Worland track continues to grow

WORLAND - When Worland High School track and field coach Tracey Wiley took the helm of the program in 2016 her goal was to increase the number of athletes each season. Now, starting in her third season, Wiley has done just that.

Nearly 70 athletes, 67 to be exact, will compete for Worland this season. It is quite the increase for the program that had 35 and 55 athletes in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Breaking the numbers down further, the Warriors will have 40 athletes out, while the Lady Warriors number 27 strong.

With injuries and other activities, Wiley knows it is possible they will lose a few athletes over the course of the season but that does not take away from the excitement. Especially, with the team practicing outdoors after spending their first week mostly indoors.

"I hope we don't lose kids but you figure with everything going on we're bound to lose a few. I'd be very happy to finish on May 20 with all 67. Either way, I'm excited about this season," Wiley said.

"Last week with the snow on the ground we were inside for all but one day. This week we got the pole vault and high jump pits out and had great practices. We're all ready and this week we have our first meet but we'll go with it and I know the kids will compete in Casper," she added.

The increase in the numbers is a welcoming sign, especially for the Lady Warriors who last season had around 16 athletes. That and having the likes of Saige Jones, Kylah Mills and Chassidi Garay back for another season bolster's the team's strength.

"We had 16 to 14 out last year and it's exciting that we have 27 out this year. I think Kylah Mills will have a good season. Saige Jones was really close last season to making it to state in her throws and I use her quote every day from last year when she said 'It was a great day to be a Warrior'. That's the best quote ever and I say that to the kids a lot, of course, it makes Saige smile.

"Alexa Caballero has gotten stronger and Chassidi Garay was a good thrower her freshman and sophomore year's throwing for us. Julie Seidel should be a good runner for us. Myra Deniz got hurt last year and is going to run the mile for us and I look forward to what she can do," said Wiley.

WARRIORS

As for the Warriors they bring back a lot of talent as well with state placers Josh Garza, pole vault, Porter Harman, distance runner, and Maclin Wiley, discus and shot put, returning.

"Josh Garza should be on the podium for the pole vault, he's looking to pole vault at the next level. We'll have good high jumpers out this season. Luke Mortimer is back and healthy, he had a great basketball season and has looked good in practice. Andy Deniz did really well in indoor and we're looking forward to his season. We'll fine-tune some of his mechanics and he'll be a kid that can make it to state as well.

"Our distance runners with Porter Harman leading the way should have a good season. Dalton Jeffries is just a horse and will do whatever we ask and he'll be one of our mid-distance runners. Our hurdlers will be young, Luke will hurdle and he did for a few meets last season. So with all our hurdlers, throwers, runners, jumpers and pole vaulters we should have a good season," said Wiley.

Also with the increased numbers for both teams gives Worland a better shot at bringing home hardware from the regional or state meets.

"Track is a numbers game and while it's nice to have those first-placers, you need others to podium as well. My saying is, in terms of team scoring, a second and third beats a first, points-wise," said Wiley.

As a whole the 2018 Worland track team is on the youthful side, 14 of the 67 are seniors. A majority of the team is made of up sophomores and freshmen.

"We're a younger team, although we have 14 seniors and a good group of freshmen. We'll look to keep them happy and interested. The kids that are new are still trying to find their events, especially the freshmen. My thing that I tell them to do for this weekend is to try four events so they can figure out what feels good. Because we haven't been out on the track to see if a Denali Jones or Darla Hernandez are fast," said Wiley.

Having so many new faces and not a lot of practice outdoors the focus for Worland these next few weeks will be finding events that each athlete excels in, as well as picking up some automatic qualifiers for the 3A State meet in Casper on May 17-19.

“Over the next couple of weeks we want the new kids to find what they would like to do and try out different events, and we’re focusing on conditioning too. I’d also like to get some kids qualified over the next couple of weekends. We have kids out from all the different winter sports, wrestling, basketball, indoor track and swimming, and they already have a good base conditioning under them. So if we can get them qualified this early in the season that would be awesome,” said Wiley.

Another event to look forward to this season is the addition of the 1,600-meter medley relay. The relay will be a mix of sprinters, mid-distance and distance runners as there will be two 200-meter legs, a 400-meter leg and 800-meter leg to close it out.

“The state added a new relay and it will be the first race of the state meet. I think between our sprinters, mid-distance and distance runners I think we can put together a good team even for this weekend. We’re really excited about this relay,” said Wiley.

Worland will get to test out their 1600-meter relay team and kick off their season on Saturday in Casper at Glen Legler Invitational at Natrona High School on Saturday.