Huskies 3-peat as state champs

High school track season wrapped up in Casper last weekend and the Huskies are once again state champions. 

They earned 20 more points than Lingle Fort Laramie and 46 more points than Saratoga. This is the 3rd year in a row that the Huskies have taken the championship. 

“I am so proud of this team,” said Coach Ryan Olson. “This has been one of my most satisfying seasons in my 30 years of coaching. Coming into this season, we knew things wouldn’t come easy. Lingle was the defending 2A champions and were coming down to our class and bringing most of their scoring athletes with them. 

“After looking at their times and marks, our kids knew what it would take to beat them. They worked hard, sometimes during cold practices, sometimes doing events that weren’t their favorite and ran relays when they knew it would help the team.” 

Weston Gotfredson won the pole vault and Isaiah Morin, Brikton Wardell, Bradford Davidson and Jordan Broederlow also took first in the sprint medley relay. 

Several boys contributed points to the overall winning score with many placing in the top five, including Paul McNiven in the 400, 800 and 300 hurdles, Broederlow in the 100, Davidson and Howard McNiven in the 1,600, Connor Hoyt and H. McNiven in the 3,200, Gotfredson and Colt Haslam in the high jump, Morin in the long jump, Jordan Casey in the triple jump, Kyler Winters and Levi Wardell in the pole vault and Hoyt, H. McNiven, James McNiven and Davidson in the 3,200 relay. 

“I was especially happy to see, like last year, so many different scorers,” said Olson. 

On the girls’ side, Sarah McNiven won the high jump with Paxton Philpott taking third, Breanne Walker in fourth and Brynn Preator in fifth. Philpott also finished third in the 300 hurdles, Orabella Heaton finished fifth in 800 and S. McNiven, Sky Olsen, Sophie Olson and Preator finished fifth in the 1,600 meter relay. “Our girls did a fantastic job in their events,” said Olson. “Even though they didn’t make the podium, they performed just as well as the boys, reaching new personal bests in almost every event and surpassing the total I had predicted for them. They have a lot to be proud of and we’ll look forward to having most of them back next year.

“Our coaches did an amazing job. We’ve got some of the best assistant coaches in the state and we had some volunteer coaches that worked just as hard to help our athletes. With a team our size, volunteer coaches are key in order to get kids the attention they need. This season was truly a ‘team effort.’ 

“I really need to give the seniors a lot of credit; they asked to lead the team in warmups, they wanted to bring the team together with a unifying cheer and led the entire season by example. They gave us a lot of points in a lot of different events and we will miss them a lot. It was nice to see them go out on top, with Burlington’s first ever ‘threepeat’ in track. It’s not easy to win state four out of five years, especially with 25 1A teams in the state wanting the same goal, but these kids set their goal and did what it took to reach it.” 

STATE MEET RESULTS 

GIRLS 

800 METER – 5, Orabella Heaton, 2:34.76. 

300 METER HURDLES – 3, Paxton Philpott, 48.61. 

4X100 METER RELAY – 6, Dalley Bassett, Adison Haslam, Breanne Walker, Naomi McNiven, 55.76. 

4X400 METER RELAY – 5, Sarah McNiven, Sky Olsen, Sophie Olson, Brynn Preator, 4:38.97. 

4X800 METER RELAY – 6, Heaton, S. Olson, Hannah Stanworth, Adelle Olson, 12:25.28. 

SPRINT MEDLEY RELAY – 6, Haslam, S. McNiven, N. McNiven, A. Olson, 4:55.13. 

HIGH JUMP – 1, S. McNiven, 5-03. 3, Philpott, 5-01. 4, Walker, 4-07. 5, Preator, 4-07. 

TRIPLE JUMP – 7, Philpott, 32-08. 

DISCUS – 8, Hailee Winterholler, 93-06. 

BOYS 

100 METER – 4, Jordan Broederlow, 12.01. 

400 METER – 3, Paul McNiven, 52.18. 

800 METER – 3, P. McNiven, 2:02.18. 6, Howard McNiven, 2:05.31. 7, Connor Hoyt, 2:06.32. 

1600 METER – 4, Bradford Davidson, 4:47.12. 5, H. McNiven, 4:49.80. 7, Hoyt, 4:51.89. 

3200 METER – 3, Hoyt, 10:29.82. 4, H. McNiven, 10:32.95. 

300 METER HURDLES – 2, P. McNiven, 42.84. 

4X100 METER RELAY – 7, Isaiah Morin, Jordan Casey, Bruce McNiven, Brikton Wardell, 47.30. 

4X400 METER RELAY – 6, Davidson, Broederlow, Joe Bassett, Colt Haslam, 3:50.54. 

4X800 METER RELAY – 2, Hoyt, H. McNiven, James McNiven, Davidson, 8:55.15. 

SPRINT MEDLEY RELAY – 1, Morin, B. Wardell, Davidson, Broederlow, 3:53.10. 

HIGH JUMP – 4, Weston Gotfredson, 5-08. 5, Haslam, 5-08. 8, Trigdon Aagard, 5-06. 

POLE VAULT – 1, W. Gotfredson, 14-03. 2, Kyler Winters, 13-00. 3, Levi Wardell, 12-00. 

LONG JUMP – 4, Morin, 20-09.5. 

TRIPLE JUMP – 5, J. Casey, 40-09.5. 8, Haslam, 39-10.

SHOT PUT – 8, Taft Winters, 41-04.5.