Lady Warriors finish runners-up at 3A West

Making the most of hosting the 3A West regional track and field meet on May 12-13, the Worland Lady Warriors scored 160 points to finish as the 3A West runners-up.

"I'm really proud of them. They pushed a deep and talented Powell team. I don't even think they realize the potential they have because they are a young team," said WHS track and field coach Tracey Wiley.

Powel three-peated as 3A West champions, scoring 169 points.

The Lady Warriors dominated the sprinting events to push Powell for the regional championship.

Freshmen Kalistynn Crippen and Cherise Douzenis won the sprinting events. Crippen won the 100-meter dash, and Douzenis won the 200-meter and 400-meter dashes.

Maddy Lloyd finished second in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes.

The Lady Warriors had two relay teams win regional championships, the 4x100-meter (Maddy Lloyd, Kalistynn Crippen, Nyssa Leyva, Erika Manahan) and 4x400-meter teams (Shae Whitlock, Erika Manahan, Isaira Matamoros, Nyssa Leyva).

Beyond just the regional champions, the Lady Warriors had multiple athletes set PRs and score points for the team.

Zena Tapia finished second in the 800-meter, 1600-meter and 3200-meter runs.

Manaia Peterson threw a personal record of 122-8 in the discus to finish second.

Anna Richardson cleared 4-11 in the high jump to finish fourth.

Nyssa Leyva finished 10th in the 100-meter dash but ran a 13.32, which qualified her for state.

"At regionals, they run a 4:09 and even cut more time off. I couldn't be prouder," said Wiley about her 4x400-meter team. "They've been on the heat sheets online, and they have goals for state. Freshman Kalistynn Crippen won the 100, and that was just amazing. I had three in the finals for the 100. Cherise being a freshman, I can only imagine what she'll do when she's a senior. She is so talented. Anytime she gets competition, she does not like to lose. You can't coach that in a kid, and you gotta love the competitiveness with all these girls.

"I told people Janie Barnes can sneak in there. For her to jump that 32 (sixth) was just awesome," said Wiley. "I want to give a shout-out to Manaia throwing 122 feet. She threw that into the wind. And she's one of those good throwers who knows how to throw against the win, and she got a big PR because of it."

Wiley added, "Nyssa Leyva, who wasn't in the top eight for the finals, yet AQ'd anyway. It just goes to show you how tough the West is, and I'm super excited to see what these kids can do."

On the Warriors side, the team took third, scoring 95.50 points. Mountain View won the meet with 158, edging out second-place Powell by half a point.

The boys regional championship was decided on the meet's final event, the 4x400-meter relay. Lander Valley led the race for all three legs, but a botched exchange on the final leg allowed Mountain View to catch up and pass Lander.

Warrior distance runner Trajn Swalstad won the 3200 meters with a time of 10:20.74. Scottie Thomas finished eight (11:01.12) to punch his ticket to state.

Warrior sprinters Cale Cheatham and Angel Ruelas made the finals in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Ruelas took second in both events, while Cheatham was eighth in the 100-meter and sixth in the 200-meter.

The Warriors 4x800-meter relay team won their race in dramatic fashion. On the final leg, Mountain View held the lead and around the final 100 meters, Warrior senior Harley Redding passed Mountain View to the empathic cheers of the Worland faithful.

Dawson Utterback made the finals in the 110-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles, finishing seventh and third, respectively. Having already qualified for state in those events, the junior added the pole vault to his list of state events when he cleared 12-0 and finished sixth.

Senior Canton Green was fifth in the pole vaulting, clearing 12-0.

The Warriors also had a trio of long jumpers do well at regionals. Rules finished third (20-10.5), Cale Cheatham was fifth (19-8.25) and Ethene Burnes was seventh (19-0).

"Those boys have been watching where they're ranked all year in the 4x8. They got bumped by Thermop and Mountain View. They weren't having any of that. They put the work in day in and day out. We could have put any of those kids in any order. We could have put Jack last, but he wanted to run first. Harley has really come into his own this year. It'll be fun to watch them at state, for sure.

