Two Rebels head to state; Vigil wins title

By KARLA POMEROY

Riverside freshman Kinli Vigil won the regional championship in the 100-meter dash on Saturday at the 2A West Regional Track Meet in Lander.

Vigil ran a 13.16 in the event, with second-place Kayla Sumsion, senior from Kemmerer at 13.30. Vigil’s time was the second fastest in the state. In the East Regional, Candace Wollert, senior from Lingle-Ft. Laramie ran a 13.13 in her preliminary heat and 13.06 in the finals.

Coach Steven Olson said Vigil should be in the running for the state title. The 100 preliminary heats are at 10:30 a.m. on Friday.

Vigil had already prequalified in the 100 and set a goal of qualifying in the 200-meter dash and 300-meter hurdles. She reached that goal by placing third in the 200 and fifth in the 300 hurdles. She ran her fastest time in both events, 27.68 in the 200 and 51.9 in the 300 hurdles.

Olson said the 300 hurdles was immediately after the 200 or Vigil might have been able to post a better time.

“Kinli had a great meet. She ran extremely well. To finish first, third and fifth as a freshman is great,” Olson said.

Vigil begins her work at the State Meet in Casper on Thursday with the 200 prelims at 2:30 p.m. The prelims for the 300 hurdles are on Friday at 11:30 a.m. A schedule and more information on the State Meet can be found at the Wyoming High School Activities Association Web site, www.whsaa.org.

Vigil will be joined at Harry Geldien Stadium in Casper by teammate Brynnt Wood. Wood, who had prequalified in the discus, placed seventh in the event with a throw of 119-10. Olson said the discus throwers were struggling with their spins and did not have their best throws of the season.

If Wood is able to get correct the spin he should be in the running to place in the event, which begins at 11 a.m. Thursday.

Wood qualified in the shot put at the regional meet by placing eighth with his best throw of the season, 41-10. The state shot put is Friday at 3 p.m.

Olson said the coaches would have liked to see a few more athletes qualify for state but he was pleased how hard everyone worked, noting many had season or personal best times or distances.

Clint Getzfreid was two inches way from qualifying in the long jump. He jumped his personal best 36-10 and on the final jump, Lance Ballard of Lovell jumped 37-00 to take the final state-qualifying spot from Getzfreid.

Also competing in the triple jump were Zach Christopherson, 32-11 and Christopher Nichols, 27-4. Getzfreid jumped 16-0 in the long jump, Christopherson, 13-9 and Jeff Ingleheart 12-8.

Competing with Wood in the shot put were Keith Kelley, 33-3, and Dan Koch, 23-5. In the discus, Kelley threw 60-5 and Koch 65-2.

Olson said he was pleased with Ingleheart and Nichols’ times in the 800-meter run. Both ran season best. Nichols ran a 2:18.08, eight second faster than his previous best, and Ingleheart shaved off seven seconds at 2:23.09.

In the 400, Nichols ran a 60.00; Ingleheart 59.00; and Koch 66.10.

Maurice Lawson and Zach Christopherson both ran personal best times in the 100. Lawson ran a 12.63 and Christopherson a 13.05. Joe Hoffman ran a 13.02 and Getzfreid was at 13.70.

In the 200, Hoffman ran a 26.26 for a personal best time and Lawson ran a 26.32.

Both Getzfreid and Christopherson competed in the high jump although their struggles of reaching opening height continued.

For the Lady Rebels, Josie Taylor competed in the high jump, shot put (20-9) and discus (61-11). Ashley Earl competed in the shot put (17-6) and discus (44-9).

“We wanted a few more kids at state, but they did the best they could and they worked hard and improved,” Olson said.