WORLAND - Back in action last week, the Worland High School track and field team picked up where they left off as they competed at the Lovell Invitational on April 21.

After their annual home meet was canceled due to weather on April 14, the Warriors and Lady Warriors used the unexpected week off to recover and prepare for the final push toward the end of the regular season.

The Worland athletes used that week off to their advantage as the Warriors went on to win the Lovell meet with the Lady Warriors finishing second. The Warriors won with 154 points, Lovell finished second with 102 points and Powell third with 94. The Lady Warriors scored 124.25 points while Powell won with 209.25 points.

The Lovell meet was even bumped up a few days to avoid the bad weather that hit over the weekend.

"It was a good call by Lovell. We were glad we got a track meet in, and with ours getting canceled, you'd hate to go two weeks without a meet at this point in the season. Lovell changed it to Thursday, and the weather was gorgeous," said WHS track and field coach Tracey Wiley.

On top of the team success, Worland added more state qualifiers. Christian Peterson threw a 49-6 to finish second in the shot put and claim his spot at state.

A new 4x800-meter team (Harley Redding, Melvin Croft, Felix Lentsch, Jack Bishop) also qualified for state when they took first with a time of 8:41.21.

"As we look toward regionals, that new 4x8 team qualifying gives us more flexibility," said Wiley.

Among the other highlights in Lovell for Worland was Warrior Liam Harper nearly breaking the Lovell Invitational meet record in the high jump.

Harper won the high jump and tied the meet record when he cleared the bar at 6-4. He missed his first attempt at 6-6, but before getting another crack at it, he was called to the sprint medley relay.

After helping the medley relay team finish first (3:52.03), Harper tried again to clear 6-6 but, unfortunately, was unable to do so.

"Liam Harper was fantastic in the high jump, he cleared 6-4. He tied with two other jumpers for the highest jump in the history of Lovell's meet. He was attempting 6-6, missed his first one, but then they called him to the medley. It was terrible timing. He ran in the medley and then went back to jump, but he just didn't have any legs left. He knows now that he can do it. He was right there at 6-6," said Wiley.

Among the highlights for the Lady Warriors were Madilyn Glanz, Manaia Peterson, Anna Richardson, Zena Tapia and Shae Whitlock.

Tapia won the 1600-meter (5:43.7), and 3200-meter (12:33.65) runs. Whitlock took down the 300-meter hurdles, finishing first (52.27). Anna Richardson finished second in the 100-meter hurdles (18.57) and 300-meter hurdles (52.59). Peterson won the shot put (37.1) and was second in the discus (99-6.5). Glanz took second in the triple jump (32-8).

"Madilyn Glanz is really close to qualifying in the triple jump, and she's only a freshman. She had a good day and a few things here and there, and she'll get that AQ. A couple of weeks ago, I talked Shae Whitlock into running the 300 hurdles, and she ended up winning it up in Lovell. Anna Richardson, another freshman, was right behind her and finished second. I'm really excited about those two girls because the 300 hurdles is a tough event," said Wiley. "Manaia Peterson went further in the shot and ended up winning that. She also took second in the discus. That just moves her up the rankings in mile split, and she was excited about that."

With the regional and state meets drawing closer, the Worland athletes have been keeping an eye on their rankings within the conference at the state level.

This season's team is among Wiley's most competitive teams she's had, and the conference and state rankings just add more fuel to the athlete's competitive fire.

"These kids are watching the rankings, I get constant texts about them. They're always asking how they can move up some spots or maintain those high spots. That's good. I like that we have competitive kids like that. We've got a really good thing going.

"We talked again on Monday about what's left to do with the little time we have remaining. They're working hard through some pretty grueling workouts. They know they're right there, and they just go out and do what we ask. They know they're capable of great things at regionals and state," said Wiley.

Worland is in Riverton on Saturday for the Wolverine Invitational. Saturday's meet is the penultimate competition of the regular season, and the Warriors and Lady Warriors will continue to push themselves in practice as the regional meet is only two weeks away.

"After our workout on Monday, the kids said they felt good and liked how hard it was. As a coach, you couldn't be more proud of that. This is mostly coming from the older kids. They know what it takes to compete because they've been in high school sports for three to four years. They know what it takes to get to regionals and the hard work you have to put in to succeed in the postseason," said Wiley.