Lovell thinclads soar at Regionals Track as boys place second, girls fifth while athletes break three school records

Traveling to Pinedale for the 3A West Regional Track and Field Meet last week, the Lovell Bulldogs continued to peak at the right time as they turned in many outstanding performances, breaking three more school records in the process.

The Lovell boys placed second behind only Cody in the eight-team field, accumulating 127 points to 147 for Cody. Powell placed third with 119 points, Mountain View fourth (112). Worland edged Lander for the girls regional title with 141.5 points to Lander’s 140.5. Powell had 121 points, Cody 105.5 and Lovell 86 for fifth place.

“It was a fantastic meet for us, gauging by the fact that we had a lot of personal records and people qualifying (for State) in events they weren’t supposed to qualify in or moved up from their seeding,” head coach Joshua Sanders said. “You do have pockets of disappointment, so it’s a wave of emotions.”

Records go down

The Lovell boys broke school records in the 400 meters, 100-meter dash and 400-meter relay and broke a few Pinedale stadium records, as well, Sanders noted.

One of the highlights was the performance of sophomore Hunter Krei in the 100-meter dash. Krei blazed the 100 in 10.69 in the preliminaries Friday, beating the school record of 10.76 set by Brandon Hessenthaler in 1995. He then won the race Saturday in a time of 10.95. Sanders noted that Krei has been close to breaking the record throughout the season.

“He finally did it,” Sanders said. “He’s been knocking on that door, and he kicked it wide open in the prelims. Ever since he reached the 10s (seconds), he hasn’t gone back to the 11s. He’s addicted to the 10s.”

Senior Jacob Thomas placed 11th in the 100 meters and missed the automatic qualification time (11.64) by 2/100ths of a second, running a personal record time of 11.66.

Krei also placed second in the 200-meter dash, running a personal record time of 22.26 in the prelims and 22.55 in the finals. 

The team of Kaeson Anderson, Krei, Nate Cornia and Owen Walker broke the school record in the 400-meter relay, placing second in the event in 43.21 to crush the record of 43.65 set in 2024 (Adnan Khan, Blake Wilson, Matthew Newman and Gavin Robertson) and tied in 2025 (Krei, Cornia, Newman and Robertson).

“This is great,” Sanders said. “Now we only have to put one school record on the record board. You have to have four guys with speed and handoffs that work. Those are the two big elements. But there’s also a lot of strategy to it.”

Newman shattered his own school record in the 400-meter dash but placed second to Corbin Lake of Mountain View by 15/100ths of a second. Newman ran a time of 48.80, Lake 48.65. Newman placed first in the preliminary heats, running 50.09.

“Those are two exceptional times,” Sanders said. “The Lake kid ran hard on the back stretch, went all out on the back stretch when the wind was pushing him. Matthew ran out of time to catch him and was also fighting the wind (trying to do so). Either way, it was a great run and will be a fantastic race at State.”

Newman and Anderson ran the hurdles well in Pinedale. Newman placed first in the 110-meter prelims in 15.04, just 7/100ths of a second off his school record, then won the finals in 15.25. Anderson placed fifth in both the prelims and finals, running a personal record 16.34 in the prelims and 16.88 in the finals. Anderson placed sixth in the 300-meter hurdles in a personal record time of 42.16 after placing fifth in the prelims in 42.46.

Newman didn’t run the 300 hurdles this week but has prequalified for State and will run the 300s in Casper, Sanders said.

In field events, Walker won the long jump, hitting the sand at 21-5½, but the story of the day was Cornia, Sanders said, who placed eighth to qualify for State with a jump of 19-4½, and he did so on his final jump.

“I was happy for Nathan Cornia,” the coach said. “He did it on his last attempt, which is always a cool thing, something you don’t forget.

“Owen didn’t feel springy, but he went 21 feet in five of his six jumps.”

Walker also won the high jump, clearing 6-1, and Anderson cleared 5-9 to place seventh. Senior Owen Edwards placed fifth in the pole vault, clearing 12-6.

Newman and Braxton Nelson had a battle in the triple jump. Newman won the event 46-9¾, jumping just two inches farther than Nelson.

“It will be another battle at State,” Sanders predicted.

Walker placed fourth at 43 feet.

Senior Halen Strom won both of the throwing events, throwing 50-10 in the shot put and 147-2, a personal record, in the discus. It was Strom’s first regional title in the discus, though he also won the shot put a year ago at the 3A West in Powell.

Junior Tazz McArthur squeaked into the finals in ninth place in the shot put, then blasted a personal record throw of 46-9¾ to place fourth.

“That was pretty cool,” Sanders said.

McArthur also placed second in the discus with a toss of 143-8.

