Spring has sprung in Farmington, Utah, and the Kemmerer High School track and field teams took full advantage of the gorgeous weather, turning in some solid performances at the Farmington Super Meet Wednesday and Thursday.

The Lady Rangers placed 12th overall in the 19-team field, while the Rangers placed 13th; KHS head coach Phil Thatcher said it was a good meet to end on, heading into Spring Break this week.

“Things went pretty well, for the most part,” Thatcher said. “We increased our times for the season. We had a few kids — especially the younger kids — get PRs in several events. And you couldn’t beat the weather, we’d take that any day.”

KHS junior Laynee Walker was the top Lady Rangers finisher on the girls’ side, placing second in the pole vault. Walker — the defending 2A state champ in the event — tied her personal best of 10 feet, a mark she hit at last year’s 2A State Track and Field Championships. Walker also finished 10th in the 300 hurdles, posting a state-qualifying time of 50.99.

For the boys, freshman Cole Rogers led the charge with a fifth-place finish in the 300 hurdles, posting a time of 42.26; Rogers also placed 11th in the 110 hurdles, with a time of 17.01.

“The weather was great, and the marks reflected that — I think the kids are just determined to do a good job this year; they want to compete well,” Thatcher said. “They’re putting in the work — we’ve worked hard in practice. Even at those meets where we had pretty dead legs from not being able to get outside, they still stepped up and competed. Hopefully, they’ll keep doing that.”

The KHS track and field teams have the week off for Spring Break; they’ll return to action Friday, April 5, at the Ted Schroeder Invitational in Rock Springs.

“We just started Spring Break this week, so the kids are scattered to the wind,” Thatcher said. “They all have workouts, so hopefully they get a little bit of running in. We don’t run again until April 5 in Rock Springs, so I’m hoping the weather cooperates. But you get up here in Wyoming, and you have to deal with that wind factor — something that can really affect the times and the distances. But we have to run in it, and the kids have to get used to running in that stuff. We’d like to spend six weeks in Utah, but we have to face reality, and get running in the elements, a little bit.”

Lady Rangers

Joining Walker with a Top 5 finish was senior Nadia Runnion, who placed fourth in the discus with a toss of 101 feet, 4 inches; Runnion also finished 20th in the shot put (28 feet, 6 inches).

Kylie Price posted a Top 10 finish in the shot put, placing ninth with a toss of 32 feet, 1 inch; she also placed 11th in the discus (92 feet, 11 inches). Aralyn Erickson rounded out the Lady Rangers’ Top 10 placers with a 10th-place finish in the 800 meters, posting a time of 2:38.99.

Arianne Dearden was the Lady Rangers’ lone entrant in the 3200 meter run, placing 12th with a time of 13:25.37.

“Arianne Dearden qualified in the two mile — she ran a PR,” Thatcher said. “That was pretty fun, to see her get down there and run against some good competition.”