Final Test Before Regionals: Nearly three dozen season, personal bests recorded in Thermopolis

It was suppose to be a busy final week of the regular season for the Glenrock High School track & field team with athletes split into separate events. That didn’t happen but what did take place was the most season and personal bests of the season in one day May 3 at the Bobcat Invite in Thermopolis.

“This past weekend the high school tracksters were headed in a couple different directions, with the majority headed to the Bobcat Invite and a suburban load headed to Kaycee. Unfortunately the Kaycee meet was cancelled,” GHS head coach Heath Hayes said. “The meet in Thermopolis was good for us as we got to see teams we haven’t seen this year like Powell, Lovell and Worland.”

Not all Herders competed in their main events but it didn’t hold the team back from a great day. The boys and girls had a combined 34 season and career bests.

“With many of our athletes not competing in all of their events and several not their best event due to us trying to rest them for the upcoming Regional meet, the boys still finished ninth out of 19 schools while the girls were 14th out of 18,” Hayes said.

There was still plenty of praise to go around, including for the boys 4x400 relay team. The talented foursome of Carson Tomlin, Brady Dona, Ayden Moulton and Gavin Zeiger finished in third and punched their ticket to the state meet with an automatic qualifying time of 3 minutes, 37.70 seconds and 13 seconds fastest than their best time.

The boys had a field day against the lineup of nearly two dozen teams and hundreds of athletes. They had seven additional top-eight finishes. 

Beginning with speed events, Gavin Zeiger came through in eighth out of 68 runners in the 100 with a time of 11.83 seconds and not far back of winner Caden Nelson of Powell at 11.44. JD Holman wasn’t afraid of stellar competition either as he crossed the finish line sixth out of 60 runners where he stopped the watch at 24.55 in the 200.

Mason O’Brien was just outside the top eight in the 800 but he crushed his best time by four seconds when he delivered a 2:18.88. Charlie Schowengerdt also hit a new best time at 2:24.43.

Glenrock was solid in two addition relays. The quartet of Brady Dona, Preston Sorenson, Holman and Schowengerdt took eighth in the 4x100 where they inked 46.25 seconds.

The Herders were impressive in the 4x800. The crew of Easton Low, Owen Partridge, Owen Caldwell and O’Brien locked down fifth in 9:22.85.

Ayden Moulton, one of many Herders who excel in multiple events, had a great day in field events. The junior unleashed a new best mark in long jump when he soared to seventh place at 19 feet, 1.75 inches.

Casey Sarvey also finished among the leaders in discus with an eighth-place toss of 120-6. The junior also had a throw of 38-1.25 in shot put.

In the limited action on the girls side, Glenrock had two top-eight placers among the huge list of athletes at the meet.

The most stunning performance of the day was chalked up on the 1,600 sprint relay. The quartet of Megann Farley, Gracie Sixbey, Hayden Lythgoe and Gillian Holman ran their way to fourth overall. They were just shy of the school record when they crossed the finish line at 4:5084, which was six seconds faster then their best time.

Also finishing amongst the best was Gracie Sixbey. The junior sailed to sixth place in triple jump when she hit the sand with a mark of 31-10.5.

Finishing just outside the leaders in the 400 was Lythgoe. The junior was 10th overall but delivered a season-best time of 1:07.70, which was less than a second out of the top eight. Freshman Sheridan Sarvey notched a new personal-best in the 800 at 2:56.54.

Now it’s off to the postseason and one final chance to qualify for state via placements.

“This week we head to regionals May 10-11 in Wheatland,” Hayes said. “Many of these athletes are in position to qualify for the state track meet and we hope to cap the season off with more career best or personal best performances.”