Ten Sleep getting in postseason mindset

TEN SLEEP - The Ten Sleep track and field team wraps up their regular season in Thermopolis on Friday.

The Pioneers and Lady Pioneers are coming off a strong meet in Buffalo on April 30. For the Pioneers, Boe Nichols won the 400-meter dash and improved his school record-setting time with a 50.75. Lindsey Holiday led the Lady Pioneers, who set a personal record in her long jump with a leap of 16-0.5.

If Ten Sleep can replicate and build off the success from the meet in Buffalo for this week's meet in Thermopolis, it will give the team plenty of momentum heading into the postseason.

"Boe shaved some time off that 400, and that was good," said TSHS track and field coach Desiree Egger. "Lindsey Holiday did a nice job in the long jump and increased her prequal distance. We had our first 4x8 relay. They didn't qualify but did a nice job.

"Those PRs for Boe and Lindsey were huge. It's still the same mindset. This next meet will be good to prequalify, but it will also allow us to zero in on what we'll do at regionals. What exactly we're going to be doing so they know what to be working on in practice next week."

The mindset for the Pioneers and Lady Pioneers doesn't change much for the regular-season finale. Over these final weeks, the Ten Sleep athletes' goal was to keep adding qualifying events, which gives Ten Sleep more scoring options at state.

"We're still trying to add pre-qualifiers in this last regular season meet, especially in our relays. Walker hasn't been jumping lately, but he'll jump in Thermop, we've got to get him back in the groove of jumping again because he's had that nagging injury in his shins. Lindsey for a kid who has a lot of talents and has prequalified in a lot of different events. It's a workout for her to go to regionals and narrow down what she feels like she's going to do well in."

One event Egger is looking forward to is her girls 4x800-meter relay team. The 4x8 team ran for the first time in Buffalo. Knowing what to expect from the race, the Lady Pioneers aim to shave off major time from the 13:06.58 they ran last week.

"Running that in Buffalo was a really big help because they've never run it before. We have our not 800-meter runners running an 800. Now they know what to expect and how to approach the race," said Egger. "It gives our younger athletes more skin in the game and a want because they can shave off some time to help their teammate."

The Bobcat Invitational in Thermopolis begins at 1 p.m. on Friday.