Updates will be posted at the top:
1 p.m., Saturday -- I am happy to report that forecasts of miserable weather may have been misplaced. The clouds broke and we're running championship Saturday under mostly blue skies.
I am also happy to announced that Powell High School has its first state champion of these games. Sophomore Garrett Lynch unleashed a school-record throw of 168 feet in the discus to record a 2-inch victory and capture the state title. Vince Sleep scored a personal best of 159-9 to place third.
Also this morning, Josh Cragoe ran to a runner-up finish in the 110-meter hurdle finals. The bigger news may have been Kalei Smith, who came in fourth in the race, stealing some valuable team points for the Panthers. On the girls' side, Desiree Murray ran to a runner-up finish in the 100-meter hurdles, but took a nasty spill in the 300-meter hurdle finals. Murray eventually regained her feet and finished the race well after the other seven runners had crossed the line. The bigger question will be how the mishap impacts Murray, who still has the 400 and 200 finals this afternoon. Coach Smith assures me she's "one of the toughest kids I've coach," adding that she's the sort who might run the finals today and show up at school in a body cast on Monday. Since Murray's graduating on Sunday, I doubt she'll be in school come Monday morning, but point taken.
As expected, Douglas passed Powell in the team standings, but the gap was only half a point before the Panthers surged back into the lead with their discus performance. That 4x400 relay keeps looming larger and larger as the afternoon moves closer and closer here on championship Saturday.
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7:15 a.m., Saturday -- Welcome to championship Saturday at the state track meet in Casper! Remember those 77 degrees that we began the meet with two days ago? Well forget about them, they're not coming back. It's been raining on and off throughout the night and with a humidity hovering around 80 percent and an air temperature of 42 degrees presently, it's going to feel just a handful of degrees above freezing. It should warm up into the mid or upper 50s, but there's also the threat of, yes, more rain moving in.
That said, we should have a hot battle for most of the day in the 3A boys' standings, if not for the champion's trophy, then at the very least for the runner-up and third-place hardware. Powell begins in second place today, 13.5 points in back of Jackson. Douglas should come shooting up from back in the pack with a host of early competitors, however. Star Valley will make waves in any sprinting events as well. Jackson, though, might have too many horses, especially with the 1600 yet to be run.
On the girls' side, a Friday largely without points sent the Panther girls down to seventh-place in the standings. How far they climb back will largely be determined by Desiree Murray, who will close out a stellar Panther career today by running in four different finals.
A final word -- due to the wet weather, I'm not certain how many online reports I'll be able to file today. Fans can follow along with the action on the WHSAA website (www.whsaa.org) as the Hy-Tek results stream along the state track page. I'd like to give a big thanks to everyone back at the home office as well for taking my phone reports amidst spotty coverage and questionable weather here to help provide updates this week.
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9:30 p.m., Friday -- Heading into championship Saturday, the boys' standings look like this -- Jackson 72, Powell 58.5, Douglas 36, Cody 35, Star Valley 34.5. The Panthers made some major strides today, capped by a runner-up finish from the 4x100 relay team.
That's the good news. The bad news is that the Panthers could be in third place by the lunch hour tomorrow because Douglas has a ton of points lined up in the early finals events on the track. Douglas has seven early runners, compared to just two for the Panthers. Star Valley, which has some of 3A's top sprinters, will also climb quickly once action resumes in Casper.
The Panthers could add some big numbers in the discus around midday. Blaise Gann added a qualification for the 400 meter finals late today, so he'll add to Powell's point total as well. Catching Jackson could be a tough task -- the Broncs have three of the top 1600 runners in 3A and will get big points there. They'll also have some hurdlers pulling in points that should help keep them ahead of the field barring significant mishap. The fight for runner-up honors could come down to that 4x400 relay with Douglas, Powell and Star Valley all projecting to be neck and neck going into that final event. Powell and Douglas, the two fastest regional times, will go head-to-head in that race while Star Valley has the disadvantage of running in the first heat.
