Kemmerer Rangers finish strong at state track meet, win three gold medals

Monte Failoni, Special to the Gazette
Posted 5/24/18

The girls ‘team climbed from a projected ninth seed to earn fifth in the final team standings, a mere three points away from the fourth-place trophy.

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Kemmerer Rangers finish strong at state track meet, win three gold medals

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Kenley Plowman runs the last leg of the 1600-meter relay at the 2A state track meet in Casper. The team finished third at state. Plowman’s gold medal in the triple jump is the first won by a freshman in Kemmerer track history. (GAZETTE PHOTO / Michelle Tibbetts)

The Kemmerer Ranger track team traveled to the state meet in Casper last weekend and produced some amazing performances. The girls ‘team climbed from a projected ninth seed to earn fifth in the final team standings, a mere three points away from the fourth-place trophy. The boys were projected for fifth place but dropped to seventh in the final standings. Overall, the meet was highlighted by record-breaking performances, with seven Class 2A records and one overall state record falling.

Thursday

In the first running event, the girls’ 3200-meter run, freshman Sophie Failoni was unable to climb into the standings among a strong field of runners, finishing 12th. In the boys’ race, her brother, Louis, was attempting to defend his state title from last year and the competition was much more fierce than expected. Sophomore DJ Till of Upton shadowed Failoni the entire race. When the bell for the final lap rang, senior James Caldwell of Lovell came out of third position and took the lead, with Till still in Failoni’s back pocket. Failoni resumed control with 200 meters left, winning the race with Caldwell less than a second behind him.

In the 100-meter hurdle preliminaries, Brooklynn Hagler ran a personal record time of 18.07 seconds but just missed the cut, finishing in ninth place. Other Rangers who missed the finals on Thursday include:  Marisa Orcutt in the 200-meter dash, Anthony Tibbetts in the discus and Zach Jackson in the 110-meter hurdles.

In Thursday’s final event, the girls’ 4x800 meter relay team of Teryn Thatcher, Jillian Tibbetts, Sydnie Julander and Sophie Failoni ran a season-best time of 11 minutes 3.65 seconds to climb into a fourth-place finish. Julander’s run propelled the team ahead of the girls from Wyoming Indian, and Failoni managed to hold that slim lead the remaining two laps, edging them for fourth place by two-tenths of a second.

Friday

Friday morning’s main event was the 800-meter dash and it provided Ranger fans the excitement they were anticipating. In the girls’ 800, freshman Kenley Plowman ran a personal record time of 2 minutes 26.82 seconds.  Plowman managed to erase a five-meter gap in the last 20 meters to propel herself into fourth place. Her time ranks as the fourth fastest 800 ever by a Lady Ranger, trailing only Rexanna Kelly, Shellie Avery and Lynzee Crosland.

As expected, the boys’ 800 was a sprint from start to finish. Failoni ran the race in 1 minute 58.60 seconds, just shy of the school record he set at regionals, but finished third to Chase Lovercheck of Southeast and Porter Nichols of Lovell.  In what may just be the fastest 800 in 2A history, all eight medalists ran the race under 2:02, with the top five under 2 minutes.

Sophomore Teryn Thatcher climbed from the 11th seed to place sixth in the girls’ long jump. Tanner Plowman placed eighth in the boys’ triple jump.  Marisa Orcutt made the finals in the 100-meter dash. Brooklynn Hagler missed the 300-meter hurdle cutoff, finishing 12th.

The boys’ shotput was disrupted by pouring rain and two lengthy evacuations because of lightning. It did not bode well for Kemmerer’s two premier shotputters as both Anthony Tibbetts and Jeydon Boyd failed to make the finals in the event.  The junior duo rank in the top ten in Kemmerer history in the event,  and 2A will lose six shotput seniors to graduation, so next year should be a good one.

Junior shotputter Anthony Tibbetts waits his turn as the weather at the state meet refuses to cooperate. The shotput was delayed several times because of rain and lightning. (GAZETTE PHOTO / Michelle Tibbetts)

The girls’ 4x100 meter relay team of Brooklynn Hagler, Marisa Orcutt, Jillian Tibbetts and Katie Zuniga placed third with a time of 53.50 seconds, the best time for a Kemmerer team since 2013.

The boys’ 4x100 meter relay team of Oscar Zhang, Tanner Plowman, Austin Quin Martinez and Cameron Adams climbed from the sixth seed into a fourth place finish.  Their time of 46.49 seconds is the fastest time Kemmerer has seen since 2012.

Marissa Orcutt, Katie Zuniga, Jillian Tibbetts and Brooklynn Hagler warm up for the 4x100 relay at the state meet. (GAZETTE PHOTO / Michelle Tibbetts) 

Marisa Orcutt hands the baton off to Jillian Tibbetts in the state 4x100 relay. The girls placed third with the best time for a Kemmerer team since 2013. (GAZETTE PHOTO / Michelle Tibbetts) 

In the 400-meter prelims, Kenley Plowman ran a personal record time of 62.84 seconds to make the finals. Tanner Plowman also ran a personal record time of 52.83 seconds to make the finals of the boys’ 400.

