Lady Panthers first, Panthers second at Regional
38 qualify for state meet in Casper
Aiden Jacobsen (left), Jayden Yates (center) and Jay Cox (right) of Powell High School battle for positioning amid a pack of opponents during the 800 meter run at regionals. Fellow Panther Ethan Bartholomew is pictured in the pack.
PHOTO COURTESY DEAN BARTHOLOMEW
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The Powell High School track and field teams made their mark at Saturday’s 3A West Regional Meet in Pinedale: The Lady Panthers won the team title while the Panthers finished second.
The race for the girls’ title was as close as it gets, as just a half point separated Powell (111.50 points) and Lyman (111). Pinedale rounded out the top three with 109 points.
On the boys’ side, the Panthers finished with 156.50 points, second to Mountain View with 184 points. The teams have now combined to qualify 38 athletes for next week’s state meet in Casper.
“We were really pleased with the effort, the kids ran hard and put it out there,” said PHS head coach Scott Smith. “We got a lot of PRs, and the kids were aggressive — they got after it. I was just really happy with the way it went.”
Lady Panthers
The Lady Panthers won only one event at the regional meet, but had enough top eight finishes to claim the top spot. The Lady Panthers will send 15 athletes to state.
“When it gets that close, there’s really not much you can do; you just kind of sit back and watch,” Smith said. “I tell the kids to just go out and do your best, and someone upstairs will push a button on a computer and a printout will come out and tell us who won.”
Sabrina Shoopman was the team’s lone gold medalist, finishing first in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 46.98. She also placed fourth in the 100 meter hurdles, and ran a leg in the 4x400 meter relay, finishing third with teammates Abigail Urbach, Caitlyn Miner and Jenna Hillman.
Hillman, a freshman, was also second in the 200 meter dash, third in the 400 meter dash and fourth in the 100 meter dash.
“Jenna Hillman had a great meet. She had a couple of PRs running against really good competition,” Smith said. “Most of the good sprinters are on our side of the state, so she did a great job.”
Joining Hillman on the podium in the 200 meters was Emma Karhu, who finished seventh; Shoopman also qualified in the 400 meters, finishing fourth.
Three of the four Lady Panthers’ relay teams qualified for state: Joining the 4x400 team at state will be the third place 4x100 team of Jayden Asher, Jaz Haney, Emma Karhu and Caitlyn Miner; and the 4x800 team of Sidney O’Brien, Elizabeth Liggett, Hailee Paul and Hailee Hyde, which finished fourth.
In the field events, Gabri Lundberg finished second and Hyde finished third in the high jump, each clearing a height of 4 feet, 10 inches.
“We were hoping they would both [Lundberg and Hyde] get qualified for state, but for them to take second and third, that was a great bump up in points for us,” Smith said.
Emma Karhu finished second in the pole vault with a height of 9 feet, 9 inches, while teammate Maddie Hackenberg finished fourth at 8 feet, 3 inches. Hackenberg was also the lone placer for the Lady Panthers in the long jump. Her eighth-place finish — with a distance of 14 feet, 10.25 inches — was a personal best, and she may have given the team the one point it needed to take the team title.
“The one point making the difference and Maddie [Hackenberg] having a big PR to do it played a part for sure,” Smith said. “But there had also been a clerical error as well that if it hadn’t got caught, that would have put us third instead of first. So there were a couple of factors that worked in our favor.”
In the throwing events, Rachel Bonander finished runner-up in the discus and third in the shot put. Teammate Cassidy Miner, meanwhile, took seventh in the shot put; both girls had previously prequalified in both throwing events.
“Rachel Bonander was good and steady in the throws for us,” Smith said. “She didn’t throw well in the prelims, but she got into the finals and moved herself up a long ways in shot. It was good to see her come out and compete like that.”
Panthers
Jay Cox led the charge for the Panthers, winning two individual events and a relay event. The junior placed first in the 400 and 800 meter runs with times of 51.36 and 1:58.89, respectively; he and teammates Dylan Preator, Aidan Jacobsen and Brody Karhu won the 4x400 relay in a time of 3:33.66.
