EVANSTON — A brand new timing system  in use with a top-notch scoreboard, along with a slew of volunteers featuring coaches, former coaches, district administrators and staff, helped to ensure a smooth and successful regional track and field meet, hosted by Evanston High School. The 4A West Conference regional included the host school teams and conference-member high school teams Cody, Green River, Jackson Hole,  Kelly Walsh, Riverton, Rock Springs and Star Valley.  

Kelly Walsh made a clean sweep, winning both the girls and guys divisions, while Evanston placed third in each.

Team scores for the girls ended as follows: Kelly Walsh (133), Cody (118), Evanston (117), Rock Springs (109), Riverton (72.5), Jackson Hole (62.5), Star Valley (54) and Green River (32).

The guys’ overall team scores lined up this way: Kelly Walsh (180.5), Rock Springs (132), Evanston (100), Star Valley (69.5), Jackson Hole (69), Cody (61), Green River (47) and Riverton (41). Certain Red Devil and Lady Red Devil track and field athletes performed personal bests during the regional meet, while there were others who would have finished in the top eight and scored points had they matched their previous bests. Perhaps a nagging injury prevented them from doing so, or maybe a scrach or disqualification came into play. Or the wind. Or just an off day. The same can be said for the competitors from other teams. 

If track and field athletes had pre-qualified for state but did not participate in the qualified event at regionals or didn’t meet the qualifying standard at the regional meet, they are still eligible to compete at state in Casper this weekend.

Those who did score points by placing in events for Evanston during the regional meet will be showcased below, in the order the events took place.

In the girls’ 800-meter run Breila Fuller placed second with a time of 2:19.38, and teammate Heidi Barton was right behind in third place coming in at 2:22.02.

Tyrell Halladay won the boys’ 800-meter race with a 1:57.81, good for 10 team points. Teammate Dallin Cardon scored five points for his fourth-place finish clocking 2:01.37 for his 800-meter run.

Stacia Barker placed third in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.35 scoring six points. Zocia Nowakowski placed fifth, good for four team points with a 16.66 time in the finals and Gabby Hall added three points, placing sixth with a time of 16.69.

Jamin Barker ended in second place in the boys’ 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.67, scoring eight points and Cade Francom’s eighth-place finish and 18-second time added another point for the Red Devils.

The Lady Red Devils fared well in the 300-meter hurdles, claiming three of the top spots. Gabby Hall was the overall winner with a time of 46.37, scoring 10 points. Mia Barker’s fifth-place time of 49.52 added four points and Stacia Barker tallied three more, ending in sixth place with a time of 49.58.

Garrett Berger placed fourth in the boys’ 300-meter hurdles, clocking 42.21 seconds, scoring four points. Cade Francom placed fifth with a 42.79 finish, good for three points and Jamin Barker added two points for his seventh-place finishing time of 43.90 seconds.

Lilly Williams ended in third place for the girls’ 3200-meter run which added six points to the Lady Red Devil team total.

An eighth-place finish for the boys’ 3200-meter run by Brandon Sepos earned a point for the Red Devils. Sepos’ time of 12:31.64 was more than 20 seconds better than his seeded time.

The Lady Red Devils 4 x 100-meter relay team of Stacia Barker, Nowakowski, Victoria Lange and Tia Nelson scored four team points with a fifth-place time of 52.54 seconds.

The Red Devils’ 4 x 100-meter relay team comprised of Gabe Morris, Berger, Francom and Kody Smith also placed fifth, clocking 44.82 seconds, adding four points to the team total.

Nelson had the fastest seed time in the 400-meter dash and also placed first in the preliminaries of the event but in the finals ended in second place, scoring eight points. Her finals time of 59.70 seconds, however, was her fastest of the meet, finishing in under a minute. Barton was next, in third place, with a time of 1:00.21, adding six points. Shelyse Ellingford added three points with her time of 1:03.09, good for sixth place in the 400-meter dash.

In the boys’ 400-meter run, Evanston held three of the top four spots in the preliminaries, led by Halladay’s time of 51.08 seconds to earn first-place honors entering the finals. Morris had the second-fastest qualifying time (51.94), with Smith holding down the fourth spot, with a time of 52.21 seconds. The finals would have a slightly different flavor but it was an all Red Devil finish, first through third, with Smith coming in first with a strong kick to the finish to earn 10 team points, clocking 51.48 seconds. Morris was again second, ending in 51.54 seconds and Halladay placed third with a time of 51.68. Morris and Halladay added eight and six points, respectively, to the Red Devil team total.

The Lady Red Devils earned fourth-place honors in the 1600-meter sprint medley, scoring five points with a time of 4:27.95. The team included Hall, Nowakowski, Lange and Reghan Worley.

Jamin Barker, Morris, Halladay and Cardon comprised the boys’ 1600-meter sprint relay team that finished second with a time of 3:37.63, adding eight points.

The Lady Red Devils won the 4 x 800-meter relay race by over eight seconds, with a time of 10:06.47, earning 10 points for the team. The relay team featured Fuller, Worley, Hailey Cardon and Lexi Demander.

The boys’ 4 x 800-meter relay team scored five points by placing fourth with a time of 8:48.42. Logan Driver, Logan Hunt, Robert Gomez and Sepos competed for the Red Devils.

Fuller was Evanston’s top placer in the girls’ 1600-meter run, coming in with a time of 5:36.20, finishing sixth and scoring three points. Worley added a point for her eighth-place finishing time of 5:44.77. Both Lady Red Devil seniors had much faster seed times but wind and other factors could have come into play.

Cardon defeated all comers in the boys’ 1600-meter run with a first-place time of 4:36.96, earning 10 points for his team.

Evanston owned the 400-meter relay race during the regional meet, with both the boys’ and girls’ teams placing first, winning by more than four seconds and adding 10 points to their respective team totals. The Lady Red Devils’ team made up of Fuller, Ellingford, Hall and Nelson clocked a 4:06.00 time. The Red Devils didn’t quite match their school record-breaking time of 3:25.83, but the 3:26.69 time that Berger, Smith, Morris and Halladay posted was more than enough. Cris Periman has also competed in a leg of the 400-meter relay for Evanston, and according to his head coach, the Red Devils would have broken the school record with either Periman or Berger in the lineup. The previous school record time of 3:27.53 was set in 1999 by Laron Pace, Geddy Northrup, Tanner Davis and Bob Jorgenson.

Ellingford and Lange both cleared 10-feet in the girls’ pole vault, placing second and third and adding eight and six points, respectively.

Stacia Barker added three points for a sixth-place finish in the girls’ high jump, clearing five feet, two inches.

Jacob Mcmurtrey scored a point with a discus toss measuring 129 feet, two inches, and finished in eighth place.

Payton Vernon added two team points by placing seventh in the boys’ shot put with a heave of 43 feet, 11 inches. 

The Lady Red Devil and Red Devil track and field athletes who qualified for the state meet will compete this weekend in Casper, Thursday-Saturday, May 16-18, at Harry Geldien Stadium on the Kelly Walsh High School campus, the perennial host venue for the WHSAA State Track and Field Championships meet. 

Sheridan, Natrona County and Cheyenne East look to be the power teams from the east for the guys, while Laramie, Cheyenne Central and Thunder Basin show the way for the girls side of the ledger.