Lady Warrior Michelle ReutterBy Jason Parshall
Sports Editor

WORLAND — The Lady Warrior and Warrior track team hosted the 3A West Regional Track and Field Championships Friday and Saturday, coming away with a sixth and eighth place finish respectively. Adding to Worland’s success, is the fact that their state team has stretched from one athlete to ten after strong performances throughout the two-day event.

“I can’t say enough about how our kids competed, especially the girls,” Worland head coach Ed Wise said.

Saturday’s action for the Lady Warriors included a third place finish in the 200-meter dash for Taylor Willard, as well as a fourth place finish in the 400-meter dash. Shelby Sweeney and Molly Varney finished sixth and eighth in the 1600-meter run respectively. And Michelle Reutter was eighth in the 300-meter hurdles.

On the boys side, Zach Lentsch finished third in the 3200-meter run, while Justin Wolf was 15th and Eric Rothleutner 16th. Adam Heessel competed in the 110-meter hurdles taking sixth and the triple jump finishing 16th. David White was 19th in the triple jump.

“I thought the meet went pretty well,” Wise said. “The weather could have been a little better, but could have been worse. We had some good things happen. Our girls did really nice. We had all but one athlete that entered qualify for state.

“Our girls throwers did really well. Kayla Heyer threw really well and finished second in the shot. Then Timbree (Clark) went over to the discus and threw really well, also taking second. Sam (Becker) threw great too. All three qualified in the shot and two of them qualified in the discus. They had a really good day.

”Molly Varney and Shelby Sweeney ran really well for sophomores. They both qualified in the 1600 and Molly qualified in the 3200 and that’s fantastic. Michelle Reutter is a real competitor and ran exceptionally well and qualified. Taylor Willard moved up from the 100 to the 400 and qualified. She did a super job on both days.

“On the boys side we got three kids in. Adam Heessel ran very strong in the hurdles and qualified. Jorden (osbon) was solid in the pole vaults. And Zach Lentsch ran really well in the 1600. We’re looking forward to seeing how he does at state.”

The team’s state roster includes Lentsch, Heessel, Osbon, Heyer, Clark, Willard, Becker, Varney, Sweeney and Reutter.

“We also had some kids that were really close,” Wise said. “Pat Sweeney was close, Keith McPherson was really close. You’d always like to have a few more kids, but overall, we had a good meet. We definitely have to thank the community. We had a lot of community members that came out and helped and Mr. (Bruce) Miller, Mrs. (Penny) King, the coaching staff and the kids couldn’t be more grateful.”

The Warriors and Lady Warriors will compete in the 3A State Track and Field Meet beginning Thursday in Casper.