“For Jay [Cox] to run an under two-minute 800, you just don’t see that very often in Wyoming,” Smith said. “For him to do that was a big deal.”
Karhu also had a solid day. He took second in the pole vault, clearing a height of 14 feet, 4 inches, while finishing third in the 200 and 400 meters. Karhu’s battle for supremacy in the pole vault with Mountain View’s Connor Micheli — who took the top spot by clearing 14 feet, 10 inches — was one to remember, according to Smith.
“Both of those guys [Karhu and Micheli] had 15 foot vaults going into the regional meet, so you knew it was going to be a good competition” Smith said. “It was back and forth, and I’m sure it will be the same at state. It was really close. We have a couple of things we can work on to improve Brody and we’ll see where that goes.”
Joining Karhu and Groves on the podium in the pole vault were Reece Hackenberg (fifth place) and Reed Smith (eighth).
Alan Merritt was the top Panther finisher in the 1600 and 3200 meter runs, placing fifth and third, respectively; teammate Jayden Yates also ran strong, making the podium in all three distance events. The 400 featured the most state qualifiers for one event, with Cox, Karhu, Aidan Jacobsen and Cole Frank all making the podium.
“The distance kids ran well. We had three in the 800, three in the 2-mile and two in the mile, so that was helpful,” Smith said. “It was a tough go for all the distance kids with the altitude. But I think our strongest event overall was probably the 400, where we got all four kids qualified for state.”
Kaelan Groves qualified for state in two sprint events, finishing third in the 100 meters and sixth in the 200 meters; the junior also finished third in the pole vault.
The one-two punch of first-year hurdlers Dylan Preator and Kadden Abraham continued to impress: Preator finished fourth in both the 110 and 300 meter hurdles, while Abraham was fifth in the 110 and third in the 300.
“Dylan [Preator] knocked over a second off his personal best in the 300, and Kadden knocked over 2 seconds off his,” Smith said. He said it was great to see both qualify in the 110 hurdles at this point in the season.
“Neither one of them had hurdled before this year,” Smith said, “so they’ve come a long way.”
Preator had a PR in the triple jump by over a foot to finish second, while teammate Dalton Woodward finished fourth.
In the throwing events, Ryan Good’s throw of 140 feet, 11 inches was good for fourth place; he missed the podium in the shot put with an 11th-place finish, but had prequalified in the event earlier in the season. Sophomore Zeke Frankenberry will be making his first trip to state, posting a sixth-place finish in the shot put and placing eighth in the discus.
“Zeke [Frankenberry] did a really nice job in both events,” Smith said. “He works hard, and it’s good to see him coming through. Ryan [Good] had a tough shot, but came back and threw well in the discus. I think we’ll get some points out of both of them at state.”
3A West Regionals Results
Girls Results
Team Scores
1. Powell 111.50, 2. Lyman 111, 3. Pinedale 109, 4. Lander 98, 5. Mountain View 96, 6. Big Piney 61, 7. Worland 57, 8. Lovell 48.50
100 Meter Dash
4. Jenna Hillman 13.19
