Lovell boys win Rocky Mountain Invitational

There was spring in the air and in the legs of the Lovell High School track and field athletes as they competed in Cowley Saturday at the Rocky Mountain Invitational.

The Lovell boys won the meet going away, racking up 192 points to top a field of nine schools. Powell was second with 129.83 points, Worland third with 103 points. Powell won the girls division with 186.5 points, followed by Worland with 171 points and Lovell with 93.

“Once again we were really strong in the field events,” head coach Joshua Sanders said of the boys team’s success. “We would have liked to perform better on the track.”

Sanders noted that coaches are still working on positioning athletes in events where they will find the most success.

Coaches named junior Halen Strom as the male athlete of the week. Strom won both the shot put and the discus Saturday, heaving the shot 48 feet even and the discus 128-2.

“He’s been a consistent thrower for us,” Sanders said. “We’ve been placing really well with usually three high placers in both the discus and shot put.”

Strom threw a personal-record 48-7¾ at the Burlington meet and is “knocking on that (50-foot) door,” Sanders said, adding, “He’s already throwing tremendous, but that (50 feet) is one of those benchmarks you want to reach.”

Junior Brody Muller placed second in the shot put with a throw of 42-9, senior Jace Pluhar sixth at 39-1, a personal record. Pluhar placed third in the discus with a personal-record toss of 120-11, sophomore Tazz McArthur tied for fifth at 113 feet and senior Braxton Felkins nearly placed, finishing ninth at 99-9.

Senior Gavin Robertson sailed a personal-record 22-5 in the long jump to win the event, matching the distance junior Owen Walker reached at the Worland meet.

“It was his birthday Saturday, so it (the jump) was a little happy birthday present to himself,” Sanders noted. “He used to struggle to be a consistent jumper, but he’s hitting the board almost every time. The consistency is giving him more confidence to be aggressive in his jumps.”

Junior Matthew Newman hit 21-¾ in the long jump to place second behind Robertson, giving the Bulldogs three 21-foot jumpers.

“It’s an embarrassment of riches,” Sanders said. “It feels pretty good.”

Freshman Hunter Krei placed fifth in the long jump with a personal-record jump of 19-¾, and sophomore Wilson Hendershot placed seventh at 18-3, freshman Anthony Garcia 10th at 17-10¾.

Meanwhile, Walker flew a personal-record 43-7¾ to win the triple jump with sophomore Nate Cornia sixth at 37-7 and senior Jarrett Allen eighth at 36-10¾.

“That was a great jump (for Walker), but I still think he was disappointed. He knows he can jump further.”

Sanders noted that Newman was “really springy” on Saturday and would have liked to see what he could do in the triple jump, noting that he was “awesome in the high jump and long jump.”

Indeed, Newman cleared a personal-record 6-2 in the high jump to place second behind Walker, who won the event at 6-4. Robertson placed third at 5-10, Kaeson Anderson fourth at 5-8.

Lovell also racked up points in the pole vault with three placers. Senior Taggart Shumway placed second on misses in the pole vault, clearing 13-6, and junior Owen Edwards cleared 12 feet, a PR, to place fourth and qualify for the state track meet. Senior Talon Burton placed fifth at 11 feet.

Shumway had a strong attempt at 14 feet on his third vault Saturday.

“For Taggart, 14 feet is one of those benchmarks, and 14-1 is the school record,” Sanders said. “He has cleared 13-6 two weeks in a row, which speaks to the dedication he has. Our vaulters are impressing every week.”

The Bulldog sprinters were also impressive Saturday. Krei won the 100-meter dash in 11.69 with Newman second in 11.77, and Robertson qualified for State in the 200-meter dash in 23.04, with Garcia fifth in 24.46.

“That’s something we wanted to see, a strong 200 for him (Robertson),” Sanders said. “That was a goal coming into the meet and a focus of Coach (Josey) Allen.”

Newman won the 300-meter intermediate hurdles in 40.36.

Lovell had three teams in the 400-meter relay. The team of Garcia, Robertson, Jaxon Pluhar and Krei won the event in a time of 44.62, and the quartet of Parker Steenbakkers, Cornia, Muller and Jacob Thomas placed seventh in 48.54. The team of Jett Hessenthaler, Hendershot, Allen and Anderson finished 10th in 50.54.

Cornia almost placed in the 400-meter dash, finishing ninth in a time of 58.05, a personal record, and senior Stetson Asay placed fifth in the 800 meters, running the two laps in 2:16.11.

The team of Krei, Walker, Thomas and Asay won a two-team 1,600-meter sprint medley relay race in 4:03.57.

