Rocky thinclads begin season with five athletes qualifying for State

The Rocky Mountain track and field team saw their first action of the season last Thursday, March 21, at the Cody Invitational, and head coach Tobee Christiansen said it was a good day for the Grizzlies.
“It was good to just go get started and see the kids compete,” Christiansen said. “We had a little bit of everything weather wise. It was nice enough
to get some sunburn, but we also had some snow.
“It was good to see the kids doing their events and getting their marks. We’ll see where we go from there.”
The meet was a big one, with some 14 schools from Class 1A to 4A competing, and several Grizzlies prequalified for the state track meet.
The girls 400-meter relay team of Shelby Wambeke, Brittly Boettcher, MacKelle Moss and Kaitey Christensen placed fourth out of nine teams with a time of 53.78, well under the qualifying time of 55.52. The foursome will run even faster, Christiansen said.
“We didn’t push ‘em on handoffs,” he said. “We went pretty safe.”
Christensen also prequalified for State in the high jump, clearing 4-9 to tie for fourth place. Moss was close, clearing 4-7 to tie for seventh, and sophomore Keylee Christiansen was solid, clearing 4-3 to tie for 15th place.
“That was a good start for our three high-jumpers,” Christiansen said. “It was pretty chilly when they were jumping.”
Junior Hudson May prequalified in the 400 meters, placing fourth with a time of 52.61, just 1/10th of a second off his personal record set at the state track meet last year.
“Any time you can start right at your PR (is great),” Coach C said. “And we obviously haven’t had a ton of time yet.”
May set a PR in the 200-meter dash, running the half lap in 24.41, good for 14th place.
Freshman Joaquin Scheeler showed promise in the triple jump, placing 15th with a leap of 35-3.
Other boys results at Cody were:
100m dash – Will Watts 53rd, 12.84; 200m dash – Watts 31st, 25.63, Lafe Files 58th, 26.58, Landon Pruett 68th, 26.97; 800 meters – Jacob Bischoff 21st, 2:28.14; 1,600 meters – Paul Shetler 41st, 6:16.94; long jump – Pruett 41st, 15-7¾, Race Moorehead 66th, 11-1½; shot put – Joaquin Scheeler tie-51st, 32-½, Kellan Jackson tie-51st, 32-½, Jiggs Yellowtail 66th, 29-1; discus – Jackson 40th, 88-11, Scheeler 49th, 83-4, Yellowtail 65th, 75-6.
Lady Grizzlies
Moss got off to a solid start in the 200-meter dash for her senior season, placing ninth in a time of 28.35, just 21/100ths off the prequalification time, and Boettcher finished 11th in the 100-meter intermediate hurdles in 18.24.
“That’s not bad for MacKelle out of the gate this year,” Christiansen said. “That wasn’t Brittly’s best race by any stretch, but it’s not a bad start. You’ll see that improve as she cleans things up. She works at it.”
Christensen tied for 10th in the long jump, springing 14-5¼, and she tied her PR in the pole vault, clearing 7 feet (one level  below the prequal height) to finish 11th. Junior Tarynn Schoening competed in the pole vault for the first time and cleared 6 feet to tie for 14th place.
Senior Rylee Winland had a strong start to her senior season, tying for 10th in the shot put with a toss of 30-4.
“She just missed the finals,” Christiansen noted.
Other girls results in Cody were:
100m dash – Brittly Boettcher 18th, 13.84, Shelby Wambeke 26th, 14.05, Evynn Alvarez tie-88th, 16.88 (PR); 200m dash – Charlee Welling 22nd, 30.09, Kaysie Cooley 37th, 31.81, Evynn Alvarez 58th, 35.07; 400 meters – Cooley 21st, 1:13.79, Ellie Alvarez 32nd, 1:29.99 (PR); 1,600 meters – Gwynff Bodtke 16th, 7:57.66; long jump – Welling 16th, 14-½, Ella Pierce 47th, 11-8, Evynn Alvarez 52nd, 9-½, Ellie Alvarez 53rd, 8-2 (PR); shot put – Elliahna Scheeler 47th, 21-7½, Evynn Alvarez 76th, 13-1; discus – Rylee Winland 19th, 82-5, Scheeler 26th, 76-10.
Burlington meet
The Grizzlies will compete at the Burlington Invitational on Good Friday this week, with field events scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m., followed by running events at 2. The Grizz will be off for spring break the following weekend and will return to action Saturday, April 13, at the L.A. Kohnke Invitational in Powell.