Another busy week saw many personal bests and medals for the Tiger tracksters.  

The week started on Wednesday as seven Tigers were invited to compete in the Best in the West Track Meet in Scottsbluff.  Taylor Gaukel brought home two medals from the meet including a gold medal in the triple jump going 33’ 5” and a bronze medal in the long jump going 15’ 5.5”.  She also completed in the 100 hurdles placing 4th and the 300 hurdles placing 7th.

Miranda Gilkey was the other Tiger that made the podium placing 2nd in both the triple jump going 32’ 11.75” and high jump at 5’ 4”.  Her 5’ 4” high jump was a personal best and leads Class 2A girls.  Gilkey also completed in the long jump where she earned 6th place and the 300 hurdles placing 6th.  

The other girl competitor was Mackenzie Lyons in the shot put.  Lyons missed the podium by 2 inches placing 4th, after throwing a personal best 34’ 5”.

For the boys, Traylin Bruegger competed in both hurdle races.  In the 110 hurdles, he placed 6th running 16.71 and ran a 41.69 to place 5th in the 300 hurdles.  

Alec Penfield barely missed the podium placing tied for 4th after going a personal best 6’ 4”.  

Senior Jake Heil threw the shot put 44’ 3” to place 9th.  

Teagan Tschacher ran an all-time personal best time of 2:09.30 in the 800 meter run to place 7th.

On Friday, four athletes headed to Casper to compete in the Track Classic at Kelly Walsh High School.  This was the second meet that was by invite only.  Traylin Bruegger ran his personal best time in the 300 hurdle race at 41.10 to place 5th.

Alec Penfield placed 7th after high jumping 6’ while teammate Heil placed 9th in the shot put throwing just shy of 44’.

Gilkey competed in both the high jump and triple jump where she went 5’ 2” in high jump and just over 34’ in triple jump to place 4th in both events. 

Gaukel long jumped 15’ 9.5” to place 5th and just over 33’ in the triple jump to place 6th.  

Coach Johnson stated, “It is awesome to take 7 athletes on Wednesday and 5 on Friday to these special track meets.  The kids competed hard and it’s an honor for them to be invited to these meets.”

On Saturday, 12 teams competed at the Dennis Zowada Invite in Lusk.  The Tigers had some outstanding performances as the boys’ team scored 113.5 points to finish in second to Gordon-Rushville, while the girls’ team also brought home some team hardware placing 3rd after scoring 106 points.  

The thrower’s had a standout day as almost all of the shot and discus throwers had a personal best in at least one of the events.  

Leading the way was senior Jake Heil, who won both the shot put and discus.  Heil threw a personal best 47’ 3.5” to win the shot and 144’ 3” to win the discus.  His discus throw prequalified him in both events for state.  Fellow throwers Damien Molzahn, Jasper Caldera, and Dmitri Richards got in on the action as Molzahn placed 6th in the shot put and 8th in the discus throwing personal bests.  Caldera placed 5th in the shot going over 41’ for the first time, while Richards had his best shot put throw of over 38’.

The girl throwers had a fantastic day also.  Mackenzie Lyons led the way where she won the shot put with a throw of 35’ 10.5”, a personal best by almost 2 feet.  She also bettered her discus throw going over 102’ to place 4th.  Reygan Molzahn also threw over 100’ for the first time in her career in the discus to place 6th.  Anna Richardson, Esmeralda Caldera, and Jhuritzy Tena all had all-time best throws in at least one of the events.

The hurdlers continue to dominate the competition as Bruegger won the 300 hurdles and was second in the 110 hurdles.  Bruegger also placed 7th in the 400.  Wyatt Stauffer continued to perform well as he placed 3rd in the 300 hurdles and 6th in the 110 hurdles.  Stauffer also placed tied for 3rd in the high jump and 7th in the triple jump.  

Hurdler Aric Eaton placed 4th in the 300 hurdles along with an 8th place finish in pole vault.

Taylor Gaukel picked up another gold in the 100 hurdles for the girls, while Courtney Rowley won 4th in the 100 hurdles and Sierra Lemons placed 8th in the 300 hurdles.  Rowley also won silver in the pole vault going 8’ 4” and 6th in the 400.

The Tiger high jumpers also continue to perform well as Miranda Gilkey won the girls’ competition going 4’ 10” while the boys placed three in the top 4.  Tschacher won the event going 5’ 8” while teammate Penfield placed second at 5’ 8”.  Tschacher also won bronze in the 800 meters going 2:13.  

There were several medalists in the horizontal jumps with Gaukel winning gold in the long jump and silver in the triple jump.  Teammate Gilkey won the triple jump and earned bronze in the long jump.  

For the boys, Drake Lamp went a career best 18’ 9.25” to win bronze in the long jump.  Lamp also placed 7th in the 200 meter dash.  

The runners also brought home some medals as Anna Richardson placed 7th in the 200 meter dash and Jalyn McDaniel placed 8th in the 800.  McDaniel also placed 5th in the pole vault going 7’ 10” for the second meet in a row.  

For the boys, Will Fish placed in both distance races.  He was 8th in the 1600 and 5th in the 3200.  His time in the 3200 was 12:24, which is his best of the season thus far.  