Other boys results in Cowley Saturday were:

100m dash – Jaxon Pluhar 11th, 12.32, Nate Cornia 12th, 12.35, Kaeson Anderson 27th, 12.87, Wilson Hendershot 37th, 13.37, Karson Seitz 39th, 13.44, Jarrett Allen 41st, 13.52, Jett Hessenthaler tie 42nd, 13.55; 200m dash – Pluhar 11th, 25.48, Seitz 26th, 27.77; 400m dash – Owen Walker 14th, 1:00.87, Hendershot 15th, 1:01.77; 800 meters – Cutler Wilkerson 16th, 2:37.84, Gabriel Buchholz 18th, 2:42.57; long jump – Parker Steenbakkers 16th, 17-¾, Seitz 21st, 16-4¼; high jump – Jaxon Pluhar tie-11th, 5-2; shot put – Braxton Felkins 14th, 37-1, Tazz McArthur 17th, 36-6, Hessenthaler 19th, 33-8, Sam Cordova 29th, 28-11½, Grant Hill 32nd, 28-0, Gage Pillow 34th, 21-10½, Kajyn Cliame 36th, 21-6 (PR); discus – Hill 11th, 98-5, Dean Anderson 15th, 95-5, Cordova 21st, 86-11, Cliame 29th, 68-0, Pillow 31st, 63-2.

Girls results

Sanders announced Brooklin Clark as the female athlete of the week. The versatile sophomore entered the triple jump for the first time and placed third with a jump of 31-11½, and she placed fourth in the 100-meter intermediate hurdles in 18.04 and fifth in the 300-meter low hurdles in 50.46.

“I like that event for her,” Sanders said of Clark’s performance in the triple jump.

Also competing in an event for the first time was freshman Avery Walker, who entered the high jump and placed fourth by clearing 4-9. Sophomore Kandace Asay placed fifth at 4-7.

“It’s an example of experimenting in different things,” Sanders said. “You don’t know until you try.”

Avery Walker also placed third in the long jump, hitting the sand at 15-9, a personal record, followed by Jaycie Allen, fourth at 15-3, and Ali Walker, sixth at 14-10¾.

Ali Walker placed second in the triple jump, hitting 34-½, Clark third, junior Becca Nichols fifth at 31-5¾ -- her first time in the event – and sophomore Hannity Felkins sixth at 31-4¼.

“I’ve been impressed with Hannity Felkins,” Sanders said. “She jumped well in the triple jump.”

Freshman Christina Zollman set a personal record in the shot put with a heave of 29-2, good for sixth place, which Sanders said is a strong throw for a freshman.

“We have an interesting combination of throwers and jumpers,” he noted.

Nichols placed fifth in the 100-meter dash in 13.84, and freshman Janelle Hessenthaler placed seventh in 14.23. Ali Walker placed fourth in the 400-meter dash in 1:05.38, running the event for the first time, and Asay placed fifth in 1:05.42, a PR.

Freshman Caylee Herman placed eighth in the 800 meters, running a personal-record time of 2:41.55, with junior Elana Schilthuis close behind in 10th at 2:44.81.

The team of Ali Walker, Nichols, Avery Walker and Janelle Hessenthaler won the 400-meter relay in 53.80, and the foursome of Allen, Asay, Clark and Felkins placed third in 55.88.

The team of Allen, Janelle Hessenthaler, Herman and Jenna Hessenthaler placed fourth in the 1,600-meter sprint medley in 4:55.75.

Other girls results in Cowley Saturday were:

100m dash – Kandace Asay 13th, 14.56, Kaitlynn Robison 26th, 15.92, Ava Edwards 27th, 16.29, Claire Shumway 31st, 17.38; 200m dash – Robison 23rd, 33.41, Shumway 26th, 35.22 (PR); 800 meters – Candace Walker 15th, 3:05.53 (PR); 100m hurdles – Edwards 13th, 20.54; long jump – Hannity Felkins 15th, 13-6, Janelle Hessenthaler 16th, 13-5¼, Shumway 21st, 12-5, Robison 25th, 11-9½, Edwards 26th, 11-8; triple jump – Walker 11th, 29-8¾, Jenna Hessenthaler 13th, 29-4½ (PR); shot put – Felkins 10th, 27-9 ½, Caitlyn Allen 21st, 23-2 (PR), Brezhae Espinoza 29th, 16-7; discus – Christina Zollman 17th, 77-6, Allen 21st, 70-10 (PR), Espinoza 30th, 44-0.

Home meet

The Bulldogs will host their own meet, the Lovell Invitational, tomorrow (Friday). The competition begins at 1 p.m. with field events and the 3,200-meter relay, followed by the rest of the running events at 1:30, starting with the open 3,200-meter run.