The Kemmerer High School track team took to the road last week and faced off in three large meets in Pinedale, Thermopolis and Lander. It was the Rangers’ last tune-up before they head to the 2A Regional meet in Lander this Friday, May 12. 

It is unknown how they will stack up at regionals, but as we learned two years ago when the Ranger boys overcame a 56 point seeded disadvantage to grab the first place trophy, anything is possible. 

On Tuesday, Kemmerer sent the team’s two outstanding distance runners to Casper for the Wyoming Track Classic.

Casper

Lukas Mathews and Louis Failoni headed to Casper Tuesday to face off against some fierce competition. The Classic, formerly known as the Meet of Champions, features the top 8 to 10 statewide competitors, regardless of class. 

Having two athletes represent Kemmerer is quite an honor, and these two boys represented the community well, with each finishing fifth place in their events. 

Mathews trimmed his already astounding time in the 3200 meter run to 10 minutes 32.80 seconds, and he is the favorite heading into the 2A state meet. Failoni ran his 1600-meter run in 4 minutes 39.54 seconds, just a half second slower than his first place finish in the state finals last year.

Pinedale

Louis Failoni ran his best 400-meter dash to date in 53.43 seconds to win first place honors. His time ranks 14th-fastest in Kemmerer history. 

Failoni followed that with another first place finish in the 800-meter dash. Freshman Sammi Butler placed first in the 400-meter dash for the girls in 69.06 seconds. Katie Zuniga placed fifth in the same event. Freshman Michael Grimes ran a personal best in the event but did not score.

Lukas Mathews placed first in the 1600 meter with a time of 4 minutes 53.75 seconds and sixth in the 800-meter dash.

Tanner Plowman and Teryn Thatcher added a pair of third place finishes in the triple jump with their leaps of 39 feet 9 inches and 32 feet 11 inches, respectively. Thatcher’s jump extended her personal record in the event by 9 inches. Plowman added a seventh place finish in the long jump with another personal record of 18 feet 11.75 inches.

In the high jump, Conner Bateman placed third at 5 feet 8 inches, JT Van der Zalm placed fourth at 5-8, Plowman fifth at 5-6 and sophomore Cameron Adams ninth with a personal record at 5-0. Gavin Julander added a sixth place finish in the pole vault with a personal record of 10 feet even.

In the shotput, Colton Rydstrom placed fifth at 44 feet 1.5 inches and Anthony Tibbetts placed sixth at 41-0.25. Other personal records in the throwing events included: Jeydon Boyd in the shotput and discus, Thomas Archibald in the shotput and discus, Callie Bosch in the shotput and discus, Easton Rydstrom in the discus and Michael Kahre in the discus.

Brooklyn Hagler placed fifth in both the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles. Bateman placed fourth in the 110-meter hurdles and fifth in the 300-meter hurdles. Gavin Julander ran personal records in both events to finish seventh and ninth.

Thatcher also placed fifth in the 200-meter dash for the girls with Zuniga close behind in seventh place. Cameron Adams and Archibald both ran personal records for the boys squads but did not score.

The boys 4x400 meter relay team of Plowman, Julander, Van Der Zalm and John Caugherty placed second while the boys 4x100 meter relay team of Adams, Bateman, Van Der Zalm and Merrick Cooper placed fifth.

Thermopolis

Colton Rydstrom threw his shotput a personal record distance of 44 feet 8 inches to win first place among almost 70 competitors. Anthony Tibbetts placed eighth with his throw of 41 feet 4.5 inches. Rydstrom added an eighth place finish in the discus with his toss of 115 feet 8 inches, another personal record.