Worland cross-country ready for postseason

WORLAND - The cross-country postseason is finally here and for the Worland High School cross-country team's they are ready to make the last two weeks of the season memorable.

Coming off strong performances at the Powell Invitational last week, Worland gears up for the 3A East regional meet in Thermopolis Friday afternoon. In Powell, the Warriors and Lady Warriors finished second behind both Cody teams.

"Overall I was ecstatic with our performances. You can see that their workouts are paying off, our pack time is dropping and I was very pleased with our performance. I'm very excited for the next two weeks," said WHS cross-country coach Tanya Kienlen.

Individually for the Warriors, junior Porter Harman took first in convincing fashion with a time of 16:43.96, 14 second better than Powell's Alan Merritt who finished second. Senior Jadon Swalstad finished sixth (17:30.61) and junior Rylan Mocko was ninth (17:38.66), to give Worland three runners in the top 10. Nathaniel Nelson (17:56.66) came in 12th-place and Victor Olvera (18:17.29) 18th.

"I was proud of our efforts. Porter went out there and was dominant, he's finding his rhythm. Jadon Swalstad has been a consistent behind-the-scenes leader and I appreciate his leadership by example. Rylan was outstanding with a PR [personal record] performance. Nathaniel ran well too and with Victor [Olvera] stepping it up as our fifth runner, it has just been great," said Kienlen.

For the Lady Warriors, the Holiday sisters placed in the top 10 with younger sister Lindsey (eighth place, 21:09.46) besting older sister Kelli (ninth place, 21:11.42). Paige Flock (22:40.65) finished 19th, Paige's younger sister Brooke (23:07.89) finished 22nd, Hailee Hunter (23:08.56) was 23rd and Tatum Zimmerman (23.59.42) 32nd to round out the team.

"I'm super proud of our girls team, the Holiday girls competing in the top 10 and there was a huge jump with Paige, Brooke and Hailee as far as bringing that pack time up. Those three were crucial to bringing the time up and have been huge for us," said Kienlen.

With the postseason starting in Thermopolis Friday, the Worland runners are ready to put all the season's hard work and conditioning to good use.

"The kids are excited because these are the moments where all their hard work, all the repeats, all the hill runs and mountain runs come together. We're tapering just a little this week and I think that will yield a little bit more with results for us," said Kienlen.

Friday will also be the final race for some of the Worland runners, in which case Kienlen is looking for them to set personal records and push their teammates throughout the race.

"Our focus will be pushing our teammates, trying to work the corners and get past the hill and work the downhill as well. For some this will be their final race and PRs will be the goal for them," said Kienlen.

The Warriors are the two-time defending 3A East regional champions and Harman is the 3A East individual champion, both of which look to be in strong position to repeat. For the Lady Warriors, they will push for a top-three finish as well gunning for all-conference recognition, which goes to runners placing in the top 10.

"I think as we approach this weekend as a team we just have to trust in our training and capabilities, and just go out and compete like we know they can. Consistency and that team effort of wanting to defend our title will drive us where we need to be ... Our goal is to get some all-conference recognition and we'll shoot for the top three in teams," said Kienlen about her Warrior and Lady Warrior teams.

THERMOPOLIS CROSS-COUNTRY

The Hot Springs County cross-country team closed out their regular season at the Powell Invitational as well, having another strong showing. The Lady Bobcats had three runners place in the top 10 McKenna Bomengen (20:03.44) finished third, Olivia Weyer (21:06.28) sixth, Tahja Hunt (21:15.10) 10th and Dayna Sandberg (26:12.25) 54th.

"They all ran really well, they ran strong and competed. They did what we worked on all week long. McKenna fought off the Cody girls the entire race. I was excited to see her get third place. Tahja, the same thing battled with some Cody girls and got into the top 10. Olivia keeps improving every race. Her time keeps dropping and it's exciting to see that it's not a one race thing," said HSCHS cross-country coach Stephanie Metz.

The lone Bobcat runner, Hudson Roling, continues to shave time each race as he placed seventh at Powell with a time of 17:31.55.

"He was 17:18 for his PR last season and we're trying to get back to that time. He's already dropped a significant amount of time and every race it keeps getting better. Now that we're finally tapering I'm sure his muscles are finally relaxing from golf and now cross," said Metz.

It has been a mission for the Lady Bobcats and Metz to find the team a fifth runner, with a fifth runner the team could then register a team score. In the 11th hour, the Lady Bobcats have found that runner in senior Trinity Bowen and can look to defend their 3A East regional championship from last year.

Bowen did not have the required amount of practices each runner needs before competing, which is why she did not run in Powell. But she will have reached her practice threshold this week and will compete in her first cross-country meet as a Lady Bobcat Friday for the 3A East regional meet.

"She moved in from Texas, at first she wasn't sure about it, she's a track runner, but we were able to talk her into it. We're excited to have her on the team, and she and Dayna push each other every day in practice," said Metz.

With regionals on their home course, the Bobcat and Lady Bobcat runners will have the advantage as they have run the tough hill course plenty of times this season.

"It's another home meet, they've run the course more than any other team. We didn't have a ton of teams at our home meet earlier in the season, so that will be a huge advantage for those that were there. We have our fifth girl so we're anticipating good things," said Metz.

The 3A East regional meet will begin at 2 p.m. at the Legion Town and Country Golf Course.