The kids showed up and battled the elements the best they could in Scottsbluff,. The team did a great job despite the weather and got out there and competed well.””

Coach Russell Stienmetz

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THS tracksters compete at the Thunder Basin Invite in Gillette on Thursday, May 1 and the Wyoming Track Classic in Casper on Friday.

SCOTTSBLUFF – The Torrington High School track team rose to the challenge despite cold, gray, wet weather at the Western Nebraska Twilight invitational hosted by Scottsbluff on April 25.

The Lady Blazers captured first place as a team, advancing to the No. 1 spot on the girls’ leaderboard with 130 points. Scottsbluff finished second at 108 points with Gering coming in a distant third at 89 points. 

A smaller Torrington boys’ squad finished sixth as a team with 24.5 points.

Overall, Torrington tracksters collected 29 top eight medals, including seven golds.

Junior Brooklyn Asmus struck gold in three girls’ events. Asmus opened the meet with a first-place finish in the 100-meters, clocking in at 12.32 seconds.

Timing the 200-meters in at 26.19 seconds, Asmus clinched gold with 2.17 seconds to spare over the runner-up from Campbell County.

Asmus rounded out the day with a first-place finish in the 400-meters with a time of 1 minute, 0.56 seconds. The junior reached the finish line ahead of the second-place finisher from Southeast by nearly 1.5 seconds.

Junior Trishell Pontarolo won two girls’ jumping events in Scottsbluff. In the long jump, Pontarolo battled to the No. 1 spot with a leap of 16 feet, 7 ¼ inches. Pontarolo’s mark was six inches farther than the runner-up from Scottsbluff.

Clearing 36-01 ¼ in the triple jump, Pontarolo garnered gold by a margin of nearly three feet over the second-place finisher from the host school.

Representing Torrington in the grueling girls’ 3200-meters, senior Callie Taylor snagged gold, clocking in at 13:30.45. Taylor beat the competition from Gering by 34 seconds.

The girls’ 4x100-meter relay team of Asmus, freshman Illyana Ponce, junior Natalie Hawes and Pontarolo captured gold with a time of 50.55 seconds, crossing the finish line 0.65 seconds ahead of Gering.

“The kids showed up and battled the elements the best they could in Scottsbluff,” coach Russell Stienmetz said. “The team did a great job despite the weather and got out there and competed well.”

Girls top eight

Ponce clinched silver in the 100-meters, timing in at 13.16 seconds. The freshman went on to pick up bronze in the 200-meters with a time of 28.36 seconds.

Ponce also secured third place in the 800-meters, reaching the finish line at 2:34.40.

In the 100-meter hurdles, Hawes fought her way to the No. 2 spot on the event leaderboard, timing in at 16.77 seconds. The junior also bagged silver in the 300-meter hurdles, posting a time of 49.15 seconds.

Hawes went on to place fourth in the 100-meters, posting a time of 13.56 seconds.

Freshman Ellis Mortimore pulled into eighth place in the 200-meters at 29.55 seconds.

Clocking the 300-meter hurdles in at 51.81 seconds, Pontarolo placed fourth in the event.

In throwing events, senior Teryn Stokes snagged bronze in the shot put, hitting a mark of 34-02. Stokes also progressed to the No. 5 spot on the discus leaderboard with a mark of 90-03.

Sophomore Kaia Jacobson took seventh place in the discus, reaching a mark of 84-04.

Freshman Grace Hibben represented Torrington in the high jump with a seventh-place finish and a mark of 4-04.

Sophomore Sophia Wilson came in fifth place in the pole vault, clearing 8-00.

The 4x800-meter relay team – sophomore Esperanza Chavez, Hibben, Taylor and sophomore Laney Walter – clinched bronze at 11:39.90.

Boys top eight

Sophomore Drew Kramer picked up medals in three events. Kramer pulled into third place in the 200-meters, posting a time of 24.08 seconds. Kramer also snagged bronze in the 400-meters with a time of 53.01 seconds.

Timing the 100-meters in at 11.72 seconds, Kramer took fifth place.

Senior Brayden Hime progressed to the No. 2 spot on the shot-put leaderboard, clearing a mark of 47-01.

Sophomore Zeek Yung finished seventh in both the shot put and discus with marks of 40-01 and 118-09, respectively.

Senior Tyler Nicolay clinched fifth place in the pole vault, clearing 10-00.

Fellow senior Evan Hellus bagged eighth place in the long jump with a mark of 18-06 ¾.

In the 4x400-meter relay, junior Brady Dagen, Nicolay, freshman Zade Olson and freshman Anthony Sanchez captured sixth at 4:05.66.

Additional results – girls

• 100-meters: Mortimore in 15th place at 14.42 seconds.

• 200-meters: Walter in 17th place at 32.44 seconds.

• 400-meters: Walter in 10th place at 1:12.24.

• 800-meters: Wilson in 10th place at 3:02.32.

• 300-hurdles: Hibben in 10th place at 56.91 seconds.

• Shot put: Catie Reimer in ninth place at 29-01 and Karis Walker 15th at 25-10.

• Discus: Wittni Bugher in 14th place at 75-04 and Reimer 16th at 73-00.

• Pole vault: Chavez in ninth at 6-06.

Additional results – boys

• 100-meters: Ace Heron in 12th place at 12.48 seconds, Beau Martinez 19th at 12.92 and Dagen 20th at 12.93.

• 200-meters: Heron in 15th place at 25.87 seconds and Sanchez 18th at 27.61.

• 400-meters: Dagen in 15th place at 59.27 seconds.

• 800-meters: Nicolay in 10th place at 2:19.92.

• 1600-meters: Ty Haeffelin in 11th place at 7:01.12.

• 300-hurdles: Olson in 10th place at 51.76 seconds and Cruz Lopez 11th at 58.43.

• Shot put: Brandt Eichenberger in 21st place at 30-03 and Cayson Morris 23rd at 29-07.

• Discus: Morris in 11th place at 111-11, Hime 15th at 100-04 and Eichenberger 22nd at 74-07.

• Long jump: Martinez in 15th place at 16-02, Olson 19th at 15-08 and Sanchez 22nd at 12-01.

• Triple jump: Lopez in 15th place at 32-09 ¾.