Laramie Track Posts Strong Showing in Cheyenne

Five first place finishes highlighted the Laramie High School track team’s performance at last Friday’s Okie Blanchard Invite in Cheyenne.

Senior McCade Johnson won a pair of events and was runner-up in a third. Johnson blazed to victory in the 110 hurdles at 14.78 seconds. He followed that with a win in the 300 hurdles, as the only competitor with a sub-40 second time at 39.58. Johnson crossed the tape in second in the 200 meters. His time was 23.21 seconds.

Laramie head coach Gil Bradfield knows Johnson is continuing to push forward.

“As long as he keeps himself healthy and really watches what he’s doing, we expect a lot of big things from him, and hope that it just continues to the end.”

Johnson’s effort helped the Laramie Plainsmen come in third place in the team standings. They scored 95.50 points and finished behind Rock Springs (115) and Cheyenne Central (109).

The Laramie Lady Plainsmen had a better showing with a runner-up team result. They scored 115.50 team points, but lost to the host Cheyenne East Lady T-Birds (138).

Senior Maria Smith-Lopez and freshman Emmy Johnson both won individual events. Smith-Lopez won the 3200 meters in 12:33.11. Johnson captured the 1600 meters in 5:20.26 and added a third place finish in the 800 meters.

Bradfield said, “We weren’t worried too much about the team results, as much as performances. We had a lot of really good performances both varsity and JV. We’re finding out more and more things that we want to know by the end of the year. A lot of younger kids are coming along that we hope can help us at the end.”

Other top three performances for the Laramie girls included both the 4x400 and 4x800 meter relays were second. Hannah Brin and Carline Lockard took second and third in the 100 hurdles. Hailey Schmidt was third in the 300 hurdles. Abigail Whitman came in third in the 1600 meters, while Jennifer Aadland added another third place in the high jump.

As for the Plainsmen, the 4x400 meter relay came in first place. The time was 3:31.13 and over three seconds faster than Rock Springs. Tyler Dahl added a second in the 400 meters, while distance runners Albert Steiner (1600 meters) and Adrian Johnson (3200 meters) also came in second place.

Laramie heads back to Cheyenne Thursday for the South Twilight in their only competition of this week.