Lovell boys win Bobcat Invitational as relay team breaks school record

By: 
David Peck

The Lovell High School track and field team appears to be in peak form as the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs head into the postseason at the 3A West Regional track and field meet in Mountain View this weekend.
Lovell attended the Bobcat Invitational in Thermopolis Friday to wrap up the regular season and fine-tune events for Regionals and State.
The Lovell boys won the team title, finishing first out of 19 teams with 109 points, edging Worland with 101.5 points, host Thermopolis with 101 points and Powell with 91.
“It’s a strong boys team, it really is,” Lovell head coach Joshua Sanders said.
The teams earned some 22 personal records on Friday, a good showing heading into the postseason, Sanders said, adding, “It shows what we’ve been doing all season long is working. We’re breaking a lot of school records, too.
“I think we’re ready for Regionals and State, based on what we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks,” Sanders continued. “We won’t be introducing anything new over the next two weeks, just trying to refine what we’re doing.”
The latest event to see a new school record was the boys 400-meter relay team. The foursome of Matthew Newman, Adnan Khan, Blake Wilson and Gavin Robertson won the race and set the new school mark with a time of 43.71 seconds. The time beat the record of 44.31 set by Jacob Grant, Brenden Lundberg, Hunter Harris and CJ Lindsay in 2019.
“43 (seconds) is cruising,” Sanders said. “They hit their first two handoffs really good, and we’re thinking, ‘If they nail this last one, there’ll be fire on the track.’ And they did.”
Newman also set a personal record in the 800 meters, winning the event in a time of 2:00.51.
“He went out a little fast,” Sanders noted. “His first 400 was 55 seconds. If he can even that out and take two or three seconds off that first lap, it will be good for him.”
The male athlete of the week is senior AJ Clark, who placed seventh in the 3,200 meters in a personal-record time of 11:10.67, more than a minute faster than his previous best time this season.
Clark also ran a leg of the 3,200-meter relay team that placed fourth in 9:14.56, joining David Durfee, Jacob Thomas and Stetson Asay.
“He likes to run,” Sanders said. “He’ll run a lot. He ran in four events in one meet.”
Robertson won the 200-meter dash in 23.38, and Khan placed third in the 100 meters in 11.67.
The team of Dean Anderson, Jarrett Allen, Taggart Shumway and Durfee placed fifth in the 1,600-meter sprint medley relay in a time of 4:07.29.
In field events, Halen Strom set the fifth personal record of his sophomore season in the discus, winning the event with a throw of 145-4.
“He’s just on an upward projection, and he has my permission to keep that projection,” Sanders said with a smile.
Lovell jumpers continued to excel. Newman placed second in the long jump with a personal-record leap of 20-5¾, and Khan placed eighth at 18-8½.
Sophomore Owen Walker set a PR in the triple jump, sailing 41-7 to place second, and Wilson was third at 41-3¾, Nate Cornia eighth at 39-4, a personal record. Walker also won the high jump, clearing 6-2, with Kaeson Anderson tied for fourth at 5-8.
Shumway placed second in the pole vault, clearing 11-6, and Talon Burton was third at 11 feet based on misses, Owen Edwards tied for sixth at 11 feet, a personal record for him.
Other Lovell boys results in Thermopolis were:
100m dash – Dean Anderson 53rd, 13.57, Robert Capers 56th, 13.84 (PR), Jett Hessenthaler 57th, 13.84; 200m dash – Owen Edwards and Capers tie for 49th, 28.08 (PR for Capers, Hessenthaler 54th, 29.05; 400 meters – Jacob Thomas 10th, 56.94, Dean Anderson 31st, 1:02.75 (PR); 1,600 meters – Stetson Asay 16th, 5:21.98 (PR), Damian Wagner 21st, 5:41.49 (PR), Thane Zollman 28th, 5:57.02 (PR), Jaxen Clark 31st, 6:09.50 (PR); 300m hurdles – Kaeson Anderson ninth, 44.99; long jump – Parker Anderson 13th, 17-11, Nate Cornia 14th, 17-10; triple jump – Jarrett Allen 18th, 35-11¼; high jump – Parker Anderson tie-11th, 5-4; shot put – Elijah Montanez 24th, 36-3¼ (PR), Tazz McArthur 30th, 35-2¼; discus – Kyle Wilson 11th, 115-11, Sam Cordova 46th, 90-5 (PR).
Girls results
The female athlete of the week for the Lady Bulldogs is freshman Kandace Asay, who Sanders noted was an important part of the girls 3,200-meter relay team that qualified for State with a time of 10:51.97, placing sixth at the meet. Other members of the team were Becca Nichols, Jenna Hessenthaler and Keyanna Walker.
“Kandace is kind of fiery with her competitiveness, and I like that,” Sanders said.
Another outstanding performer was senior Summer Teter, who had the second highest throw in school history in the shot put, flinging the shot 37-½ to place third, just a half inch off the school record set by fellow senior Carissa Lindsay the previous week in Cowley.
“That’s a big throw. We haven’t had people doing the 37s, and all of a sudden they decide to do it,” Sanders said.
For her part, Carissa Lindsay placed fourth with a throw of 36-¼, and freshman sister Celeste placed seventh with a toss of 32-8¼.
In the discus, Carissa Lindsay placed fifth with a throw of 110 feet, and Teter placed eighth at 106-1, a personal record. Celeste Lindsay threw 103-6 to finish 12th, and sophomore Haley Sanders threw 92 feet (18th), which Coach Sanders said is the second best throw by a sophomore at LHS.
In other field events, freshman Brooklin Clark placed second in the long jump, hitting the sand at 15-3¼, and Celeste Lindsay placed third at 14-10.
Nichols, a sophomore, placed sixth in the 400 meters in a time of 1:03.93, and the 400-meter relay team of Asay, Raegan May, Clark and Nichols placed eighth in a time of 53.40. A second team of Hannity Felkins, Celeste Lindsay, Hallie Cornia and Kaitlynn Robison placed 12th in 57.07.
Other Lovell girls results in Thermopolis were:
100m dash – Brooklin Clark 25th, 14.19, Kaitlynn Robison 28th, 14.44, Raegan May 29th, 14.48, Jaelen Mayes 39th, 15.59; 200m dash – Kandace Asay 20th, 29.11, Robison 31st, 31.26, Candace Walker 37th, 33.01, Mayes 39th, 33.11; 100m hurdles – Clark 12th, 18.76; long jump – Sadie Wassmer 18th, 13-5¼, May 20th, 13-3½; triple jump – Hannity Felkins 14th, 30-1½, Wassmer 15th, 30-1, Hallie Cornia 17th, 29-7¼, Walker 22nd, 28-11½; high jump – May tie-19th, 4-3; shot put – Ella Spanier 43rd, 23-9¾.
Regional track
The Lovell track and field squad will make the long trip to Mountain View this week for the Class 3A West Regional meet.
Action begins Friday with field events at noon and running events following at 12:15 p.m. Saturday, field events get underway at 9 a.m., running events at 9:15.
The state track meet will follow May 16-18 in Casper.

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