Grizzlies gain some athletes for Powell Invitational track meet

Though still short a few athletes due to injuries and the state FFA convention, the Rocky Mountain Grizzlies had a mostly full team as they competed at the L.A. Kohnke Invitational in Powell Saturday.

“It was good to get one underneath us,” head coach Tobee Christiansen said. “We still had a couple of kids who didn’t go.

“It was a little cool, but at least the wind kind of held off until we were almost done.”

The top performer for the Rocky boys in the mostly Class 3A field was junior Will Watts, who placed eighth in the 100-meter dash in a personal-record time of 11.76 that qualified him for the state track meet. He also placed seventh in the 200-meter dash in 24.52.

“He looked good. He’s looking strong,” Christiansen said. “He’s coming along, for sure.”

Senior Hudson May placed second in the 400-meter dash, rounding the oval in 53.42 seconds.

“That was a good run for his first one,” Coach C said. “Now we can chip away at that. The back half (of the race) is what improves.”

Senior Cole Minchow ran the 1,600 meters for the first time this season and finished 18th in a time of 5:19.95, about 3½ seconds off his personal record.

“Cole kind of picked up where he left off last year, and he had to do it in the rain,” Christiansen said. “That was the only time during the day that it was raining.”

Rocky’s sophomore throwers were competitive in Powell. Kellan Jackson finished 11th in the discus with a throw of 106-8 and set a PR in the shot put with a toss of 35-3½, good for 26th place. Joaquin Scheeler finished 13th in the shot put at 38 feet, a personal record, and he finished 22nd in the discus with a throw of 100-6, also a PR. Freshmen John Mader, Alex Walker and Cooper Winland also competed in the throws.

“They’re coming along,” Christiansen said. “It will be a battle to see who fills those regional spots.”

Other boys results in Powell were:

100m dash – Landon Pruett 23rd, 12.21, Cooper Ward 24th, 12.22, William Fuller 42nd, 12.45; 200m dash – Pruett 25th, 25.78, Fuller 31st, 26.03 (PR); long jump – Pruett 33rd, 16-4½ (PR), Fuller 40th, 15-11¼, Ward 42nd, 15-8¼; shot put – Cooper Winland 30th, 34-4, Alex Walker 43rd, 31-6, John Mader 44th, 31-4; discus – Mader 30th, 88-7, Walker 31st, 88-6, Winland 42nd, 79-11.

Girls results

Senior Tarynn Schoening continued her steady performance in the pole vault, clearing 7-6 to place fourth. She was joined this week by junior Keylee Christiansen, who placed sixth on misses, also at 7-6.

Coach C said the vaulters are doing well for early in the season, adding, “We hope to see those (heights) jump up. They have some things to clean up.”

Sophomore Kaysie Cooley competed in the high jump for the first time and placed seventh, clearing 4-5. Christiansen nearly placed, clearing 4-3 to finish ninth. Freshman Kennedy Brimhall also cleared 4-3 and placed 10th on misses.

“Keylee didn’t finish the high jump,” Coach C said. “She was running back and forth with the (high jump) and pole vault. So I took her out of the high jump. It was good to see Kaysie back high jumping.”

In running events, freshman Leah Haslem made her debut in the 800 meters and finished 14th in 2:54.60. She also finished 19th in the 1,600 meters, running the four laps in 6:37.32.

“She’s a good addition to our distance stuff,” Christiansen said. “I’m excited to see where she goes. We’ll see some good improvement out of her. She’s gritty.”

Other girls results in Powell were:

100m dash – Kamryn Welling 38th, 15.09; 400m dash – Delyla Welling 19th, 1:21.46, Ellie Alvarez 20th, 1:41.01; 1,600 meters – Rebecca Herren 25th, 7:22.20, Ellie Alvarez 28th, 7:54.33, D. Welling 29th, 8:19.19; 100m hurdles – K. Welling 19th, 57.10; long jump – Evynn Alvarez 33rd, 9-8½, Ellie Alvarez 34th, 6-4; shot put – Elliahna Scheeler 30th, 22-1, Evynn Alvarez 52nd, 14-5; discus – Scheeler 15th, 83-1.

The Worland meet scheduled for Thursday was moved to Tuesday, April 15, due to expected bad weather on Thursday. Look for results in next week’s Chronicle. Rocky Mountain will host the following meet on Saturday, April 26.