Track season winding down quickly for Warriors

WORLAND- Three track meets remain until regionals in Buffalo on May 13-14 and the Worland High School track team continues to put in the hard work needed for a run at the championship.

Worland has two meets scheduled for this week and first up will be the Buffalo Twilight Invite today at Buffalo, weather permitting.

Competing alongside Worland will be Ten Sleep, Arvada-Clearmont, Buffalo, Campbell County, Douglas and Sheridan.

After Buffalo, the Warriors were scheduled to travel to Casper for the Kelly Wash Invite on Saturday. But with the Wyoming spring weather in full on uncooperative mode the team will instead participate at the Meeteetse Invitational Saturday.

At the Meeteetse Invite will be Burlington, Cody, Dubois, Fort Washakie, Greybull, Lovell, Powell, Riverside, Rocky Mountain, Shoshoni, St. Stephens, Wind River and host Meeteetse.

With regionals rapidly approaching coach Tracey Wiley is wanting as many automatic qualifiers as possible in the final meets.

"We're looking to get as many AQ's (automatic qualifiers) as we can for these last three meets. Hopefully, the weather is cooperative for Buffalo, that way the kids can get familiar and comfortable with the track and grounds over there in preparation for Regionals," said coach Wiley.

When asked on her thoughts about the team's performance this season coach Wiley couldn't have been more proud. "The season has been great, our numbers keep improving and the kids keep doing great things each week."

"The whole team has been excellent, everyone has been putting in their best work each day at practice and it has showed in the meets. Even for the kids who aren't placing in the top eight, every meet they keep breaking PR's (personal records) by two feet or two seconds. It has been exciting to watch and I'm happy with the future of the program," added coach Wiley.

The Wyoming Classic was scheduled to take place Friday in Casper but was moved to Monday, May 2 due to weather. The Classic brings together the state's top 10 performers throughout the season in all classes to compete in all track and field events.

Hoyt Nicholas (discus), Emmy Dykman (100-meter and 200-meter), Anna Lopez (long jump) and Chance Martello (1600-meter and 3200-meter) will represent Worland at the Classic.

At last week's Powell Relay meet, which were field events and hurdles only, Nicholas took first-place in the discus with a throw of 155-2. Other Warrior performances of note were Bryanna Mickelson who took third in discus (99-7) and second in shot put (32-5.25), Cody Newell finished first in the 200-meter hurdles (27.07), Brad Lyman first in the high jump (5-8), Blaine Kroger third in the long jump (18-4) and Josh Garza second in the pole vault (11-2).

Meeteetse track

The Meeteetse Longhorns track season is also quickly coming to a close and coach Ty Myers has had a lot of praise for his team.

Senior Carter Johnson has won the 100-meter dash twice, even against the higher class schools. "We're working on velocity, stride and efficiency in steps so that we can squeak a little more off of his time," said coach Myers. For his first-place finish at Lovell Johnson ran a 12.06.

Senior Maddy Myers has been consistent all season with her discus throwing and placed third at the Lovell Invitational with a toss of 89-07.25. Coach Myers said next for Myers is to, "working with her getting all the way through the ring to add more distance on her throws."

Junior Owen Burbank has had a strong season in the pole vault and took third place at the Lovell Invitational last weekend with a vault of 10-02.00. Burbank has maxed out his vault in the 10-0 to 10-9 range, "We have been working him on a longer pole but at this time are not comfortable having him jump with it at a meet," stated coach Myers.

Freshman Merik Votaw continues to impress her coach by improving with each meet. "She is shaving off her run from week to week and we are happy with her progression as a runner in her freshman year," said coach Myers. In Lovell Votaw ran a 1:13.49 in the 400-meter earning her sixth place.

At the Lovell Invite the Longhorns ran their 4x400-meter relay team for the first time (Kirwin Johnson, Trevor Neil, Anthony Kluesner and Cole Burbank) and ran a 4:01.25. "They ran well and just missed the pre-qualifying mark by a few seconds. Coach Galloway has those kids on target and I'm pleased with the work and prep he is doing with those guys."

Next for the Longhorns will be the home meet on Saturday.