Other Lovell boys results at the 3A West Regional were:

100m dash – Anthony Garcia 26th in prelims, 12.23, Robert Capers 27th in prelims, 12.36 (PR); 200m dash – Nate Cornia 11th in prelims, 24.07 (PR), Capers 22nd in prelims, 25.46 (PR); 400m dash -- Jacob Thomas 13th in prelims, 55.43; 800 meters – Thomas 11th, 2:12.62, Isaac Sanders 15th, 2:16.07 (PR), Grant Rose 19th, 2:23.94 (PR), Ethan Hendershot 20th, 2:29.99 (PR); 1,600 meters – Sanders 14th, 5:18.57, Rose 21st, 5:45.03, Hendershot 22nd, 5:48.72 (PR); 3,200 meters – Hendershot 19th, 13:56.55; 1,600m sprint medley relay – Lovell (Krei, Garcia, Cornia, Thomas) sixth, 4:04; 1,600m relay – Lovell (Capers, Rose, Sanders, Hendershot) sixth, 4:07.45; long jump – Capers 14th, 17-5¾, Garcia 15th, 16-11¾; shot put – Grant Hill 16th, 41-0 (PR), Joaquin Scheeler 18th, 39-11; discus – Scheeler 16th, 115-9, Kyle Wilson 19th, 114-1.

Walker sisters battle

Perhaps the highlight of the girls division was the friendly competition between the Walker twins. Sisters Ali and Avery each found success in various events but went head-to-head in the horizontal jumps. Friday, Avery was leading her sister late in the long jump with a personal record jump of 16-10¼ when Ali eclipsed her to place first with a leap of 17-2¾ (a PR). Avery placed third.

“Ali was in eighth place until her last jump,” Sanders said. “She went from zero to hero. Her last jump won it. She was sitting eighth and literally jumped to first.”

Saturday in the triple jump, Avery captured the regional title with a jump of 37-2¾, and Ali placed third at 36-10, a PR.

“They definitely compete against each other, no doubt about that,” Sanders said.

Avery Walker also placed fourth in the high jump, clearing 5-4, while Ali ran a leg of the sprint medley relay with Brooklin Clark, Jaycie Allen and Kandace Asay that placed fifth but qualified for State on time, running 4:32.69.

Both sisters ran on the 400-meter relay team that broke the school record in Thermopolis but was disqualified Friday due to two exchanges out of the zone. The team had already qualified for State and will run in Casper.

Senior Becca Nichols is performing well as her career comes to an end. She placed seventh in the 400-meter dash in a time of 1:01.40, a personal record, after qualifying eighth in the prelims in 1:04.54. She also placed fifth in the 200-meter dash in 27.67 after running 27.31 in the prelims.

Asay ran a personal record in the 800 meters and placed sixth in a time of 2:26.81, and Sanders noted that she ran in third place for much of the race. Asay suffered disappointment in the 1,600 meter, Sanders said, finishing 11th in 6:02.86 as the altitude in Pinedale got to her.

“I felt bad for her in the mile,” Sanders said. “She was just cooked by the time the race finished. Her legs were dead. The altitude was hard on our distance runners.”

Clark placed sixth in the 300-meter low hurdles in 50.27 after qualifying seventh in 49.61. She missed finals in the 100-meter hurdles by 11/100ths of a second, finishing ninth in the prelims in 17.14. Clark also placed fifth in the long jump at 33-6.

Freshman Macie Anderson placed fourth in the 200-meter dash in 27.64 after qualifying fifth in the preliminaries in 27.12, a personal record, and she placed sixth in the 100-meter dash in 13:32 after qualifying eighth in 13.23.

In the throws, junior Celeste Lindsay placed in both events, finishing second in the shot put with a toss of 37-5½ and fourth in the discus at 110-9. Sophomore Christina Zollman placed eighth in the shot put and set a personal record with a throw of 34-4½.

Other Lovell girls results at the 3A West Regional were:

100m dash – Becca Nichols 14th in preliminaries, 13.58, Ava Edwards 22nd in prelims, 14.52 (PR), Jaycie Allen 23rd in prelims, 14.53; 200m dash – Kaycie Marberry 18th in prelims, 31.74; 400m dash – Eliza Wagner 17th in prelims, 1:08.45, Gracie Angell 18th in prelims, 1:09.19 (PR), Marberry 22nd in prelims, 1:13.31; 800 meters – Wagner 12th, 2:44.76, Angell 14th, 2:52.96, Caylee Herman 16th, 3:06.66; 1,600 meters – Candace Walker 18th, 6:58.08, Bonnie Buchholz 19th, 6:59.37 (PR); 3,200 meters – C. Walker 14th, 15:59.87; 100m hurdles – Myles May 13th in prelims, 17.82, Edwards 14th in prelims, 18.10 (PR); 300m hurdles – Edwards 17th in prelims, 55.17, May 18th in prelims, 55.43; 1,600m relay – Lovell (Edwards, Herman, Angell, Wagner) sixth, 4:43.85; 3,200m relay – Lovell (Angell, Herman, Asay, Wagner) fifth, 11:02.80; long jump – Macie Anderson ninth, 15-2¾, Allen 14th, 14-5; shot put – Morgan Harshman 11th, 33-9½, Brynnlee Spanier 15th, 28-11½; discus – Harshman 10th, 99-1 (PR), Spanier 13th, 90-2 (PR), Christina Zollman 14th, 87-11.

State track

The Bulldogs will be in Casper this week for the Wyoming State Track and Field Meet. Action begins Thursday at Casper Kelly Walsh High School with the 3,200 meters and various field events at 2 p.m. The meet continues Friday and Saturday at 9 a.m. each day.

The Lovell boys are the defending Class 3A champions, edging Cody last year 117-110.