Laramie Track and Field is Ready to Host Regional Track Championships

The two biggest days of the outdoor track and field season to this point are here, as Laramie High School hosts the 4A East Regional Track Championships at Deti Stadium.

Eight teams will be competing on Friday and Saturday. The goal is to finish among the top eight in an individual event or the top four in relays to qualify for next week’s state championships.

Besides LHS acting as host, the other schools involved are Campbell County, Cheyenne Central, Cheyenne East, Cheyenne South, Kelly Walsh, Sheridan and Thunder Basin.

Laramie head coach Greg Schabron said they are excited about this opportunity to host this weekend.

“I think it’s been 12 years since Laramie’s hosted a regional meet. We talked to the athletes about the benefits of not having to travel, find a hotel room, eat, and stay out late, because some of those events go a little bit late the first night. So, we’re going to maximize the benefit of being here on our own track.”

Day one on Friday begins with field events at noon and track events at 1 p.m. The track meet will stay on a strict time schedule each day. Day two on Saturday starts at 9 a.m. for field events and 10 a.m. for track events.

Schabron said the emphasis we put on this meet, “Might have been a lot of pressure on the kids, but we like to do that early in the week, and then the goal from the coaching staff was to calm down the athletes on Wednesday and Thursday as we get them loosened up during the workouts in the week. (We want them) to compete and have fun, and not worry too much about it.”

Laramie already has three girls and five boys that have pre-qualified for the state track championships in individual events. The girls are Addie Forry (200, 400, 800, 1600), Carey Berendsen (800m), and Emily Gardner (Long Jump). The five boys are Quail Perkins (100, 200), Will McCrea (400), Meyer Smith (800), John Rose (Triple Jump), and Adrien Calderon (Pole Vault). Both teams have three relays already qualified, the 4x400, 4x800, and 1600 Medley relays.

There are 33 boys and 23 girls scheduled to compete for LHS.

Schabron says we told the kids that their times or marks don’t matter as much this week. He explained why.

“It’s all about placing this week. It’s going to be windy. That’s nothing different than every day you’ve been on the track this entire spring. I think we had one day that wasn’t windy. We had more qualifiers last week than we’ve had the entire season, so their fitness level’s coming along. Their confidence is coming along, and I think having the home crowd here (is a benefit). We’re encouraging parents to come, students from the school when schools out, come be loud, and try to get the energy going for us.”

Friday’s events include the boys' long jump, girls’ discus, boys pole vault, girls long jump, boys’ discus, and girls pole vault. On the track, finals include the 800 meters, 3200 meters, 4x100 meter relay, and the 1600 sprint medley relay. There are also preliminary races for both hurdle events, the 100 meters, 200 meters, and 400 meters.

Saturday’s field events are the girls' shot put, boys' triple jump, girls' high jump, boys shot put, girls' triple jump, and boys’ high jump. The finals on the track include the five races from Friday’s prelims (hurdles, 100, 200, 400), the 4x800 relay, 1600 meters, and the 4x400 meter relay.

The last event starts at 6:45 p.m. on Friday and at 2:45 p.m. on Saturday. The schedule says times may be adjusted due to weather.