A Successful Week for Laramie High School Track

Last week turned out to be highly productive for the Laramie High School track and field teams.

Laramie dominated and won both the boys and girls division last Wednesday at the Rawlins Invite. They followed that up with a pair of sixth place team finishes at the LoboCat Round Up in Fort Collins last Friday.

The Rawlins Invite was rescheduled from an April 17 weather postponement. LHS took advantage of a smaller field and won easily.

The Lady Plainsmen won eight events and piled up 210 team points thru the 17 events. The host Rawlins Lady Outlaws were a distant second with 92 team points.

Laramie's girls were led by senior Phoenix Farnham, who won the 100, 200 and 400 meter dashes. Sophomore Hailey Schmidt added a pair of wins in the 100 and 300 hurdles.

The Plainsmen were just as dominant. The won seven events and rolled up 221 team points. Rawlins was again second in the boys division with 169.

Sophomore McCade Johnson led LHS with victories in the 110 and 300 hurdles.

Laramie head track coach Gil Bradfield said, "I think it was great... We were able to have a glorified practice up there and did well. We had some good times, distances and that type of thing."

Last Friday in Fort Collins, Colorado, both squads ended up with identical team results at the LoboCat Round Up. They both were sixth out of 20 teams and both finished with 50 team points.

Bradfield said of the meet in Colorado,

"To perform that well, both the girls and the boys, I think we did a great job competing against some really tough school down there (in Colorado)... I think we're just really coming along and making some good strides."

The Plainsmen picked up two wins. Junior Chris Henry won the 3200 meter run by 15 seconds. His time was 9:44.59. Henry also anchored the victorious 4X800 meter relay that won by seven seconds.

Nate Albers finished runner-up in the pole vault. He just missed pre-qualifying for the state meet, as he cleared 13 feet 5 inches. The minimum mark is 13-6. McCade Johnson added a pair of third places in both hurdle events.

The Lady Plainsmen were paced by Farnham, who won the 200 meters and added a sixth place in the 400 meters.

Senior Ella DeWolf came in third in the 1600 meter run and was fifth in the 800 meters. Fellow senior Taylor Arsaga was top five in both hurdle events. She finished fifth in the 100 hurdles and third in the 300's. Arsaga also came in eighth in the long jump.

Laramie girls added a fourth place effort in the 4X400 relay.

To this point of the season Laramie has five individuals and three relays between the two squads that have pre-qualified for the state championships in May.

LHS Track is set to return to competition Friday. Those that qualify, and elect to compete, will take part in the Wyoming Track Classic in Casper. The rest of the team heads to Denver for the Viking Invite hosted by Denver North High School.