Lady Warriors pick up another win, and Warriors finish second at home meet

There’s nothing like home cooking, and the Worland High School track and field team made the most of hosting their annual meet, the D&D Invitational, on April 4.

The Lady Warriors won their home meet with 209.50 points; Powell was second with 196 points, and Lovell third with 55 points.

The Warriors finished second with 121 points, Powell won the meet with 162.5 points, and Thermopolis was third with 107 points.

The D&D Invitational also enjoyed nice weather. While there was some wind, it was still a warm meet, especially compared to the snow, rain and wind that hit Worland on Saturday.

“It was a good call on Coach [WHS AD Aaron] Abel’s part to change the meet. It’s all for the kids and to get them to compete,” said WHS track and field coach Tracey Wiley. The weather was great, and the kids did very well.”

Worland had three individuals and a relay team automatically qualify for the 3A State meet. Senior Manaia Peterson threw a season-best 117-3 in the discus and won the event.

“Manaia Peterson threw a PR and AQ’d in the discus. She last threw 103 feet in Cody and ended up throwing 14 feet further. We knew she’d get it. She knows how to compete and get to state,” said Wiley. “I was super excited for her.”

Zena Tapia added the 1600-meter run to her list of qualifying events, running a 5:31.98 and finishing second.

“Zena AQ’d in the mile, which was great. She and [Kinley] Cooley from Powell had a great race in the mile. They go back and forth but also cheer each other on when one’s running one race. That’s what it’s all about. They’re competitors but are still high-fiving each other at the end of the race,” said Wiley.

Will Bishop finished second in the 3200 meters with a time of 10:16.77 to qualify in that event.

“Will Bishop AQ’d in the two mile. He only needed five seconds but ended up running a 20-second PR. He found me and was super excited to tell me. I was so happy for him. Those distance runners work so hard in practice with their workouts,” said Wiley.

After nearly qualifying in the past few meets, the Warriors 4x100-meter relay team (Wyatt Dickinson, Will Slagle, Noah Mitchell, Angel Ruelas) secured their spot at state when they finished second running a 45.53.

“Our boys 4x1 has been close the last three meets. Wyatt Dickinson, Will Slagle, Noah Mitchell and Angel Ruelas have been fun to watch in that 4x1 and were able to punch their ticket to state,” said Wiley.

Outside of the qualifiers, both Worland teams had many highlights from the meet. Kalistynn Crippen won the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, Cherise Douzenis won the 400-meter dash, Zena Tapia won the 800 meters, Anna Richardson won the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles, and the 4x100-meter, sprint medley and 4x800-meter teams all won, too.

“It was a good fight to the finish in the 200 between Kalistynn and Cherise. Kalistynn won by two-hundredths of a second, which is a good thing to have because they’re both so competitive. Cherise beat Thermopolis’ [Davdine] King by a second in the 400. It’s good for Cherise to have that competition. The girl from Basin [Vinaya] Vanderploeg was right there with them too,” said Wiley.

The Warriors had Trajn Swalstad win the 3200 meters, Noah Mitchell win the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles, and the 4x800-meter relay team win and hit a new PR.

“I had three boys in the top eight in the 110 hurdles. Noah Mitchell is a naturally beautiful hurdler. He’s looking to run at the next level, and I think he can. He’s always doing extra in practice and working hard. Dawson Utterback is right behind him, and he’s also a coachable and hard-working kid. I talked to Wyatt Dickinson about running the 300 hurdles, which are really rough, but he can make it to state. We just got to work on his form because it’s new to him, but he’ll get there.

“The boys 4x8 with Will Bishop, Ira Croft, Ivan Thomas and Trajn Swalstad got a nine-second PR, even with the win. Trajn has AQ’d in the 1600, 3200 and 4x8 and just needs the 800. He and Jacob Holiday from Ten Sleep were neck and neck in that 800. But he’s just a few seconds off from that, but he’ll get it,” said Wiley.

Outside of winning events, many Worland athletes set new PRs. A week after throwing huge PR in Buffalo Daniel Galarza hit a new PR throw 103-9 in the discus to become the Warriors’ top discus thrower.

Easing back from injury, Shae Whitlock continues to regain her form with each meet, and the Lady Warriors senior sprinters of Nyssa Leyva, Maddy Lloyd and Erika Manahan are also pushing each other in practice and at meets.

“Daniel Galarza stays after and works hard on the discus. He went from seventh to third on our depth chart in Buffalo. Then, at our home meet, he had another huge PR and was sitting first on the depth chart. He’s really wanting to go to state and he’ll get there.

“Shae Whitlock was back in the 300-meter hurdles. She did amazing and looked good. She wasn’t happy with her time, but she’ll get there,” said Wiley. “It’s great to have three senior sprinters pushing each other. Maddy Lloyd has AQ’d in the sprint, and Erika and Nyssa are super close. I know they will AQ before regionals.”

With most teams having multiple meets under their belts at this point in the season, the Worland athletes can now see how they stack up. The Worland athletes are beginning to ask Wiley for updated rankings of the 3A West and all of 3A to see where they fall in their events.

“The kids are already looking at the rankings on MileSplit and are invested in that. They can see where they’re ranked in the 3A West and all 3A. It’s good motivation for all the kids. They’re running the Track Classic again this season, and that’s another thing for the kids to focus and go for,” said Wiley.

This week, Worland will be in Powell for the L.A. Kohnke Invitational on Saturday. The team will be sort handed with athletes gone for Science Olympiad and State FFA.

Saturday is also Worland High School’s prom and some athletes will have a shorter day in Powell.

“We’ll have kids gone for FFA and Science Olympiad then it’s also prom that day. I told the kids I’m taking prom from them, but we do want them to go to Powell and compete in as many events as they can until 1 o’clock.

“It’s good that we have kids active in other activities. I told the kids and FFA sponsor Grace Godfrey what I want the kids to do for a workout, and Grace is really good at managing that. That really helps to have that comradery with the other sponsors and help each other out,” Wiley said.