"Dawson's already AQ'd in both hurdles and has been wanting to get in on the pole vault. It was windy, but he got through it and vaulted 12 feet. Canton is making it to state as a senior, and I'm super proud of him. Coach Amber Tibbits has done a great job with those kids. If I had anybody to coach them, I would want her because she was a tremendous vaulter in her day and is a good coach for those kids.

After a great showing at the regionals, the Warriors and Lady Warriors are looking to keep it rolling as they head into the 3A State meet this weekend.

The state meet gets underway today and goes until Saturday, and both Worland teams want to bring home as many medals as possible and maybe a team trophy.

"We put some hurdles away, and the kids were like, 'I can't believe it's over.' That's what you'd like to hear as a coach. I'm so proud of the boys and the girls.

"There's always a chance that the kids have shot at a trophy. You never know what's going to happen at state with how things will shake out. As a coach, we have to have them at the top of their game and give them those pep talks. At this point in the year, there's a little bit more to do, but other than that, it's up to them on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.," said Wiley.

The point scorers for Worland at the 3A West regional meet are as follows.

LADY WARRIORS

100-meter dash

1, Kalistynn Crippen, 12.61.

2, Maddy Lloyd, 12.85.

5, Cherise Douzenis, 12.92.

200-meter dash

1, Cherise Douzenis, 25.85.

2, Maddy Lloyd, 26.18.

4, Kalistynn Crippen, 26.67.

6, Erika Manahan, 26.85.

400-meter dash

1, Cherise Douzenis, 59.61.

5, Shae Whitlock, 1:02.31.

7, Nyssa Leyva, 1:03.53.

800-meter

2, Zena Tapia, 2:24.73.

1600-meter

2, Zena Tapia, 5:26.31.

3200-meter

2, Zena Tapia, 12:14.75.

110-meter hurdles

2, Shae Whitlock, 16.34.

3, Anna Richardson, 16.41.

300-meter hurdles

5, Shae Whitlock, 49.69.

6, Anna Richardson, 50.39.

4x100-meter relay

1, Worland (Maddy Lloyd, Kalistynn Crippen, Nyssa Leyva, Erika Manahan), 50.98.

4x400-meter relay

1, Worland (Shae Whitlock, Erika Manahan, Isaira Matamoros, Nyssa Leyva), 4:09.54.

Sprint medley relay

4, Worland (Maddy Lloyd, Lecsi Ramirez, Maci Newell, Zena Tapia), 4:44.74.

High jump

4, Anna Richardson, 4-11.

Long jump

3, Cherise Douzenis, 16-8.

7, Erika Manahan, 15-6.25.

Triple jump

5, Madilyn Glanz, 32-6.5.

6, Janie Barnes, 32-2.

Discus

2, Manaia Peterson, 122-8.

WARRIORS

100-meter dash

2, Andel Ruelas, 11.47.

8, Cale Cheatham, 11.76.

200-meter dash

2, Angel Ruelas, 23.32.

6, Cale Cheatham, 23.93.

800-meter

5, Harley Redding, 2:04.84.

6, Jack Bishop, 2:06.04.

1600-meter

2, Trajn Swalstad, 4:39.19.

5, Harley Redding, 4:45.37.

3200-meter

1, Trajn Swalstad, 10:20.74.

8, Scottie Thomas, 11:01.12.

110-meter hurdles

7, Dawson Utterback, 16.16.

300-meter hurdles

3, Dawson Utterback, 42.44.

4x100-meter relay

4, Worland (Cale Cheatham, Noah Mitchell, Wyatt Dickinson, Angel Ruelas), 46.92.

Sprint medley relay

5, Worland (Wyatt Dickinson, Jacob Jewell, Jack Bishop, Harley Redding), 3:50.24.

4x800-meter

1, Worland (Jack Bishop, Trajn Swalstad, Ivan Thomas, Harley Redding), 8:28.62.

Long jump

3, Angel Ruelas, 20-10.5.

5, Cale Cheatham, 19-8.25.

7, Ethene Burns, 19-0.

Pole Vault

5, Canton Green, 12-0.

6, Dawson Utterback, 12-0.