The Kemmerer High School track and field teams had a weekend to remember at the 2A West Regional Track Meet in Shoshoni, with the Lady Rangers winning the 2A West Championship, and the Rangers placing second overall.

“Well, I thought both the boys and girls did at least what we thought they were going to do, and then several did more,” said KHS head coach Phil Thatcher. “On the second day, we had several kids get to the finals and then moved up to the position in those finals. I just thought overall the whole team did a great job.”

The two teams combined to win 12 individual events, led by sophomore Cole Rogers, who won four events: The 110 hurdles (14.50), the 300 hurdles (38.77), the 100 meters (11.41) and the 400 meters (49.68). Rogers’ times in the hurdles were new 2A West Regional records.

“Boy, he’s fast,” Thatcher said. “I mean, he’s fast just in the open, but I’ll tell you what, you get hurdles in front of him, and he sure looks like he can fly compared to all those other runners. All those races  —  that prelim, that final  —  he’s racing eight races over two days, and did a great job. Get him healed up, and now he’s going to have those eight races over three days. He’s not going to know what to do with himself.”

Lady Ranger senior Laynee Walker also won multiple events, defending her titles in the 100 hurdles (16.29), the 300 hurdles (47.17) and the pole vault (10’10”).

“Laynee just keeps getting better and better every year at what she does  —  it’s just fun to watch,” Thatcher said. “I’ve got a lot of faith in her. We could have put her in probably five, six events, and I think we’d have probably the same results  —  these just happen to be the ones she’s been excelling at her whole career, so we kept her there. She’s just continuing to improve and put work in, and we’re excited to see how she caps everything off next week.”

For the Rangers, senior thrower Derek Hagler swept the throwing events, winning the shot put with a toss of 47 feet, 10.5 inches, and the discus, with a throw of 153 feet, 7 inches.

“Derek started out really hot at the beginning of the year, then had a little slump for about two or three weeks,” Thatcher explained. “He was still throwing well  —  just not where he wanted to be. He’s back to where he wants to be now, especially in the discus  —  that 153, that’s a great throw. He’s sitting in a good spot for state. I think he’s feeling pretty good about where he’s sitting, and has a lot of confidence. That’s going to be big for us at state.”

Fellow senior Natasha Martinez broke the school record in the long jump, winning the event with a jump of 17 feet, 5.75 inches. The previous record had stood since 1984.

“Natasha has been in those upper 16s several times this year, and she’s finally got the legs feeling really good,” Thatcher said. “She put together a monster jump right at the right time. I mean, hopefully we can hit it in the state with that kind of momentum. She has a good chance of placing top there, too, if she can keep that going.”

Ella Thatcher won the triple jump, clearing a distance of 32 feet, 3.25 inches, while Janae Skidmore rounded out the list of 2A West Regional Champions, winning the discus with a throw of 102 feet, 9 inches.

“It was funny, because Ella had to go run the 4x800 right before the triple jump finals,” coach Thatcher said. “So she went and did an 800, and then came back, and her legs were shaking really bad. She scratched one, and could hardly put together a good enough second jump. But then she just kind of got it out and put together that winning jump. That’s actually her first time placing number one on the podium as an individual  —  it was kind of fun for her to do that.”

The Lady Rangers also won a pair of relay events, with the 4x400 relay team of Natasha Martinez, Ella Thatcher, Claire Crosland and Laynee Walker winning the event in a time of 4:12.26.

The team of Ella Thatcher, Janae Skidmore, Laranda Waldner and Riley Meyer won the 4x800 relay in a time of 11:02.68.

The KHS track and field teams head to Casper Thursday for the 2A State Track and Field Championships at Kelly Walsh High School.

“Monday, we’ll move the kids around a little bit, get the muscles warmed back up and stretched out,” Thatcher said. “Tuesday  —  with our field events  —  we’ll really start focusing on those. Like we’ve talked about,