Laramie Girls Indoor Track Wins State Title

After being a runner-up the last two years, the Laramie High School girls’ indoor track team finally got to the top spot on the podium.

The Laramie Lady Plainsmen captured the school’s first-ever girls’ indoor track state championship last weekend in Gillette.

Laramie won six of the 16 events and placed in 14 of the 16 events at the state meet. They finished with 112 team points and beat second-place Cheyenne Central (93) by 19 points. Rock Springs came in third with 89 team points.

Rawlins standout distance runner Sydney Thorvaldson, who competes for LHS in indoor track, won three events individually. She captured first place in the 800-meters, 1600-meters, and 3200-meters. Thorvaldson also led off the victorious 4x800-meter relay.

The two other event winners for the Lady Plainsmen were Aubry Sanchez in the pole vault and Emmy Johnson in the 400-meters. Sanchez cleared 11-6 on the fewest misses for the state title. Johnson ran 58.56 seconds and won her race by two seconds for her crown.

Indoor Track head coach Greg Schabron said it all came together.

“We had a lot of kids hit best performances. With those school records, they hit it at the right time, right meet. Everything from Aubry’s pole vault to Emmy’s 400, the girl’s 4x200 (relay), they were ‘on’ all across the board. That momentum they had from the very get-go all the way through Saturday was fun to watch.”

KOWB’s David Settle visited with juniors Aubry Sanchez and Emmy Johnson after the state championships. They talked about the team victory, their individual efforts, and what it took to get to the top in the video above.

On top of the girls’ team title, there were five school records set by student-athletes from Laramie High School. Four those were on the ladies side. Sanchez in the pole vault, Johnson’s 400-meters, the runner-up 4x200 meter relay (1:47.68), and Taylor Gardner in the triple jump (fourth place) went 34-10.50.

Schabron added, “If they’re hitting P-R’s (personal records), you can’t ask for much more than that.”

Johnson added a runner-up finish in the 200-meters (26.38) and a fifth-place in the 55-meters (7.57). She was also on the runner-up 4x200 relay with Sanchez, Ketisa Akambasi, and Rachel King.

Taylor Gardner added a second-place in the 55-meter hurdles (8.85) and took sixth in the long jump. Akambasi was third in the long jump. Her best leap was 16-10.

The Laramie Plainsmen placed fifth with 68.5 team points, but they were only 2.5 points out of third place. Sheridan won the boys’ division with 106 points. Star Valley was second (88), while Cheyenne East and Natrona County shared third with 71 points.

Senior Jason Upton placed in the top four in each of his events. Upton set a new school record in the long jump with a leap of 23-2 for second place. The senior came in third in the triple jump (43-5.50), third in the 55-meters (6.65), and was fourth in the 200-meters (23.07).

Mason Swingholm added a third-place in the 800-meters (2:01.69). Derk Lyford was third in the 1600-meters (4:36.58) and fourth in the 3200-meters (10:08.39). The Plainsmen 4x800 meter relay took third (8:36.78), as well.

Schabron said of the Plainsmen’s team finish, “Across the board, the boy’s did pretty well. I can’t really think of anything that really fell apart. It was just those other teams had a little more depth. You’re always looking back, you know, 2.5 points, where could we have gotten that? Because the top three’s always the goal, but they finished pretty solid. We were happy with where they ended up.”

Schabron also admitted it was a good season overall and has generated some excitement as they transition to outdoor track and field for a spring sport.