Friday’s last race was the 1600-meter sprint medley relay.  The race has been absent from the state meet for decades, but was an event for boys in the 1950s. The girls’ team of Katie Zuniga, Jillian Tibbetts, Marisa Orcutt and Kenley Plowman earned third place.

The boys’ team of Oscar Zhang, Austin Quin Martinez, Tanner Plowman and Louis Failoni finished in second place but were disqualified on a questionable call when officials spotted a Ranger jogging in the designated warm-up area a distance of 15 meters off the track and ruled that he aided Failoni down the stretch.

Tanner Plowman hands off to Austin Quin Martinez in the 4x100 relay at the state meet. (GAZETTE PHOTO / Michelle Tibbetts)

Saturday

Saturday morning was very wet, breezy and cold. While most spectators were hiding at their motel and most athletes were huddled in team tents, two Lady Rangers were having a blast down at the triple jump pit. 

Triple jumpers Kenley Plowman and Teryn Thatcher entered the meet as the fourth and seventh seeds, respectively, but after each girl added a foot to their personal record jumps, they leaped into first and third place in the triple jump. Plowman leaped 34 feet 1 inch and Thatcher leaped 33 feet 10 inches. These marks trail only Anna Stefonick’s 36-1 leap in 1993 and Joan Rangitsch’s 35-8 leap in 1981 as the all-time best leaps in Ranger history.

Freshman Kenley Plowman placed first in the triple jump at state. (COURTESY PHOTO / Camille Plowman)

Freshman Kenley Plowman placed first in the triple jump at state. (COURTESY PHOTO / Camille Plowman)

Teryn Thatcher warms up for the state triple jump. (GAZETTE PHOTO / Michelle Tibbetts) 

Marisa Orcutt placed eighth in the 100-meter dash finals. The freshman ranks in the top ten in Ranger history in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Orcutt will be one of the top returners and a force to be reckoned with in 2019.

In the finals of the 400-meter dash, Kenley Plowman placed fifth and Tanner Plowman placed sixth. Tanner’s time of 52.52 seconds was a personal record and places him 11th on the all-time list.

In the 1600-meter run, Sophie Failoni beat her personal record with 6 minutes 9.24 seconds, finishing 10th. Sammi Butler finished in 15th place.

In the boys’ 1600-meter run, Louis Failoni was attempting to three-peat in the event after winning the event in 2016 and 2017. Failoni led the entire race, maintaining an effortless pace with a pack of runners not far behind. With 250 meters left, James Caldwell of Lovell, trailing by 20 meters, made his move. Caldwell narrowed the gap but as soon as Failoni passed the cone at the 200-meter mark, he turned on his after-burners and the race was over with Failoni in first place.

Kemmerer senior Louis Failoni greets his opponents after winning the 1600-meter race at the 2A state championships in Casper last weekend for the third year in a row. (COURTESY PHOTO / Casper Star-Tribune)

In the final event, the boys’ 4x400 meter relay, the team of  Tyler Vineyard, Austin Quin Martinez, TC Coles and Oscar Zhang ran a great race but did not place.

Notable

Kenley Plowman’s gold medal is the first won by a freshman in Kemmerer history.  Her 20.5 points scored at the state meet are the most a freshman has ever scored, surpassing the 18.5 points scored by Joan Rangitsch in 1980.

Senior Louis Failoni has scored 86.5 points at the state meet in his career, second only to Rangitsch’s 99.5 points.  Failoni graduates with a total of five individual gold medals, a feat only equaled by Rangitsch.  In fact, only four other Rangers have more than two. Jose Wright (1987) and Kim Anderson (1985) won three gold medals each, while Janet Williams (1973) and Virg Davison (1957) won four gold medals.  Failoni is the only Kemmerer athlete to win an event three times other than Rangitsch’s three-peat in the 100 meter hurdles in 1983.

Freshman Marisa Orcutt leads at the turn during the 1600-meter sprint medley relay at state. (GAZETTE PHOTO / Michelle Tibbetts)

Fellow senior Katie Zuniga has been a consistent and valuable team member since the sixth grade. She is only the tenth Lady Ranger in Kemmerer history to score points at the state meet in every year of high school. Including Zuniga and Failoni, only 16 Kemmerer athletes have accomplished the feat in the last 88 years of records.

Thanks to coaches Shawn Rogers, Phil Thatcher, Amanda Aimone, Justin Plowman and Justin Vineyard for their long hours, hard work and dedication to the track team.

The Rangers take a break from their events at the state track meet. (GAZETTE PHOTO / Michelle Tibbetts)