Lady Pioneers place first at Burlington Invitational

TEN SLEEP - Last week was a big week for the Ten Sleep track and field teams as they competed at the Burlington Invitational on April 5 and the L.A. Kohnke Invitational at Powell High School on April 6. In Burlington, the Lady Pioneers scored 85 points to beat out 2A Rocky Mountain, who scored 80 points, for first place.

"Getting to a smaller meet in Burlington was nice for us and getting first place was a surprise for us. We had no intention of winning, it wasn't even in the back of our head. Then we saw the score after 13 and were pretty surprised. It was good for the girls and they enjoyed that," said TSHS track and field coach Desiree Egger.

On top of the Lady Pioneers finishing first, Ten Sleep track had four athletes qualify for the 1A State meet in Casper on May 16-18 in eight different events. Seniors Kelli Holiday and Kinley Erickson and sophomores Lindsey Holiday and Boe Nichols were the Ten Sleep athletes to qualifying.

Kelli Holiday qualified in the 100-meter, 400-meter and 1,600-meter races; Lindsey Holiday in the 800-meter and 400-meter runs; Nichols in the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes; and Kinley Erickson in the shot put.

Erickson has been on the verge of qualifying in the shot all season and at Powell with each toss she kept inching closer and closer. Then in the finals she got past the qualifying mark of 31-4.

"For me on Saturday getting Kinley prequalified for shot was great. She's been so close the last couple of meets and in the finals [at Powell] we only needed an inch. On her first go, she ended up tossing a 32-2 and prequalifying was 31-4. Prequalifying any kid is something special and helps take the pressure off.

"Getting those qualifiers was really nice. Lindsey, she was kind of behind the shadows of Kelli last year but this year she's really starting to make sure people recognize her, and I think those two are going to be a tough duo," said Egger.

At Powell, Ten Sleep kept it rolling. Kelli Holiday finished first in the 1,600-meter (5:47.13) and third in the 100-meter (13.7) and high jump (4-6).

Lindsey Holiday was first in the 400-meter running a 1:05. Erickson threw an 89-8 in the discus and a 32-2 in the shot put to finish third and fourth, respectively.

On the Pioneer side of things, Nichols came in second place, running a 52.99 in the 400 meters.

Now the Pioneers turn their focus to this week's meets, first up is the D&D Invitational in Worland today starting at 1:30 p.m. and on Saturday they travel to Sheridan for the Sheridan Invitational.

Typically, each meet Ten Sleep competes in they are one of, if not the smallest school competing. The Pioneers and Lady Pioneers have gotten used to that fact and really embrace going toe-to-toe with the state's best athletes.

Constantly going against 3A and 4A schools helps push Ten Sleep as they want to show they have the talent to hand with those schools.

"That Buffalo meet was really good for us because we competing against Thunder Basin and the Casper schools and it didn't really bother out kids. That's the beauty of track is for Kelli and Boe it gives them extra grit to compete against the best in the state. They need that and that's the same for Kinley and Lindsey too.

"Then for some of our other kids that don't place as high, they enjoy going against the 4A kids as well. It gives them an extra boost and lets them know they can compete against those 4A schools," said Egger.