Top Performers Lead Laramie Girls Track To Regional Title

Victories in eight events propelled the Laramie High School girls’ track and field team to the 4A East Regional Track Championship Saturday in Sheridan.

Laramie picked up wins from juniors Emmy Johnson, Abigail Whitman and Aubry Sanchez, sophomore Taylor Gardner, and their 4x100 meter relay team in route to winning the team title.

The Lady Plainsmen score 135 team points over two days of competition. Cheyenne Central finished second (120.50) with Thunder Basin third (113).

Johnson had a hand in four event victories. She won the 100-meter dash by .01 seconds with a time of 12.59. Johnson took first in the 200-meters in 25.96 seconds. Her final individual crown came in the 300-meter hurdles with a winning time of 46.14 seconds. She also ran the anchor leg on the first-place 4x100 meter relay that was clocked in 50.03 seconds.

Whitman won the 800-meter and 3200-meter runs. She won the 800 with a time of 2:18.11. Whitman captured the long-distance race in 11:33.06.

Gardner won the 100-meter hurdles in a tight race. Her margin of victory was .01 seconds. Gardner crossed the tape in 15.91 seconds. She added a third-place finish in both the long jump and triple jump.

The final win was in the field events. Sanchez brought home first-place in the pole vault. She cleared 11-6. Sanchez also came in sixth in the long jump.

The LHS girls also scored points thanks to 10-other point-producing results.

The Laramie boys’ tied for fourth place with 87 team points over the two-day meet. They won three events and were led by their distance crew.

Sophomore Micah Zeller won the 1600-meters and 3200-meters. In fact, the Plainsmen swept the top three spots in the 1600-meters and went 1-3-4 in the 3200-meters.

Zeller ran 4:32.99 and captured the 1600-meters. Senior teammate Derk Lyford was second, while junior Mason Swingholm came in third. Zeller won the 3200-meters in 9:44.61. Lyford came in third, with Swingholm fourth. Zeller and Swingholm also added fourth and sixth place finishes, respectively, in the 800-meters.

Those three combined with freshman Collin Krueger to win the 4x800 meter relay. Their winning time was 8:23.39, a win by nearly four full seconds.

The lone big finish in a field event was sophomore Aidan Morris, who was runner-up in the pole vault. He cleared 12-10 in the fewest attempts.

Laramie had six other results that scored points for the team.

LHS tied with Thunder Basin. Sheridan won the boys’ division with 188 points. Natrona County came in second (140), while Cheyenne East took third (100).