Relay team, Whaley qualify for state meet

Sophomore Wyatt Whaley bettered her personal record in the shotput by nearly 3 feet and the foursome of Angela Myers, Caitlyn Hunt, Ellie Holloway and Marlee Henson joined Greybull’s list of state qualifiers at Saturday’s Bill Gerrard Memorial Invitational.

The meet was smaller than usual, as some schools that normally attend were on spring break and others competed elsewhere. But with weather conditions improving as the day progressed, a number of athletes capitalized, improving their times and distances from the opener in Burlington.

No one took a bigger step forward than Whaley. A state qualifier and fourth-place finisher as a freshman, she threw 36 feet, 7 1/2 inches on her first attempt, not only winning the event but also qualifying for the state meet.  The 2A qualifying standard is 32-11, which she obliterated.

“That’s a heck of a toss — and by far the best throw for a girl since I’ve been coach, which is 28 years,” said Coach Nolan Tracy.

The throw gave Whaley a slight edge over Jeniah Lovingood of Tongue River for the lead among 2A state qualifiers. Lovingood’s best is a 36-7.

“Wyatt is fun to work with because she works hard,” Tracy said. “She’s really coachable too; when you talk to her about something, she tries to go do it.”

With two years remaining after this one, Whaley can start taking aim at the school record in the event, a 39-9 3/4 set way back in 1986 by Karla Kershner.

The day’s other highlight came in girls 400-meter relay.  Myers, Hunt, Holloway and Henson — freshmen and sophomores all — ran a winning time of 54.89. That was about a half-second faster than the team’s time in Burlington and just under the 2A qualifying standard of 55.21.

The boys 400-meter relay team is eyeing the state qualifying standard as well. For 2A, it’s a 47.91.  The four who ran it in Burlington ran a 47.97.  Daniel Baker, Carter Peasley, Caiden Sorenson and Jesse Brown produced a 48.32 at Saturday’s meet, which was good for second place.

While they didn’t come as close to the qualifying standards, several other Greybull athletes finished first or second in their respective events, including Adeline Kunkel, who was first in the 400 meters and second in the triple jump; Whaley, second in the discus, and Shawn August and Nikoah Sorensen, who finished one-two in the 400 meters.

Tracy called it “a great day” for the Buffs, adding, “We now have five girls qualified for state.  The boys’ best chance will probably be that 4x1 relay; I’m not sure any of them will hit the AQ marks in their open events.”

The Buffs will attend another smaller meet on Friday, the Tongue River Invitational, before turning their attention to the L.A. Kohnke Invitational in Powell. With several 3A teams in the field, the latter figures to extremely competitive.

“I’m really happy with where we are as a team,” said Tracy. “A big part of it is, they’re a hard-working group.  I’m with the effort I’m seeing at practice.”

GIRLS — Thermopolis 94, Greybull 77, Riverside 70, Tongue River 66, Shoshoni 55, Wind River 47, Dubois 26, Burlington 19, Arapaho Charter 12, Fort Washakie 6, Meeteetse 3.

100 METERS — 3, Marlee Henson, 13.45.  13, Caitlyn Hunt 14.86.  15, Addison Coscarelli, 15.22.  16, Angela Myers, 15.39.  20, Madison Herebia, 16.03.

200 METERS — 10, Adeline Kunkel, 30.08.  13, Coscarelli, 31.47.

400 METERS — 1, Kunkel, 1:07.92.

100 HURDLES — 2, Ashlyn Chacon, 19.02.  3, Hunt, 19.86.

400 RELAY — 1, Greybull (Angela Myers, Caitlyn Hunt, Ellie Holloway, Marlee Henson), 54.89.

LONG JUMP — 10, Allen, 12-10.  

TRIPLE JUMP —  2, Kunkel, 29-3.  3, Hunt, 28-6 1/2.  4, Allen, 28-4.

DISCUS — 2, Wyatt Whaley, 84-1

SHOT PUT — 1, Whaley, 36-7 1/2.  19, Heather Roll, 22-6 1/2.

BOYS — Thermopolis 180, Tongue River 72, Riverside 62.5, Wind River 56, Greybull 47.5, Shoshoni 41, Burlington 40.5, Meeteetse 23, Dubois 15, Fort Washakie 13, Arapaho Charter 4.

100 METERS — 6, Jesse Brown, 12.46.  11, Daniel Baker, 12.83.  18, Caiden Sorenson, 13.06.  19, Anthony Chacon, 13.07.  21, Carter Peasley, 13.14.  25, Jordi Araiza, 13.37.  35, Xavier VanderPloeg, 14.57.

200 METERS — 5, Brown, 25.24.  7, Chacon, 25.99.

400 METERS — 1, Shawn August, 56.9.  2, Nikoah Sorensen, 57.39.  13, VanderPloeg, 1:04.19.

1,600 METERS — 7, Isaac Vigil, 6:02.27.  

400 RELAY — 2, Greybull (Daniel Baker, Carter Peasley, Caiden Sorenson, Jesse Brown), 48.32.

HIGH JUMP — 3, Carter Peasley, 5-4.

LONG JUMP — 5, Jordi Araiza, 17-7.  10, Brown, 17-0.

TRIPLE JUMP — 7, Sorenson, 32-4.