Friday, March 29, 2024

Park City’s Rayna Laakso completes the 4-by-100 relay at the May 13 district tournament in Laurel.

Park City girls, RPR boys shine at state meet

Personal-best times were not enough to reach the podium at a very competitive Class C State Track Meet at Big Sky High School in Missoula on May 27-28.
The Park City girls finished 15th out of 32 schools with 13 points. Plains was first with 66 points.
Cara Grewell led the Panther girls by taking second in the discus at 114 feet 5 inches and sixth in the shot put at 34 feet 11 ½ inches.
Rayna Laakso finished fourth in the 100 hurdles at 16.16. She also took 15th in the long jump at 15 feet 3 ¼ inches, 18th in the high jump at 4 feet 6 inches and 13th in the 200 meters preliminary at 28.18.
Shelby Branstetter took seventh in the 300 meter hurdles at 48.97 and 16th in the 100 hurdles preliminary at 18.26. MacKinzie Verke was 14th in the triple jump at 31 feet 5 inches. Brittany Frank was 16th in the javelin at 108 feet 4 inches.
The Panther girls 4-by-100 relay team of Andee Baker, Branstetter, Laakso and Verke came in 10th at 53.33. The 4-by-400 relay team of MacKinzie Verke, Frank, Blakely Verke and Branstetter was 18th at 4:34.28.
• The Park City boys team had no top-six scoring finishers. Connor McNeil was 10th in the 110 hurdles at 16.75, finished 15th in the 300 meter hurdles at 44.03 and tied for 14th in the javelin at 140 feet 9 inches.
Brandon Flemmer was 12th in the 800 meters at 2:08.77. Connor May was 16th in the javelin at 139 feet 8 inches. Devon Dennis was 17th in the 200 meters preliminary at 24.78.
The Panther boys 4-by-100 relay team of Rylan Gauthier, Dennis, Flemmer and May came in ninth at 46.20. The 4-by-400 relay team of McNeil, Peyton Moe, Dennis and Flemmer was 15th at 3:45.74.
The Park City teams had a very good year, head track coach Bob Hogemark said, with the boys taking the district championship and the girls taking the divisional championship.
“The level of competition was very high at the state meet this year, as there were numerous state records broken,” Hogemark said. “We had many personal bests this past weekend at the state meet. However, our performances were not good enough to make the podium.”
All four relay teams ran season-best times, he noted.
“I’m really proud to be associated with the kids we had in track this season,” Hogemark said. “They’re all good kids and work hard at whatever we ask them to do. We’ll miss Cara Grewell and Connor May, our senior leaders, next season. However, we have a good nucleus of athletes back for next season.”
• The Reed Point-Rapelje boys came in 21st out of 30 teams in a four-way tie with six points. Ennis was first with 83 points.
Jordan Marsh took third in the discus at 147 feet 11 inches and 12th in the shot put at 41 feet 2 inches. Willem Steinfeldt finished 16th in the 1,600 meters at 4:57.08.
Solomon Arno took 10th in the discus at 123 feet 9 inches, and Trevor Herzog took 22nd in the javelin at 130 feet 4 inches.
• The RPR girls had no top-six scoring finishers. Mercedes Hoff took 19th in the triple jump at 30 feet 3 ½ inches and 17th in the 100 meters preliminary at 14.33.
The Renegades girls 4-by-100 relay team of Nynah Bryant, Cheyenne Gehnert, Mercedes Hoff and Jocelyn Ott took 16th in the preliminary at 54.92.
“We had some personal records in some of our events at state,” RPR track coach Carole Marsh said. “Our girls 4-by-100 meter relay team ran a season-best of 54.91 but didn’t advance to finals.”
The Renegades started the season with 18 athletes – 13 qualified for the divisional meet and eight qualified for state.
“Jordan had an automatic qualifying mark in the discus, also a new school record, with a throw of 148 feet 9 inches,” Marsh said. “We were a pretty young team with only three seniors, so the experience we gained this year will be an asset for our next year of completion.”
• For the Absarokee girls, Lauren Milliken finished 13th in the 3,200 meters at 13:40.03 and 18th in the 1,600 meters at 6:20.22.
The Husky girls 4-by-100 relay team of Emma Chandler, Rebecka Lester, Emma LaMoure and Sydney Copeland came in 18th in the preliminary at 55.93. Chandler came in 10th in the pole vault at 7 feet 6 inches. Lester was 16th in the pole vault at 7 feet.
• For the Absarokee boys Kyle Kirby was 19th in the 400 meters at 55.76. Jake Branger was 18th in the 3,200 meters at 11:08.89.