On the girls' side, Tori Sleep made it on the podium in the discus tonight and Desiree Murray cruised to a win in her prelim heat of the 400. But the Panther girls were passed by several teams today and will be in seventh place heading into Saturday. Murray has the chance to pick up big points as she runs in four finals on Saturday, but it's a tall climb to get back into trophy position.
The weather forecast continues to be less than ideal and tomorrows action could find itself delayed again due to rain and storms.
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4:15 p.m., Friday -- We waited for most of the day, but the Powell girls have added to their team point total finally with a sixth-place finish in the girls' 4x100. They'll add some more as soon as the girls' discus goes final. VERY dark and ominous skies approaching, so the laptop is returning to the safety of my car and this will probably be it until tonight's post assessing how things stand for the Panthers heading into championship Saturday.
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1:15 p.m., Friday -- Updating quickly from the state soccer tournament in Sheridan, it was just announced that the Powell boys fell by a 2-1 count to Cody and are thus eliminated from state competition.
Here in Casper, Desiree Murray won her prelim heat of the 300m hurdles. Brendon Phister and Kalei Smith both failed to advance to Saturday's final. Marco Borja also narrowly missed moving ahead in the 100. KaDee Harrison was similarly denied a spot in the finals on the girls' side of the 100 while Mikaila Moore missed advancing in the 300 hurdles.
The day's bizarre incident came during the boys' 800 final in 3A. Justin Lynn was running near the front of the pack, which contained about 10 bodies, with 350 meters remaining in the race. Lynn was jostled by another runner in the pack and forced onto the infield grass. He returned to the track and completed the race, but was four seconds behind the field and eight seconds off his regional time. No disqualifications were made as a result of the incident as race officials could not identify the origin of the contact.
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12:15 p.m., Friday -- Tribune Sports Editor Randal Horobik called with these updates from the second day of the state track meet in Casper:
It’s been a good day so far for the Powell boys. Hayden Cragoe finished second in pole vault and Brendon Phister took fifth place.
Zach Thiel added a fifth place finish in the 3A boys’ 800.
In the shot put, Powell placed three in the top five. Garrett Michael was fifth, Vince Sleep placed third and Garrett Lynch had a personal best of 54-2 to finish second.
No new place winners for Powell girls to report this morning. We are eagerly awaiting the start of the 100 meter prelims and the Powell-Cody soccer game in Sheridan.
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7:45 a.m., Friday -- We'll start the day in the mid-to-upper 50s, there's a bit of an overcast haze to the sky, but that might be burned away by the sun here in the next 75 minutes before the action actually gets started. Weather forecast for the day is calling for a high in the lower 70s and a wind of 10-15 mph increasing to 20 this afternoon -- not good news for those wanting to set records on the track as it will be a headwind for the final 100 meters of any race. The real fun could come around 2 p.m....that's when the National Weather Service says thunderstorms could begin flaring up around the region.
We'll see what happens. I'm off to the stadium to try and get a front-row parking spot just in case those calls for rain turn out to be spot-on. Go Panthers!
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9:15 p.m., Thursday -- Both Panther teams are in fourth place currently, but that could change early Friday morning, particularly on the boys' side. The 3A pole vault will take off at 9 a.m. with what, in my opinion, could be one of the most exciting and talent-packed races of the entire state meet field -- the 3A boys' 800 -- following shortly thereafter at around 9:45 a.m.
But that could all be teaser to the 11 a.m. sendoff of the 3A boys' shot put. Can Vince Sleep add to his school record? Can Garrett Lynch return the school mark to his family? More importantly, can either of them provide Powell with its first gold medal of this championship? Stay tuned to find out!
On the girls' side, Friday will start slower. Jada Swires will have a chance to get points early in the triple jump finals, where she enters seeded ninth. Bailey Sanders will have a chance to add to the Panthers' point count in the 800 finals. Much of the early Friday girls' action though will come in the prelims of the 100 and 300-meter hurdles. The big Friday event for the Panther girls comes at 3 p.m. with the girls' discus finals, where Tori Sleep and Shawnea Harrington are both contenders for team points and their second state medals of these games.
