Senior Katie Zuniga prepares to hand off the baton to freshman Jillian Tibbetts in the 4x100 meter relay at Regionals. The Kemmerer Rangers compete at the 2A state track meet in Casper this weekend. (GAZETTE PHOTO / Michelle Tibbetts)

The Kemmerer High School track squad competed at the regional meet in Lander on May 11 and 12 and continued to dazzle their fans despite the rainy weather.

The Kemmerer boys’ team scored 80 points, finishing third behind champion Lovell and Big Piney. The girls’ team scored 86 points, also finishing third, trailing champion Big Piney and Lovell. It marked the first time that both Ranger track squads finished in the top three places since 2003. The Rangers provided a highlight reel of astounding performances for their fans and qualified 18 athletes for State in Casper this weekend.

Friday

The meet opened with the 800-meter dash.  Kenley Plowman set a personal record with a run of 2 minutes 28.88 seconds for third place. Sophie Failoni, Syndnie Julander and Teryn Thatcher had strong runs but just missed the state cutoff by finishing in 10th through 12th place.

The boys 800-meter dash stunned the entire stadium.  Louis Failoni was a solid underdog to last year’s 400-meter state champion and 800 meter runner-up, Porter Nichols of Lovell, who consistently runs the 800 in less than two minutes.  Failoni’s best time came in last year’s state finals when he ran 2:02.26 for fifth place. At this year’s regionals, Failoni trailed Nichols the entire race before passing him with 100 meters remaining, winning the race by 10 meters.  His time of 1 minute 58.21 seconds vaulted him from the seventh-best 800-meter dash runner in Kemmerer history to the best overall. He leapfrogged Geoff Vickrey, Jim Burnett, Ryan Hawk, Joey Guice, and Kirby Kjar in the standings and eclipsed Jeff Frost’s school record of 1 minute 58.38 seconds set in 2002.

Kemmerer senior Louis Failoni prepares to pass Lovell’s Porter Nichols in the 800-meter race at the regional meet in Lander on May 11. Failoni earned first and broke the school record with a time of 1 minute 58.21 seconds. (GAZETTE PHOTO / Michelle Tibbetts)

Meanwhile, in the shotput pit, Anthony Tibbetts and Jeydon Boyd were creating some drama of their own.  With the rain increasing, field events were shortened.  Shotput was reduced to four throws total. Tibbetts and Boyd both trailed in the standings until their final throws. Boyd landed a 45 foot 8 inch final throw to place fifth, then Tibbetts boomed a personal record 48 foot 7 inch final throw to vault himself into first place.

Two more personal records were set in the jumping events, propelling two more Kemmerer athletes into the state meet.  Teryn Thatcher long-jumped 15 feet even, placing third. Tanner Plowman triple jumped 40 feet 3 inches, earning fourth place.  Near misses included Jillian Tibbetts’ ninth place discus and Callie Bosch’s 12th place discus  and Sydnie Julander’s 10th place in the girls’ high jump.

Anthony Tibbetts competes in the shotput at Regionals last weekend. Tibbetts earned first place with a personal record. (GAZETTE PHOTO / Michelle Tibbetts)

In the preliminaries, Marisa Orcutt qualified in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, Brooklynn Hagler qualified in the 100-meter hurdles, Zach Jackson qualified in the 110-meter hurdles and Kenley Plowman and Tanner Plowman both qualified in the 400-meter dash. The 300-meter hurdle prelims were canceled due to weather. Katie Zuniga and Oscar Zhang narrowly missed prequalification by finishing 10th in the 100-meter dash. Zuniga placed 11th in the 200-meter dash in another near miss.

In the 1600-meter sprint medley relay, both the girls’ and boys’ team earned a trip to state. The girls’ team of Katie Zuniga, Jillian Tibbetts, Marisa Orcutt and Kenley Plowman placed third, and the boys’ team of Oscar Zhang, Austin Quin Martinez, Tanner Plowman and Louis Failoni placed second.

In the girls’ 3200-meter run, Sophie Failoni placed fifth to make it to the state meet. Sammi Butler narrowly missed the cut, finishing 10th.  Louis Failoni won the boys’ event and is set to defend his state title from last year.  TC Coles and Andres Vega narrowly missed the boys’ cut, finishing 10th and 12th, respectively.

The girls 4x100 meter relay team of Brooklynn Hagler, Marisa Orcutt, Jillian Tibbetts and Katie Zuniga placed fourth to qualify for state. The boys 4x100 meter relay team of Oscar Zhang, Tanner Plowman, Austin Quin Martinez and Jeydon Boyd placed third to qualify.

Saturday

Everything was soaked on Saturday, but the rain had stopped.  The soggy weather didn’t stop the Rangers’ amazing performances. Kenley Plowman and Teryn Thatcher started the day off by placing first and second in the triple jump. Plowman’s leap of 33 feet 4.5 inches was a personal record and ranks in the top five in Kemmerer history.  Anthony Tibbetts placed fourth in the discus to secure another event at state.

The running events started with Brooklyn Hagler having an great run in the 300-meter hurdles to finish in second place. She tied her personal record time in the event.

In the girls’ 4x800 meter relay, the team of Teryn Thatcher, Jillian Tibbetts, Sydnie Julander and Sophie Failoni had a spectacular race. The girls paced themselves well, and all of the splits were within seconds of each other. Failoni’s final kick provided a dose of excitement for Ranger fans as she erased a 15-meter deficit in the final 100 meters, stealing second place at the finish line by two-tenths of a second.

Sophie Failoni, Sydnie Julander, Teryn Thatcher, Jillian Tibbetts (GAZETTE PHOTO / Michelle Tibbetts)

The boys 4x800 meter relay team of TC Coles, Austin Quin Martinez, Andres Vega and Tyler Vineyard ran a season-best time and scored points for fifth place, but will not be running the event at state.

In the finals of the 100-meter hurdles, Brooklynn Hagler had another great run, missing second place in a photo finish by one-tenth of a second. Zach Jackson placed sixth for the boys in this event and guaranteed his trip to state.

In the sprint finals, Marisa Orcutt placed sixth in the 100-meter dash and seventh in the 200-meter dash.  This freshman is quickly making a name for herself as a sprinter and qualified for state in all four of her events. In the 400-meter finals, both Kenley and Tanner Plowman placed fourth in their respective divisions.

In the girls’ mile, Sophie Failoni and Sammi Butler placed  seventh and eighth to qualify for state.  Louis Failoni won the boys’ mile and hopes to three-peat his championship in the event at state.

Kemmerer athletes Andres Vega and Ty Vineyard run the 3200-meter at the 2A West Regional meet in Lander last weekend. (GAZETTE PHOTO / Michelle Tibbetts)

The final event of the day, the boys 4x400 meter relay, provided another dose of excitement for Ranger fans. The other Rangers lined the final curve and created a loud and proud chant for the runners that was the envy of other teams. They chanted the name of each runner as they passed and kept the excitement going.  The team of Oscar Zhang, Austin Quin Martinez, TC Coles and Tyler Vineyard climbed up rankings and ended the race in third, earning the right to compete at the state meet. This will also be the final event at state, and it will surely be equally energizing and worth sticking around for Ranger fans in Casper this weekend.

Kenley Plowman runs the 400-meter dash at the 2A West Regionals on Friday, May 11. Plowman qualified for state in the event. (GAZETTE PHOTO / Michelle Tibbetts)