200 Meter Dash
2. Jenna Hillman 27.42, 7. Emma Karhu 28.12
400 Meter Dash
3. Jenna Hillman 1:02.77, 4. Sabrina Shoopman 1:02.90
800 Meter Run
11. Hailee Hyde 2:44.99, 14. Hailee Paul 2:56.35, 16 Jenna Merritt 3:07.33, 17. Elizabeth Liggett 3:07.99
1600 Meter Run
9. Hailee Paul 6:53.99, 10. Madelyn Horton 7:00.92, 12. Jenna Merritt 7:17.57
3200 Meter Run
9. Hailee Paul 15:22.56, 10. Madelyn Horton 15:29.33
100 Meter Hurdles
4. Sabrina Shoopman 16.34, 6. Caitlyn Miner 16.89
300 Meter Hurdles
1. Sabrina Shoopman 46.98, 4. Emma Karhu 48.72
4x100 Relay
3. Jayden Asher, Jaz Haney, Emma Karhu, Caitlyn Miner 52.65
4x400 Relay
3. Abigail Urbach, Caitlyn Miner, Sabrina Shoopman, Jenna Hillman 4:20.79
4x800 Relay
4. Sidney O’Brien, Elizabeth Liggett, Hailee Paul, Hailee Hyde 11:44.68
1600 Sprint Medley Relay
7. Kylie Kahl, Jayden Asher, Abigail Urbach, Hailee Hyde 4:59.06
High Jump
2. Gabri Lundberg 4’10”, 3. Hailee Hyde 4’10”, 9. Kylie Kahl 4’6”, 10. Kameron French 4’4”
Pole Vault
2. Emma Karhu 9’9”, 4. Maddie Hackenberg 8’3”
Long Jump
8. Maddie Hackenberg 14’10.25”, 9. Kaitlyn Decker 14’8.5”, 13. Elsie Spomer 14’2”, 15 . Jaz Haney 14’.5”
Triple Jump
9. Elsie Spomer 32’4”, 14. Jaz Haney 31’3.25”, 15. Kaitlyn Decker 30’6.5”, 16. Gabri Lundberg 29’8.75”
Shot Put
3. Rachel Bonander 33’7.25”, 7. Cassidy Miner 31’11”, 11. Reagan Thompson 29’10.5”, 15. Addie Braten 29’
Discus Throw
2. Rachel Bonander 113’8”, 11. Hannah Saville 87’3”
Boys Results
Team Scores
1. Mountain View 184, 2. Powell 156.50, 3. Lovell 111, 4. Lander 105.50, 5. Pinedale 40, 6. Big Piney 36, 7. Worland 30, 8. Lyman 29
100 Meter Dash
3. Kaelan Groves 11.45
200 Meter Dash
3. Brody Karhu 23.32, 6. Kaelan Groves 23.65
400 Meter Dash
1. Jay Cox 51.36, 3. Brody Karhu 52.17, 7. Aidan Jacobsen 55.48, 8. Cole Frank 55.96
800 Meter Run
1. Jay Cox 1:58.89, 5. Jayden Yates 2:04.16, 8. Aidan Jacobsen 2:05.58, 15. Ethan Bartholomew 2:16.82
1600 Meter Run
5. Alan Merritt 4:58.52, 7. Jayden Yates 4:58.99, 13. Joey Hernandez 5:17.17, 15. Ethan Bartholomew 5:21.33
3200 Meter Run
3. Alan Merritt 10:50.67, 7. Jayden Yates 11:07.66, 8. Joey Hernandez 11:29.37, 11. Riley Schiller 12:32.56
110 Meter Hurdles
4. Dylan Preator 16.69, 5. Kadden Abraham 16.84
300 Meter Hurdles
3. Kadden Abraham 41.61, 4. Dylan Preator 41.72
4x100 Meter Relay
4. Kadden Abraham, Riley Bennett, Landon Lengfelder, Kaelan Groves 45.96
4x400 Relay
1. Dylan Preator, Jay Cox, Aidan Jacobsen, Brody Karhu 3:33.66
4x800 Relay
2. Jayden Yates, Ethan Bartholomew, Aidan Jacobsen, Alan Merritt 8:49.07
1600 Sprint Medley Relay
4. Reed Smith, Landon Lengfelder, Dylan Cordes, Jay Cox 3:56.60
High Jump
5. Cole Frank 5’8”
Pole Vault
2. Brody Karhu 14’4”, 3. Kaelan Groves 12’10”, 5. Reece Hackenberg 12’4”, 8. Reed Smith 11’4”
Long Jump
18. Dylan Escalante 16’9”
Triple Jump
2. Dylan Preator 43’3.75”, 4. Dalton Woodward 41’2”, 14. Reece Hackenberg 36’2”, 17. Dylan Escalante 35’.2”
Shot Put
6. Zeke Frankenberry 43’1.75”, 10. Toran Graham 40’8”, 11. Ryan Good 40’3.75”, 13. Geordan Weimer 39’5”
Discus Throw
4. Ryan Good 140’11”, 8. Zeke Frankenberry 119’11”, 10. Reece Hackenberg 117’3”, 17. Carter Olsen 107’3”
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