Regional champs!

Bulldogs capture 3A West Regional track title

Regional champions. This season is the first time the two words can be uttered for a Lovell High School track and field team at the Class 3A level after the Lovell Bulldogs captured the Class 3A West Regional title Saturday in Powell.

Lovell topped a field of eight teams with 163.5 points, beating Cody with 143 points and Lander with 104.

The Lovell girls placed a solid fifth with 63.5 points ahead of Pinedale, Mountain View and Lyman. Lander won the girls team title.

Asked about his impressions about the meet, head coach Joshua Sanders said the first thing that came to his mind was how happy he was for seniors who qualified for State.

“I came away really happy about some of our seniors who performed well and who hadn’t made it to State but qualified this year,” he said. “They stuck with it, and it paid off for them.”

Sanders said he was referring to Stetson Asay in the 800 meters, Talon Burton in the pole vault and Jarrett Allen in the triple jump.

As for the team title, Sanders was thrilled for his team and program.

“We’re ecstatic, our first 3A regional title for Lovell High School,” he said. “It’s a big accomplishment that speaks to everything we’re doing.”

Lovell athletes broke three school records in Powell, two by junior Matthew Newman.

Perhaps most notable, Newman broke the 32-year-old record in the triple jump held by David Walker. Newman sailed 46-8½ to eclipse the mark of 46-5 set by Walker in 1993, doing so with the crowd clapping on his final jump in finals.

“One thing we’ve learned about Matthew is that he always seems to jump better in finals,” Sanders said. “On that jump on his second phase he almost didn’t leave room for his third jump. He was almost in the sand. I think the crowd gave him the little bit of adrenalin he needed.”

Fellow junior Owen Walker placed second in the triple jump at 44-3½, a personal record, and Allen placed third, hitting the pit in a personal record 39-11. Nate Cornia finished 10th at 37-10.

“Owen was struggling with his finish, and he finally ironed it out. He wasn’t getting his feet out in front of him on his landing,” Sander said. “Jarrett set a PR. I’m looking forward to whether he can do it at State. Something has really clicked for Jarrett. All six of his jumps the last couple of weeks have been really good.”

Newman’s other school record came in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles as he blazed the course in 38.58, breaking his own record of 39.53 set last season. His run also broke the regional meet record of 38.96 set by Gage Gose of Lander in 2022.

“It helped that he had some good competition,” Sanders said of Newman’s record. He knew the Cody kid (Boston Cronebaugh, 38.92) would give him a race.”

Newman also won the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.58 after running 15.52 in the preliminaries.

Sophomore Kaeson Anderson placed seventh in the 300 hurdles in 42.84 (personal record 42.66 in prelims) and sixth in the 110-meter hurdles in 17.25 (personal record 16.81 in the prelims).

“Kaeson has been running really well,” Sanders said. “He’s trending upward and is feeling better and better.”

Sanders was pleased to see Asay qualify for State in the 800 meters as a senior, placing seventh at 2:06.85.

“He ran a really good time,” the coach noted. “He and Coach (Caleb) Sanders have felt pressure to get there. I think he was disappointed after running 2:12 in Thermopolis. He knew he had to run 2:06, and he had to battle on the final stretch. His high school progression has been mammoth.”

Sanders also noted the performance of the pole vaulters. Senior Taggart Shumway won the event, clearing 14 feet, and Burton was a strong second at 13 feet, a personal record. Owen Edwards placed fifth at 12 feet.

“Talon was huge,” Sanders said. “He set a PR by a foot and a half. He was in the zone.”

Coaches named Burton as the boys athlete of the week.

Junior Halen Strom set a personal record in winning the shot put with a throw of 51-3¾, and he placed fourth in the discus at 133-9.

“Halen was disappointed in his discus throws and told me on the bus in a very determined way, ‘I’m going to rock in the shot,’” Sanders said. “The way he said it, I believed him, and sure enough.”

Brody Muller placed seventh in the shot put at 44-3¾, and Tazz McArthur placed seventh in the discus with a throw of 129-11, a personal record.

Walker won two events, taking the title in the long jump with a leap of 22-¾ and in the high jump, clearing 6-4. Senior Gavin Robertson finished just behind him in the long jump, placing second at 22-½.

Newman cleared 6 feet in the high jump to place second, and Anderson placed fifth at 5-10.

In the sprints, Robertson placed third in the 100-meter dash in 11.19 after running 11.11 in the trials, and freshman Hunter Krei placed fourth in 11.33 after tying with Robertson in the prelims at 11.11. Robertson also finished third in the 200-meter dash in 22.52, Krei sixth in 23.08, a PR.

The 400-meter relay team of Anthony Garcia, Robertson, Krei and Walker placed second in a time of 44.03, and the quartet of Krei, Cornia, Jacob Thomas and Asay finished just out of the running for a state berth in the 1,600 sprint medley relay at 3:57.53, placing fifth. The foursome of Shumway, Thomas, Anderson and Cornia finished seventh in the 1,600-meter relay in 3:48.41.

