Chance Hofer attempts to the bar during the high jump competition Saturday morning. While he did not qualify for state in the event, he did qualify in the 110 and 300-meter hurdle events.
Track state qualifiers
While Friday the 13th is an unlucky day in Western superstition, that was not the case for the Green River High School Track and Field team.
The Wolves hosted the 2016 4A Regional meet, with a great start Friday and continued on with some excellent performances on Saturday at Wolves Stadium.
The Wolves came out of the meet with 16 state qualifiers, eight each for the boys and girls teams. Most impressive for head coach Dan Hansen and his staff was the amount of improvement in times and distances. Hansen said the performances are a result of the hard work the athletes have been putting in at practice.
The girls were led in the running events by senior Josie Givens who finished less than a half second out of first place in the 800-meter run and also finished with a strong second place finish in the 1600-meter run. Also, leading the way was senior thrower Emily White who achieved a personal record with a throw of 38'10.5 while winning the shot put and then came back to finish third in the discus to qualify for state in both events.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the meet was an excellent performance by freshman Kaisa Arnell who came into the meet seeded fourth but won the 3200-meter run by more than 12 seconds, as well as placing fourth in the 1600-meter run to stamp her ticket to state in both events.
Other exceptional state-qualifying performances on the girls side included sophomore Aaliyah Brady in the long jump; junior Eliza Morin qualified in 100-meter hurdles, the 300-meter hurdles, the high jump and the 4X400 meter relay; freshman Andri Dewey who qualified for state in the 100, 200 and 400-meter runs and the relay; and freshman Erika Wilson who qualified in the 100-meter hurdles, the high jump and the relay. Rounding out the state qualifiers in the 4X400-meter relay was senior Hayley Henderson. The relay team finished third, with by far the greatest improvement in time of 25 seconds.
On the boys side in the field events, junior Hunter Spartz qualified for state in the discus on Friday and set a personal best for himself winning the gold in the shot put with a throw of 46'11.75.
Braden Reichl, a junior had an impressive regional while setting a personal record in the 800 meter run finishing in second place and improving his time by five seconds with a time of 2:01.14 as well as finishing ninth in the 1600-meter run and anchoring the state qualifying 4x800-meter relay team.
Other state qualifiers for the boys included junior Drew Wilson, a multiple qualifier in the long jump and triple jump, sophomore Cole White in the 400-meter run and the 4x800-meter relay, sophomore Chance Hofer in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles and junior Eric Clingenpeel, and sophomore Brayden Kovick also in the 4x800-meter relay.
Of the 16 qualifiers only three are seniors. There were also a number of personal records set at this regional meet that did not qualify for state mostly by underclassman, setting a bright future for the track team.
Hansen said his team competed extremely well and looks forward to continue their path through the state meet in Casper.
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