That'll do it for me tonight from Casper. I'll post a quick weather update in the morning before heading to the stadium. Safe travels to all making the trip down from Powell for Friday and championship Saturday action.
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7 p.m., Thursday -- The Powell boys' 4x800 team just crossed the finish line in third place to wrap up the first day of state track action with the highest finish thus far for the Panthers. The foursome of Zander Andreasen, Marshall McArthur, Zach Thiel and Justin Lynn looked to cross the line in a time of roughly 8:41 (official times haven't been flashed on the screen yet). The girls' 4x800 relay team finished fourth, losing a footrace to the finish line against Douglas.
In other action since my last posting, Josh Cragoe and Hayden Cragoe finished 5-6 in the high jump for the Panthers. Josh also turned in the fastest time of the day in the 110 hurdle prelims, with the only sub-15 second time. Lining up further to the outside of Cragoe will be Panther teammate Kalei Smith, who also found a place in the top eight and a spot on the starting line on championship Saturday. Overall though, the prelim races may have harmed Powell's trophy chances on the boys' side. Blaise Gann narrowly missed advancing in the 200 prelims, finishing 10th overall. Hayden Cragoe was guilty of a false start in the 110m hurdles. Both were possible point-scorers in a team race that looks to be incredibly close.
On the girls' side, Desiree Murray advanced with ease in both the 200 and the 100m hurdles. KaDee Harrison wasn't quite as fortunate in the 200, where her time of 27.5 was good for 12th, ending her state meet in that event. She's still got the 100, as well as a relay leg with the 4x100. In the only other final on the girls' side, Jada Swires's best long jump of 14-4 1/2 left her more than a foot shy of the top eight.
Up in Sheridan on the soccer field, I have received word from Greg Wise that Powell fell by a 4-2 count in a game that was cut short by a few minutes due to lightning. Jackson jumped ahead in the opening minute of play and later added a second goal before Ty Ouellette's penalty kick drew net to give the Panthers' their first goal of the season against the Broncs. Jackson and Powell traded goals before Jackson sailed home an insurance goal just before Mother Nature rumbled an end to the contest. The Panthers will face Cody, a 3-2 loser to Buffalo, in a Friday elimination contest that should kick off around 11 a.m.
That'll do it for me here at Kelly Walsh on Day 1. I'm going to go find dinner and my hotel, by which point they should have the Thursday team scores posted and we can talk a bit about what we're looking forward to tomorrow here in Casper.
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1:45 p.m., Thursday -- The boys' portion of the 3A state championships also began successfully for the Powell Panthers as Zander Andreasen placed fifth in the 3200. Andreasen ran a strong race, spending the better part of six laps amidst a lead pack of four runners before sagging back over the final 800 meters. The heat is definitely playing a wild card on the early distance race as temperatures in Casper are around 80 now and wind is virtually non-existent. I, not being a competitor, have retreated to an air conditioned location. The big winners early on are definitely the lemonade vendors around the stadium.
We'll begin prelims on the track soon. The next event for the boys will be the high jump where Josh and Hayden Cragoe could both provide points for the Panthers. After that, we wait for the last event of the day as both 4x800 relay teams line up to carry the baton.
Barring something pretty amazing in the high jump, expect the next update to come from the hotel tonight as I wrap up the prelim race action and late-afternoon finals.
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Tribune Sports Editor Randal Horobik phoned in this noon news from the first day of the state track meet in Casper:
"What a difference a year makes. Instead of snow flakes, the national anthem was sung to 77 degrees.
Powell High School freshman Gretchen Morretti got things started with a seventh place finish in the 3200. Sophomores Tori Sleep and Shawea Harrington placed fifth and sixth, respectively in the shot put.
We're about half an hour away from Zander Andreassen in the boys 3200."
Randal promised more updates as the day's events warrant.
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