Depth Carries Plainsmen to Victory on the Track

The Laramie Plainsmen won three events, but thanks to their depth, they won the Wyoming High School Open indoor track meet last Friday in Laramie.

Laramie topped the six team field with 144 points at War Memorial Fieldhouse. Seniors Tyler Dahl and Eric Zaft won events individually, while LHS also crossed the line first in the 4x200 meter relay. The Plainsmen put together 26 top-8 performances.

The Lady Plainsmen also had three wins, but came in third place with 111.033 team points behind Thunder Basin (158.1) and Cheyenne Central (146.966). Senior Kyra Wulff and sophomore Emmy Johnson topped the field for individual wins.

Laramie head coach Greg Schabron said there was a purpose for scoring this meet.

“What it does is get that confidence level up and make the team realize that we are going to count for team points, kind of looking down the road. You know normally kids might not see that stuff until we get later in the season, so it was nice to see those scores come out the way they did.”

Dahl won the 400 meters in 52.87 seconds ahead of teammate Jason Upton at 53.50. Laramie had five runners finish in the top five. They also put five in the top seven of the long jump led by Reece Shannon, who was runner-up at 21 feet, 7.75 inches.

Zaft won the pole vault at 11-6. The Plainsmen won the 4x200 relay in 1:36.59.

Schabron was pleased with their efforts.

“We looked at results and in every event there was something. That’s important, especially with 16 different events.”

Wulff won the 55 meter dash in 7.62 seconds to lead the Lady Plainsmen. She also won the long jump with a top leap of 16 feet, 11 inches, which was good for a victory by over a foot. Wulff was also fifth in the triple jump.

Johnson crossed the finish line ahead of the pack in the 800 meters. Her winning time was 2:23.53.

Laramie has changed their schedule. They are now set to attend the Sheridan Invite in Gillette on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Plainsmen Swimming and Diving

Laramie took third place at the Gillette Swim and Dive Invite Saturday at the Campbell County Aquatics Center.

The Plainsmen scored 377 team points, but came in behind Kelly Walsh (450) and Thunder Basin (399).

LHS did win four events. McKay Lake won both the 50 and 100 freestyle. Max DeYoung won the 100 backstroke. Both were part of the victorious 400 freestyle relay team that won by nearly eight seconds.

Head coach Tom Hudson said they swam about how he thought they would.

“Pretty tired for the most part. What depth we do have really wasn’t scoring us a lot of points. McKay Lake did have a really nice day, winning the 50 and 100 free. Max DeYoung just exploded in the 100 back with some great competition. He actually broke the school record set by Slade Sheaffer four years ago, so that was unexpected. Then our 400 free relay just stepped up and swam tough, even though they were tired.”

Laramie did not get any new qualifiers and is still at 11 on the season.

The Plainsmen are preparing for the 4A Eastern Conference Championships in Cheyenne at South High School Friday and Saturday.

Plainsmen Wrestling

With just four competitors in the varsity division, the Laramie Plainsmen placed 19th at the Ron Thon Memorial Wrestling tournament last Friday and Saturday in Riverton.

LHS finished with 45.5 team points. There were 39 teams in the field in what many considered a “best of the best” tournament.

Junior Zech Aguilar was third place at 220 pounds. His only loss came to Star Valley’s Josh Dawson in a close 3-0 decision in the quarterfinals. Aguilar regrouped and won his last four matches.

Senior Arsenio Lemus took fifth at 132 pounds. His losses were in the quarterfinals in a 3-2 setback by tie breaker. Lemus also lost in the consolation semi by sudden victory 4-2. He recorded a tech fall of 15-0 in his fifth place match.

Freshman Isaac Sell (113) and senior Ryder Senior (138) both went 1-2 in the tournament. They were the only other varsity wrestlers in Laramie’s line-up.

The Plainsmen are back on the mat Friday and Saturday with conference duals at Campbell County, Thunder Basin and Sheridan.

Skiing

Both the Alpine and Nordic skiing teams were off from competition last weekend.

Alpine heads to the Pinedale Invite at the White Pine Ski Area outside of Pinedale. It will be two days of giant slalom racing Friday and Saturday.

Nordic Skiing had last weekend off after competition at Soldier Hollow, UT was cancelled. They are doing a single make-up race outside of Jackson Saturday.