Lovell indoor thinclads wrap up regular season

In their final regular season meet, the Lovell indoor track and field athletes were focused on fine tuning their performances at the Park County Invitational in Gillette last Friday in preparation for the 3A State meet this Friday and Saturday, also in Gillette. 

The Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs found very good competition in the final meet with 16 teams competing, and several Lovell athletes had season best performances. The Thunder Basin Bolts won both the girls (132 points) and boys (141 points) divisions with Kelly Walsh (76 points) and Sheridan (75 points) placing second and third in the girls division. Sheridan finished second in the boys division with 114 points, and Campbell County took third with 55 points. The Lady Bulldogs placed 13th with 6 points, and the Bulldogs finished in 12th place with 12 points.

Celeste Lindsay placed third in a very competitive shot put event with a throw 39-5.5. Christina Zolman placed 20th with a toss of 29-0.75. In the other field events, Claire Shumway was the top finisher for Lovell in the long jump, placing 30th with a mark of 13-5, and Sofia Khan was 43rd with a jump of 11-8.75.

On the track, Toree Herman had a strong race in the 400 meters, placing 31st with a time of 1:14.53. In the 200 meters Kindle Collins led the way in 31.04 to place 59th, Shumway placed 76th in a time of 31.69, Daisy Carpenter was 84th in 32.15 and Herman finished the race in 32.65 for 90th place. Kindle Collins also was the top Lady Bulldog finisher in the 55 meters, placing 51st in 8.29, with Kira Collins hitting the tape in 8.48, placing 71st. Carpenter placed 79th with a time of 8.57, and Kahn finished in 113th place in a time of 9.42. 

For the Bulldogs, Hunter Krei was the top finisher, placing in a tie for second in the 55 meters with a time of 6.70, and Nate Cornia placed fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 38-8.25. The other sprinters for Lovell in the 55 meters were Cornia placing 13th with a time of 6.93, Jacob Thomas 23rd in 7.08, Anthony Garcia 51st in 7.25, Jett Hessenthaler 80th in 7.56, Cutler Wilkerson 94th in 7.73, Conner Grant 104th in 7.96, Kelvin Robertson 107th in 8.00 and Grady Henley 126th in 9.46 seconds.

Thomas ran well for the Bulldogs in the 400 meters, placing 17th in a time of 57.92, and Robert Capers finished in 39th place with a time of 1:06.47. Cornia had the best time in the 200 meters in 25.28 to place 28th, while Thomas finished in 39th place with a time of 25.57. Capers placed 75th in a time of 27.40. In the 1,600 meters Rick Jensen ran well, placing 30th with a time of 5:50.26, and Cutler Wilkerson ran a 6:07.68 to place 35th. 

In the other field events Tazz McArthur was the top placer for the Bulldogs in the shot put, placing 21st with a throw of 40-11.25, followed by Hessenthaler who had a toss of 36-2, which placed him 30th. Sam Cordova had a mark of 30-2.75 to place 66th. Halen Strom struggled with his throws in the shot put, scratching on each of his three attempts but should certainly be a contender in the event at the state meet.

In the long jump Capers had the best performance, jumping 16-7.25 to place 26th, Robertson went 15-5.75 for 35th place, Garcia jumped 14-10.25 to place 40th and Grant was right behind him in 42nd place with a mark of 14-3.0.

The 4A State meet will be held this Thursday and Friday in Gillette at the Campbell County Recreation Center, and the 3A State meet will begin on Friday at 1 pm and conclude on Saturday afternoon.