Lady Buffs reach the podium

Finish third at Class 2A West Regional

Wyatt Whaley won the shotput, Marlee Henson and Adeline Kunkel placed in three individual events and Caitlyn Hunt and Ashlyn Chacon did so in two to lead the Greybull girls to a third-place finish at last weekend’s Class 2A West Regional in Shoshoni.

Kemmerer, with 187 points, and Big Piney, with 181, were clearly the division’s dominant teams, but just 18 points separated the remaining six teams. Greybull, with 59, outdistanced Thermop, with 50, in the race for third.

“It’s been a while since we’ve come back from regionals with a plaque,” said Coach Nolan Tracy.  “The last time may have been when (then head coach) Jeff Sukut’s daughters were on the team ... I just know it was the first one (of my tenure as head coach).”

Tracy described it as “pretty unexpected,” but credited the girls for their performance, saying, “They outdid themselves in a lot of events.”

Whaley was the team’s only individual champion, taking first place in the shot to go along with a third in the discus.  In the shot, she threw 36 feet, 6 inches.  It was not quite a PR — her best is a 36-7 1/2 set at the Greybull meet — but Whaley is one of only two 2A throwers to top 35 feet this season. The other is Tongue River senior Jeniah Lovingood, whose best is a 36-1 1/2.

Whaley also placed third in the discus with a heave of 97 feet, 11 inches.  Had she equaled her best throw of the regular season, a 105-2, Whaley would have beaten the throws of Kemmerer’s Janae Skidmore, who won it with a 102-9, and Hadlee Wood, who was second with a 102-6. 

Henson also rose to the occasion, placing third in the 400, fourth in the long jump and fifth in the 200. She set personal records in the latter two, busting out a 15-6 in the long jump and a 27.32 in the prelims of the 200.

Henson also teamed with Ashlyn Chacon, Addison Coscarelli and Adeline Kunkel on Greybull’s second place-finishing sprint medley relay team. The foursome ran a 4:45.08, easily topping its previous best, a 4:49.46.

Freshman Caitlyn Hunt also gave the team a lift, placing third in the 100-meter hurdles and fifth in the triple jump.  Hunt actually PR’d twice in the hurdles; she entered the weekend looking to improve on a 19.2, ran an 18.06 in the prelims and a 17.84 in the final.

Rounding out the scoring were Adeline Kunkel, with a fifth in the 400 and sevenths and PRs in the 800 and the long jump; Ashlyn Chacon, with an eighth in the 300-meter hurdles, and Avery Allen, with an eighth and a PR in the triple jump.  

Summing up the team effort, Tracy noted that they earned the trophy with just nine girls scoring points, far fewer than Big Piney and Kemmerer, which drew points from 25 or more kids.  “It makes you think, if we had as many girls as they did, it could have been us up there in first or second.”

Boys

The GHS boys finished further down the pack in their division, capturing seventh with 29 points.

Carter Peasley notched the highest individual finish, placing second in the high jump. He cleared 5-10, matching his PR which was also set on the Shoshoni track, during last year’s regional meet. “I don’t know what it is,  whether it’s the competition, the surface or the time of year, but something about jumping there is a good for Carter,” said Tracy.

Shawn August was another standout for the boys team. With no AQs, he needed to step up to punch his ticket to Casper and did just that, placing third in the triple jump, fifth in the long jump and joining Nikoah Sorensen, Caiden Sorenson and Jesse Brown on the 1,600-meter relay team which took fourth place and PR’d with a 3:46.81. 

State preview

The Buffs will send 15 athletes — eight girls and seven boys — to the State 2A Track and Field Championships which are today (Thursday, May 22) through Saturday, May 24 in Casper.  

The girls are Henson, Whaley, Kunkel, Hunt, Chacon, Allen, Coscarelli and Angela Myers.  

The boys are Peasley, Brown, Chacon, Sorensen, Sorenson, August and Blade Baker.

GIRLS — Kemmerer 187, Big Piney 181, Greybull 59, Thermopolis 50, Wind River 48, Wyoming Indian 46, Shoshoni 45, Rocky Mt. 41.

200 METERS — 5, Marlee Henson, 27.45.

400 METERS — 3, Henson, 1:03.21.  5, Adeline Kunkel, 1:06.62.

800 METERS — 7, Kunkel, 2:39.3.

100 HURDLES — 3, Caitlyn Hunt, 17.84.

300 HURDLES — 8, Ashlyn Chacon, 55.01.

SPRINT MEDLEY RELAY — 2, Greybull (Chacon, Addison Coscarelli, Henson, Kunkel), 4:45.08.

LONG JUMP — 4, Henson, 15-6 3/4.

TRIPLE JUMP — 5, Hunt, 30-2.  7, Kunkel, 29-10.  8, Avery Allen, 29-10.

SHOT PUT — 1, Wyatt Whaley, 36-6.

DISCUS — 3, Whaley, 97-11.

BOYS — Thermopolis 279.5, Kemmerer 133, Big Piney 97.5, Wyoming Indian 52, Rocky Mt. 46, Shoshoni 44, Greybull 29, Wind River 10.

100 METERS — 8, Jesse Brown, 12.15.

300 HURDLES — 8, Anthony Chacon, 45.29.

1,600 RELAY — 4, Greybull (Nikoah Sorensen, Caiden Sorenson, Shawn August, Brown), 3:46.81.

HIGH JUMP — 2, Carter Peasley, 5-10.

LONG JUMP — 5, Shawn August, 17-9.

TRIPLE JUMP — 3, August, 38-9.