Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Warrior Christian Peterson attempts a throw in the shot put at a meet in Lovell on April 24.
WORLAND - Qualifiers have been hard to come by this season, not just for Worland but every track and field team. But in Lovell on April 24, Warrior Christian Peterson became the second Warrior to qualify for the 3A State meet in Casper on May 20-22.
Peterson threw a 135-1 in the discus and took fifth, punching his ticket for state. While Peterson was the only qualifier on the day for Worland, several athletes are incredibly close to joining Peterson, Cole Harman and Manaia Peterson on Worland's qualifying lists.
"Christian qualifying was the highlight of the day and gave us another qualifier for the boys team," said WHS track and field coach Tracey Wiley. "Erika [Manahan] is close to AQing, some of our relays are right there. The state AQ list is mostly field events, and it has been pretty tight for the running events."
Along with Peterson, Aaron Carver second in the 110-meter hurdles (17.05) and Marcus Wiley, second in the 400-meter dash (54.01), were among the top finishers for the Warriors.
For the Lady Warriors, Erika Manahan finished third in the 200-meter dash (27.91), Denali Jones third in the high jump (4-9) and Manaia Peterson finished second in the shot put (34-0) and third in the discus (95-2).
The postseason draws closer, and at this point in the season, Wiley and her staff begin looking at how to maximize the point potential for both teams for regionals. This usually entails moving athletes around to pick up points in other events and solidifying the relay teams.
"Some of our kids who do well individually at meets are sitting 20th in the state. We're at the point in the season where we'll start moving kids around. Marcus is a good example of this because he may place in the 200 at every meet, but if you look at his rankings among 3A, he's not there. So we'll find somewhere else to put him in where he can climb in those rankings.
"I'm putting together a boys medley that I think can AQ. Nathan Harper ran phenomenal this weekend, he ran a 55.89 in the 400 and was third, and he's just learning how to run it," said Wiley. "I'll have Marcus run the 200 of that, then Aaron Carver the other 200, then Nathan the 400 and Harley Redding running 800."
Wiley continued, "Daniella Gaytan has been running sprints, but she's not in the top four. She ran cross-country, and now she's wanting to move to distance runs and wants to try that this weekend. The kids are figuring it out and want to go to regionals, and I'm trying to maximize the number of kids we take to regionals.
"We're looking at how many kids we can get to score points at regionals. Starting the season, I have the kids run the events that they want to do, but from now on, I'll put them in where I think they'll be successful and help the team out. We're getting down to crunch time, and we're going to see where we can compete for the best at regionals."
While the regular season is closing to wrapping up, Wiley is excited for Saturday's meet in Riverton. The Riverton track always seems to be a spot where Worland does very well, and Wiley is hoping that continues this weekend.
"We've always done well in Riverton. It's a fast track, and we're close to getting some kids to qualifying. It's going to be a big meet, and we'll see some schools that we don't normally get to compete against. So many of our kids are close to qualifying," said Wiley.
