Warriors three-peat, Harman repeats as 3A East champion

By Alex Kuhn

Sports Editor

THERMOPOLIS - Up for grabs at the 3A East regional cross-country meet were the boys and girls team championships, two individual championships and two coach of the year awards. The Worland High School cross-country program took five of the six in an incredible showing and overall amazing day for the team.

The Warriors three-peated as the 3A East champs, the Lady Warriors earned the 3A champ title, junior Porter Harman repeated as the individual champion and their coach Tanya Kienlen was named boys and girls 3A East coach of the year.

"It's nice for them to see their hard work come together and pay off. They worked so hard for this moment and it's important to celebrate, but by the time we get on the bus it's time to get back to were work," said Kienlen.

The Warriors won their third-consecutive title with a score of 30 and had four all-conference selectees, which goes to runners finishing in the top 10. Harman (17:56.06) finished first, Jadon Swalstad (18:14.89) was third, Nathaniel Nelson (18:28.66) fifth, Rylan Mocko (18:55.23) ninth and Victor Olvera (19:33.74) 13th.

"We knew that they had to come out and be consistent and trust in their training. Like in the movie "McFarland" where if they go out and do what you need to do and we'll walk away with a handful of all-conference winners, which makes me super proud to be where we need to be. Seeing some of our kids up there in the JV, that is just truly aspiring for our team. It shows me that they are wanting to continue to build and be in those top spots," said Kienlen about her boys team and what the continued success means for the program.

The Lady Warriors finished with 61 points, with Kelli (22:06.18) and Lindsay Holiday (22:18.92) finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Preparing for regionals Kienlen believed her girls team could finish either first or second, but wanted them to focus on executing their training, knowing if they did that they would come out on top.

"I knew looking at the spreadsheets it's tough to have five top girls, I knew we had a shot within one or two and the girls knew they didn't have to do anything fancy. They just needed to come out and do what they needed to do and it worked out," said Kienlen.

As for being name both boys and girls 3A East Coach of the year, Kienlen was quick to give all the praise to her runners.

"The team basically gave it to me and they deserve all the credit," said Kienlen.

Coming off their impressive performances Friday afternoon, the WHS cross-country team will ride the wave of confidence during their training next week as they prepare for the final race in the 2017 season, the State Meet in Sheridan next Saturday.

"Coach [Amy] Lamm and I will look through and see how the other side [3A West] did to prepare. This week we had a taper week, but still closed the gap on our team spread which was our ultimate goal. When we go to State, we'll get right in there and with a bit of a confidence booster after [Friday]. We know on the other side there's going to be a lot of competition and there will be no room for complacency," said Kienlen.