Lovell Middle School track athletes excel at home meet

Lovell had the opportunity to host two track meets this past weekend, one of which was a middle school track meet on Friday.

“The kids have only had three meets, but they’ve been phenomenal at each of the meets,” coach Collin McArthur said. “Every Lovell group took first or second except for the eighth-grade boys.”

Lovell sixth grader James Henderson contributed 38 points overall to the team’s total on Friday. Henderson placed second in the 100-meter dash, running a time of 14.35. In the 200-meter dash, he placed first with a time of 30.27, and in the 100-meter hurdles, Henderson ran 19.31, placing him in first. The last victory of the day for Henderson was in the 200-meter hurdles event, where he ran 32.89 to put him in first place.

Among other events, Hayden Harshman and Spencer Walker were high placers in the triple jump and pole vault events. Harshman placed first in the triple jump, leaping 30-1.75 to secure his win. Walker was close behind in second with a jump of 26-1.25. Harshman went on to place second in pole vault, clearing the 7-6 bar. Walker cleared the 6-6 bar, placing him in third and tying him with teammate Jamen Crosby.

In the throws, Adam Hill placed first in both shot put and discus. Hill threw 28-3 in the shot put, putting him in first by a little less than three feet. Hill went on to throw 77-1 in discus, almost 15 feet more than his previous personal record. 

Other Lovell sixth-grade boys results (top 10) were:

100m- Luke Bischoff third, Konner Seitz fourth, Spencer Walker sixth; 200m- Carson Marberry second, Seitz third, Abiel Torres fourth, Joel Henley 10th; 400m- Lionel Two Two sixth, Torres seventh, Seitz eighth; 800m- Jamen Crosby fourth, Torres fifth; 1,600m- Crosby fifth; 100m hurdles- Thomas Blankenship fourth; high jump- Blankenship third, Walker seventh; long jump- Jace Jameson fourth, Hayden Harshman fifth, Two Two seventh, Bischoff eighth, Corbin Henley 10th; triple jump- Corbin Henley ninth; discus- Taysom Butler fourth, Jameson sixth, Brett Cordova ninth, Corbin Henley 10th; shot put- Harshman fourth, Jameson seventh, Butler eighth.

The Lovell sixth grade girls placed second in the meet with a total of 143 points.

A big contributor to the point total was Blakely Piper. Piper placed first in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.37. Piper also won first place in the 200-meter dash, running a time of 27.72. Piper also placed first in the 100-meter hurdles, running 17.62 to secure her win. 

Charlize Hessenthaler also added many points to Lovell’s score with high placing. Hessenthaler ran the 100-meter dash in 14.08, leaving her in second place for this event. A time of 29.21 placed her at second in the 200-meter dash, as well. Hessenthaler later placed first in the long jump, jumping 12-10.5.

Other Lovell sixth grade girls results (top 10) were:

100m- Lydia Robertson ninth, Ayvah Mcillwaine 10th; 200m- Mcillwaine 10th; 400m- Robertson fifth, Kamilia Garcia sixth, Wyatt Hendershot seventh, Paizley Cliame eighth; 100m hurdles- Kashlyn Collins second, Kennadee Roper third; 200m hurdles- Collins third, Roper fifth, Leah Hessenthaler sixth; 4x100 relay- first; long jump- Collins second, Leah Hessenthaler seventh, Adele Rose 10th; triple jump- Hendershot fifth; discus- Rose fifth; shot put- Mcillwaine second.

Lovell seventh grader Dallas Romero placed first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.02. Romero also placed second in both the high jump and the long jump. Romero cleared the 5-2 bar in the high jump and leaped 15-11 to secure his placing in the long jump.

Dax Mangus was another high placing athlete at this meet. Mangus secured first place in the 100-meter dash with a run of 12.16, and he also placed first in the long jump, leaping 17-3.

Other Lovell seventh-grade boys results (top 10) were:

100m- James Sanders second, Brhysan Henton fourth, Gage Angell eighth; 200m- Henton third; 100m hurdles- Boston Wilson sixth, Kayan Owens seventh; 200m hurdles- Wilson fifth; 4x100- first; high jump- Henton first; long jump- Sanders seventh; triple jump- Angell third; pole vault- Kaden Waltjen fourth; shot put- Thomas Nichols second.

Seventh-grade athlete Nellie Guccion placed first in the 1,600 meter run with a time of 5:35.69. Guccion also placed second in the 200-meter hurdles, running a 34.03, and she placed well in the long jump and shot put, placing fourth in both.

Chloe Asay placed first in the 800-meter run, running 2:36.45. Asay also placed third in the 1,600 meters, running 6:00.12. Asay competed in shot put for the first time this week and placed second with a throw of 20-9, which qualified her for the Best of the Best meet.

Eighth grader Conner Harris had two strong finishes in his events this weekend. Harris placed first in the 100-meter dash, running 12.61 to secure the finish. Harris also placed third in the 200-meter dash, running 26.25. 

The discus event was well represented for Lovell. Jordan Mangus placed seventh, Landen Peterson placed third and Landon Asay placed second with a throw of 102-0.

“Even with their small amount of numbers, they were able to take fourth,” McArthur stated. “They have good athletes, just not a lot of kids in the eighth-grade boys group.”

Other Lovell eighth-grade boys results (top 10) were:

100m- Kyson Spanier seventh, Alexander Mcillwaine 10th; 200m- Spanier ninth, Mcillwaine 10th; 400m- Mason Kitchen sixth, Jackson Sanders fifth; 800 medley- third; 4x400 relay- third; high jump- Bradley Mickelson fourth; long jump- Mickelson fourth; triple jump- Asay; shot put- Peterson seventh, Mcillwaine 10th.

Oakley Anderson placed first in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.53, and she placed third in the 200-meter dash, running 28.15. Anderson also placed second in the 100-meter hurdles, running a time of 18.65, and seventh in the long jump.

Janelle Asay was a high achieving athlete at the Lovell home meet, as well. Asay placed first in the 100-meter hurdles, completing this event in 17.79. Asay later placed third in both the 200-meter hurdles and the high jump. Asay had the time of 35.32 in the hurdles and cleared the 4-6 bar in high jump.

Other Lovell eighth-grade girls results (top 10) were:

100m- Oakley Bischoff sixth; 200m- Taylor Henderson eighth; 400m- Macee Winterholler third, Harper Walker 10th; 800m- Winterholler third; long jump- Laney Felkins fifth; triple jump- Rubie Weber first, Felkins sixth, Walker eighth, Riley Henley ninth; pole vault- Bischoff third; discus- Henderson third, Kobi Jameson eighth; shot put- Henderson sixth.

At the Lovell track meet, seven more male athletes and seven more female athletes qualified for the Best of the Best meet, and 40 athletes from Lovell have qualified for the meet. Before ending the season in Lander at the Best of the Best meet, middle school athletes have one more chance to qualify at this Saturday’s conference meet in Worland.

“We’ve got a lot of very good athletes, so there’s a good chance we can take home some hardware if we can put in our best efforts,” McArthur said.