Other boys results at Regionals in Powell were:

100m dash – Anthony Garcia 14th in prelims, 11.74 (PR), Nate Cornia 19th in prelims, 11.93 (PR); 200m dash – Garcia 16th in prelims, 24.52; 400m dash – Jacob Thomas 12th in prelims, 53.97, Wilson Hendershot 20th in prelims, 59.83 (PR); 800 meters – Cutler Wilkerson 20th, 2:35.17 (PR), Gabe Buchholz 21st, 2:41.20; 1,600 meters – Stetson Asay 14th, 5:03.38, Wilkerson 27th, 5:55.52 (PR), Buchholz 28th, 6:01.17 (PR); long jump – Hendershot 12th, 18-8½, Garcia 15th, 17-10¼; shot put – Braxton Felkins 12th, 41-¾, Jace Pluhar 16th, 39-7; discus – Pluhar 13th, 119-1, Grant Hill 21st, 105-7.

Girls results

A notable school record fell in the girls division at the 3A West. Freshman Avery Walker topped the record in the triple jump set by Karen Koritnik (now Wagner) in 2011. Walker placed second in the event with a jump of 37-½, topping the mark of 36-3¼ set by Koritnik.

“She did it on her first jump,” Sanders noted. “She crushed it. That’s a phenomenal jump for a freshman. It’ll be interesting to see how she progresses over the next few years.”

Three other Lady Bulldogs placed in the triple jump to punch their ticket to State. Ali Walker placed fourth with a leap of 34-9½, Becca Nichols fifth at 34-3 and Brooklin Clark eighth at 33-4.

“Any time you get four going to State (in one event), that’s a big deal,” Sanders said.

Avery Walker also placed sixth in the long jump at 16-2¼ and fifth in the high jump, clearing 4-11. Sanders said Walker had excellent form and was well over the bar at 4-11, adding, “I think she can do even better at State.”

Nichols, a junior, ran under 13 seconds in the 100-meter dash, placing second in 12.93 after running a strong 13.05 in the preliminaries. She also placed fifth in the 200-meter dash in 27.06 after running 26.19 in the prelims.

“Becca is running really good,” Sanders said. “She had a condensed ending to the meet, with the 100, 200, triple jump and 4 by 400 almost all at once.”

The team of Avery and Ali Walker, Janelle Hessenthaler and Jaycie Allen placed fourth in the 400-meter dash in 53.43, and the quartet of Hessenthaler, Allen, Ali Walker and Kandace Asay placed fourth in the 1,600-meter sprint medley relay in 4:44.05.

Knowing she had the 1,600-meter relay coming soon, Asay loped to a time of 1:22.63 in the 400-meter finals, placing seventh, but she qualified the day before at 1:03.73, a personal record.

Clark was strong in the hurdles. She placed fourth in the 100-meter intermediate hurdles in 17.14 after running a personal record 16.99 in the preliminaries. She also placed seventh in the 300-meter low hurdles in 49.53 after qualifying the day before in 48.73, also a PR.

The foursome of Jenna Hessenthaler, Caylee Herman, Elana Schilthuis and Asay placed fourth in the 3,200-meter relay in a season best time of 10:35.24, and the team of Clark, Ali Walker, Asay and Nichols placed sixth in the 1,600-meter relay in 4:19.05, having already qualified for State by time.

Coaches named Schilthuis as the female athlete of the week, and Sanders noted she ran the second fastest split on the 3,200-meter relay team and set personal records in two other events.

Sanders said most everyone on the team appears to be peaking at the right time, and he said it was remarkable that freshman Christina Zollman threw nearly 32 feet in the shot put (personal record 31-9¼) but didn’t place, finishing 11th in a tough field.

Other girls results at Regionals in Powell were:

100m dash – Janelle Hessenthaler tie for 12th in prelims, 13.65 (PR); 200m dash – Janelle Hessenthaler 13th in prelims, 28.99; 400m dash – Caylee Herman 13th in prelims, 1:06.41; 800 meters – Herman 14th, 2:35.70 (PR), Jenna Hessenthaler 16th, 2:36.37 (PR), Candace Walker 20th, 2:53.22 (PR); 1,600 meters – Elana Schilthuis 17th, 6:11.27 (PR); 3,200 meters – Schilthuis 13th, 13:07.71 (PR), Addie Weber 16th, 14:45.68 (PR); 100m hurdles – Ava Edwards 20th in prelims, 18:98 (PR); 300m hurdles – Edwards 20th, 55.51 (PR); long jump – Jaycie Allen 12th, 14-11, Edwards 15th, 14-½, Hannity Felkins 16th, 13-11¾; shot put – Felkins 16th, 28-11, Caitlyn Allen 27th, 22-4¼, Brezhae Espinoza 28th, 21-3; discus – Christina Zollman 18th, 93-1 (PR), C. Allen 24th, 75-7 (PR), Espinoza 26th, 65-3 (PR).

State track meet

The Bulldogs will conclude the season at the Wyoming State Track Meet at Kelly Walsh High School in Casper Thursday through Saturday. Action begins today (Thursday) at 2 p.m. and continues Friday and Saturday at 9 a.m.