Super in Saratoga: Girls win Burt Wilford Invite, boys run away with second

For the second straight week, the Glenrock High School track and field team had its scheduled meet against big schools postponed. However, it’s also the second time in as many weeks that head coach Heath Hayes found somewhere else to take his much-improved teams.

That worked out for the best.

The Herders went a different direction April 26 and unleashed a great day at the 2024 Burt Wilford Invite. The girls went on to win their first meet of the season and the shorthanded boys managed to take second in Saratoga.

“We were scheduled to compete at Kelly Walsh on Saturday but with the weather outlook they moved to Monday and due to school testing we came to a decision of not separating our team and will not attend,” Hayes explained. “This week we worked on being mentally prepared for competition and staying relaxed at the same time. It worked as our girls beat Rawlins to claim first place of the smaller meet, with the boys finishing just behind Rawlins. The boys were missing Owen Caldwell and Gavin Zeiger due to injury and illness. These two would have scored the points needed.”

Glenrock is small yet mighty and making big strides every week.

“Anytime you win eight events is a great day no matter who you’re competing against. These kids are working hard to make Glenrock athletics better,” Hayes praised.

Paving the way to the girls team title was the muscle on the group, starting with Zhane Johnson who led the way by taking second place in shot put with a personal-record toss of 30 feet, 2 inches. Caitilyn Williams was third at 29-1 and Makenzie McCullough was fourth with a new mark of 28-7.

Johnson also took home second place in discus where she had another season best heave of 82-8.5. Williams was third again at 81-8.5, McCullough was sixth at 77-10 and Kayde Stull who hit a PR again on the girls side in throwing.

For the boys, Casey Sarvey crushed his season best with a throw of 130-7 to take home third overall. JD Holman also had his best distance of the year at 99-8.

“The boys are finding consistency and improvements with PR’s from Isaac Chicho and Terryn White in the shot put while Manny Coulter, JD Holman and Casey Sarvey saw improvement in the discus,” Hayes said. 

In high jump, Carson Tomlin captured second place with a height of 5-6 to lead the boys. Haiden Ward was fourth, and Easton Low took fifth. 

Pole vaulters were led by Megann Farley on the girls’ side as she won the meet with a height of 7-6. Bailey Mueller was second and Taitum Helmey took third. For the boys, Ayden Lamb hit a PR of 9-6 to lock down third place and Mason O’Brien was sixth. 

Madison Zeiger added to the PRs in the long jump. Ayden Moulton was spectacular as he won the long jump with a season-best mark of 18-3.75 while Ward was third at 17-9.25 and Tillard fourth at 17-2.5.

In triple jump, Ward was top for GHS when he took fourth with a new best mark of 35-6.25 while Sarvey was seventh and Miles Wieser 10th. For the girls, Gracie Sixbey was the best Herder in fourth at 31-10.

On the oval, sprinters Farley and Dona both won the 200 while both beating their best times at 27.78 and 23.49 seconds, respectively. JD Holman was third at 24.29 for the boys and Kristyna Mouleova captured second in the girls at 31.02.

It was a great day to be Farley as she also won the 400 where she locked a new season-best time at 1:03.83. Hayden Lythgoe nailed fourth at 1:08.79, Gillian Holman was sixth at 1:11.60 and Cora Grant was 10th at 1:17.62.

Owen Partridge was the best in Saratoga after he won the boys 1600 as he clocked a 5:12.90 and was second in the 800 at 2:22.77. Mason O’Brien was solid in the 800, placing third by an eyelash at 2:22.95.

For the girls 800 meter race, Toner ran her way the best with a time of 3:08.62. Grant took fourth at 3:17 and Natalie Zagrabelny was seventh at 3:28.51. Hurdlers Caden Tillard, Preston Sorenson and Taitum Helmey were busy all day. Tillard was second in 110s and fourth in the 300s while Sorenson took third in 110s and first in 300s.

The boys 4x100 relay foursome of Tomlin, Sorenson, JD Holman, Dona held off Rawlins to win the event. Also, the sprint medley relay of Holman, Brigham Partridge, Tomlin, Ayden Moulton won their race. 

“As much as we want to increase numbers, I wouldn’t trade this group for anyone. We are becoming a team as there were secret handshakes created and saw kids yelling across the field while supporting their teammates,” Hayes said.

“This coming week we will begin setting up our team representing Glenrock at the regional meet and take the majority of the team to Thermopolis on Friday with some of our throwers attending a meet in Kaycee due to an entry cap at the Thermopolis meet.”