Both 4 X 100 relays ran well.  The girls’ team of Gilkey, Gaukel, Rowley, and Richardson won gold in a time of 54.03.  The boys’ team of Bruegger, Molzahn, Lamp, and Kade Clark placed 3rd in a season’s best time of 48.00.  

“Overall, this was a great meet for our kids.  They performed well, and we look forward to the new few weeks as Regionals and State is just around the corner,” stated Coach Lyons.

The Tigers compete at SEWAC on Saturday in Glenrock.

Best in the West Girls’ Results

100 Hurdles—4. Taylor Gaukel-17.19

300 Hurdles—6. Miranda Gilkey-50.18; 7. Gaukel-51.25

High Jump—2. Gilkey-5’ 4”

Long Jump—3. Gaukel-15’ 5.5”; 6. Gilkey-15’ 2”

Triple Jump—1. Gaukel-33’ 5”; 2. Gilkey-32’ 11.75”

Shot Put—4. Mackenzie Lyons-34’ 5”

Best in the West Boys’ Results

800 M—7. Teagan Tschacher-2:09.30

110 Hurdles—6. Traylin Bruegger-16.71

300 Hurdles—5. Bruegger-41.69

High Jump—4. Alec Penfield-6’ 4”

Shot Put—9. Jake Heil-44’ 3”

Track Classic Girls’ Results

High Jump—4. Gilkey-5’ 2”

Long Jump—5. Gaukel-15’ 9.5”

Triple Jump—4. Gilkey-34’ 2.5”; 6. Gaukel-33’ 4.5”

Track Classic Boys’ Results

300 Hurdles—5. Bruegger-41.10

High Jump—7. Penfield-6’

Shot Put—9. Jake Heil-43’ 11.5”

Dennis Zowada Invite Girls’ Results:

100 M Dash—Esmeralda Caldera-15.93; Sierra Lemons-17.32

200 M Dash—7. Anna Richardson-31.15; Caldera-34.25; Renae Marker-34.55; Lemons-37.10

400 M Dash—6. Courtney Rowley-68.06; Marker-75.19; Danni Larson-87.86

800 M Run—8. Jalyn McDaniel-3:07.98

100 M Hurdles—1. Gaukel-17.30; 4. Rowley-18.87; Lemons-22.12

300 M Hurdles—8. Lemons-66.14

4 X 100 Relay—1. Gaukel, Rowley, Miranda Gilkey, Anna Richardson-54.03

Shot Put—1. Lyons-35’ 10.5”; Richardson- 30’ 9.5” Reygan Molzahn-29’ 10”; Caldera-27’ 10”; Jhuritzy Tena-24’ 1.5”

Discus—4. Lyons-102’ 3”; 6. Molzahn-101’ 3”; Richardson-89’ 3”; Caldera-79’ 5”; Tena-65’ 7”

High Jump—1. Gilkey-4’ 10”; Marker-4’

Pole Vault—2. Rowley-8’ 4”; 5. McDaniel-7’ 10”; Marker-NH

Long Jump—1. Gaukel-15’ 7.25”; 3. Gilkey-14’ 4.75”

Triple Jump—1. Gilkey-34’ 9.75”; 2. Gaukel-34’ 1.5”

Pine Bluffs Invite Boys’ Results:

100 M Dash—Drake Lamp-12.50; Kade Clark-13.01; Zach Vandeberg-13.72; Penfield-13.88; Kaden Gaukel-15.17

200 M Dash—7. Lamp-25.15; Clark-27.22; James Stone-27.46; Vandeberg-27.50; Aric Eaton-28.11; Gaukel-29.06

400 M Dash—7. Bruegger-55.73; Tschacher-58.15; Stone-64.17

800 M Run—3. Teagan Tscacher-2:13.10; Stone-2:41.19; Tyler Basile-2:42.84

1600 M Run—8. William Fish-5:58.66; Basile-6:22.70

3200 M Run—5. Fish-12:24.45

110 M Hurdles—2. Bruegger-16.73; 6. Wyatt Stauffer-18.16

300 M Hurdles—1. Bruegger-42.26; 3. Stauffer-47.49; 4. Eaton-47.90

4 X 100 Relay—3. Clark, Bruegger, Lamp, Damien Molzahn-48.00

Shot Put—1. Heil-47’ 3.5”; 5. Jasper Caldera-41’ 11.5”; 6. Molzahn-41’ .5”; Dmitri Richards-38’ 3.5”:; Gaukel-32’ 10.5”

Discus—1. Heil-144’ 3”; 8. Molzahn-114‘ 4”; Caldera-99’ 2”; Richards-96‘ 1”

High Jump—1. Tschacher-5’ 8”; 2. Penfield-5’ 8”; 3. Stauffer-5’ 6”

Pole Vault— 8. Eaton-10‘ 1”; Vandeberg-8’ 1”

Long Jump—3. Lamp-18’ 9.25”; Clark-16’ 11.5”; Eaton-16’ 2”; Penfield--ND

Triple Jump—7. Stauffer-36’ 6”; Stone-34’ 6”; Penfield-ND