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Worland Track looking to a big weekend in Powell

WORLAND — Having three meets under their belts Worland High School track and field has yet to field their full roster this season. This Saturday in Powell though, the Warriors and Lady Warriors will be the closest to full strength as they have been all season.

“I was missing close to 30 kids in Buffalo, but I’m hoping when we go to Powell I’ll bring close to my full team. We do have the D.C. trip going on and I’ll be missing about six kids. I’m not sure when I’ll have a full team but we’re getting there,” said WHS track and field coach Tracey Wiley.

Last week Worland was in Buffalo for the Bison Invitational and it was another productive meet for both Warrior and Lady Warrior teams.

Porter Harman finished second in the 3200-meter, running a 10:37.62 and was narrowly beat by Natrona High School’s Connor Etzelmiller, who ran a 10:37.16 to take first.

Buffalo was also the first meet of the season for Harman and while he was not happy with his time, Wiley knows her senior distance runner will only improve as the season moves forward.

“He wasn’t happy with his time because he’s run faster times. He’s a competitor and he’ll get back into it. We just need to have the training, spring break and all the other craziness got in the way of that, but by the time of regionals and state, he’ll have it down.

“He’s a leader and leading the pack during practice with those young kids. He got beat by a 4A kid over in Buffalo and going against those 4A athletes is tough, but it helps push our kids as well,” said Wiley.

Harman’s brother, sophomore Cole Harman, also had an excellent meet. Cole Harman cleared 5’10 in the high jump to finish sixth. He could not quite clear six-foot, which is a mental hurdle for most high jumpers, but seeing how he’s worked back from a car accident in 2017, Wiley believes he’ll clear six-foot.

“Cole Harman was in that car accident [in 2017], he had jumped real well in middle school and even won the best of the best. Last year having been in that car wreck he didn’t feel like he was where he should be. Now he’s taller and stronger and has recovered from that. He had a good PR at 5’10 and ended up in sixth place,” said Wiley. “I think he can get that AQ mark of six-foot and even if he doesn’t he’ll be a contender to get into that top eight at regionals.”

Continued Wiley, “He definitely can clear that. On his 5’10 mark, I have the video, and he’s clearly over that, but once it gets up to six-foot it’s a mental game to clear it. Clearing six-foot is always tricky and more of a mental thing. He and I talked about that and I warned him about it and he’s young, he tried it but his form was all out of shape. That’s something we’re going to really work on in practice and get him really confident at 5’10 that way when 6-foot comes around he can clear it.”

Senior Warrior sprinter Chris Nicholas is also close to automatically qualifying for the 3A State meet in Casper on May 16-18 in both the 100-meter and 200-meter. Nicholas ran a 23.84 in the 200-meter dash to finish eighth and an 11.79 in the 100-meter, coming in 10th-place.

“Chris is very close to qualifying in the 100 and the 200. He got 10th in the 100 and eighth in the 200, he’s just looking to get that AQ so we can compare his times to others in our conference. It doesn’t matter who we run against during the regular season, in the end, we’re looking down the road to who our kids will be running against in Pinedale [Host of the 3A West regional meet] and Casper,” said Wiley.

On the Lady Warriors side of things, senior Alexa Caballero finished third in the discus and shot put, throwing a 109’ and 33’-06, respectively. Junior Julie Seidel jumped a 28’ in the triple jump and came in fifth place.

The Lady Warriors 4x100 relay team (Sarah Abercrombie, Ashanti Pedraza, Seidel, Kait Wassum) finished in third place with a time of 55.24 and were the only 3A team to place in the top five out of the nine teams.

Abercrombie, Pedraza, Wassum and Kelli Frimml made up the Lady Warriors 1600-meter sprint medley relay team, running a 4:56 coming in second place.

Wassum also ran the 400-meter and finished seventh with a time of 1:06.82. While Wassum was not happy with her time Wiley has liked what she’s seen from her junior sprinter.

Wassum is currently battling with an injury which may keep her out of Saturday’s meet as a precaution.

“She wasn’t happy with her time and she’s dealing with a bit of hamstring soreness. We’ll see how the week goes but we might hold her out this week. We’d rather have her for down the road than trying to push her right now. She’s definitely a kid that can go to state in four events,” said Wiley.

 
 
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