Laramie Wins Four Titles on Day Two of State Track

Behind a sweep in the 800-meters and two relay wins, Laramie High School’s track teams enjoyed lots of success at state track in Casper Friday.

The Laramie Plainsmen extended their lead in the team standings, while the Lady Plainsmen surged into contention with three victories and are just 6.5 points out of first.

Laramie began yesterday with wins in both 800-meter races. Sophomore Abigail Whitman grabbed the first victory for the Lady Plainsmen, as she surged down the home stretch and won in 2:15.46. It’s the first individual state championship for Whitman. Senior Albert Steiner completed the sweep for LHS with his second individual event victory, as pulled away and won by just over two seconds with a time of 1:54.65. Senior teammate Philip Henry placed fifth.

Victories in two relays have vaulted the Laramie girls into contention. LHS posted the only sub-50 second time by a girls’ team in winning the 4x100 meter relay in 49.47 seconds. Sophomore Rachel King, junior Ketisa Akambasi, sophomore Emmy Johnson and senior Kyra Wulff ran away from the 4A field.

That was followed late on Friday by a victory in the 1600 sprint medley relay. Laramie’s time was 4:14.68, and they finished four seconds ahead of Sheridan. King, junior Kyleigh Bingham, senior Becky Barbier and Whitman combined for the victory.

Team-wise, the Laramie Plainsmen have scored 84 points through ten events. They hold a nice lead over Natrona County, who is second with 60.5 points. In third is Rock Springs at 41.5 team points.

The Lady Plainsmen have moved up to third place with 53 points. Rock Springs is in the lead with 59.5 points, while Sheridan is second with 56 points.

In other notable performances for the Laramie girls, Wulff and Akambasi finished third and fifth in the long jump. Johnson and Wulff qualified for the Saturday’s finals in the 100-meter dash. Johnson has the top time of 12.66 seconds. Johnson was also the No. 1 qualifier for Saturday’s finals in the 300-meter hurdles in 46.58 seconds.

For the Plainsmen, they finished third, fourth and fifth in the triple jump. Senior Reece Shannon took third at 45 feet-4.25 inches. Junior Jason Upton placed fourth at 44 feet-11 inches, and junior Matt Smith was fifth at 44 feet-0.5 inches. Senior Frank Crum came in third in the shot put. His best toss was 51 feet-3.5 inches, which was only a quarter-inch out of second. Their final points of the day came from a third-place finish in the 1600-meter sprint medley relay. LHS’ time was 3:39.61, just two seconds from first. The relay was comprised of senior Tyler Dahl, senior Eric Zafft, Smith, and sophomore Mason Swingholm.

In two preliminary races, Upton and Dahl qualified for Saturday’s finals in the 300-meter hurdles and 400-meter dash, respectively. Upton’s time was 41.11 seconds, while Dahl was the top qualifier in an even 50-seconds.

Day three of the state track championships resume at 9 a.m. Saturday.