against seventh graders as well as sixth graders, Nellie Guccion claimed two top-five finishes at the Best of the Best meet. In the 800-meter run, Guccion ran 2:39.08 to put her in fifth place. Later when she ran the 1,600-meter run, Guccion placed fourth with a time of 5:49.17.

MaKynna Mayes had a successful meet, as well, ending in second place. Mayes jumped 14-5.25, a personal best for her.

Other Lovell sixth-grade girls results were: 

800m – Chloe Asay seventh; 1,600m – Asay sixth; triple jump – Emily Sanders 27th, Gemma Walker 29th; pole vault – Sanders seventh.

Though the season is just barely over, McArthur is already looking forward to next year. 

“We still have a lot of talent coming back from the sixth— and seventh—grade girls,” he said.

Even with many athletes in the program returning, McArthur hopes that the team will be able to recruit more classmates to join.

“We’ll just have as many come out as we can and hopefully get some more kids,” he said.