BURNS – Torrington High School runners, jumpers and throwers left their opponents in the dust at the Burns Invite on April 12, with athletes capturing gold in multiple events and posting new personal and school records.

The Lady Blazers trounced 10 other schools in girls’ varsity to place first as a team at 120 points, picking up eight gold medals in the process.

Wheatland came in second at 106 points with the host school in distant third at 96 points.

The Blazer boys placed fourth as a team, tallying 76 points and securing four gold medals.

Sophomore Brooklyn Asmus blew the competition out of the water in both the girls’ 100- and 200-meters. 

Asmus garnered gold in the 100-meters, beating the runner-up, Desirae Iocovetto, of Wheatland, by an overwhelming 0.34-second margin to clock in with a time of 12.01 seconds. In the 200-meters, Asmus pulled into first place at 24.54 seconds, with nearly one second to spare over Iacovetto. 

Asmus broke the Torrington High School records she previously set this season in both events.

Timing the girls’ 3200-meters in at 13 minutes, 43.82 seconds, sophomore Callie Taylor scooped up first place in the event. Taylor finished more than one minute ahead of the competition, Burns’ Payton Pollard.

In hurdles, sophomore Natalie Hawes clinched first place in the girls’ 100-meters, crossing the finish line in 16.78 seconds, more than 0.25 seconds ahead of Lingle-Fort Laramie’s Jada Kaufman. Hawes went on to take second place in the 300-meter hurdles at 48.27 seconds.

Sophomore Trishell Pontarolo leapt into first place in the girls’ triple jump, hitting a mark of 36 feet, 7 inches. Pontarolo’s best jump measured more than three feet longer than that achieved by the runner-up, Bailey Mehling, of Southeast.

The race for the top two spots in the boys’ 1600-meters between senior Zabdiel Munoz and Lingle-Fort Laramie’s Sullivan Wilson came down to the wire, with Munoz pulling ahead  by nearly three seconds to win at 4:54.63.

Senior Trey Parriott achieved gold in the boys’ shot put with a toss measuring 49-09. 

In the boys’ triple jump, junior Evan Hellus snapped up first place with a leap of 19-07 ¾, beating Gering’s Eran James by 1.5 feet.

Four of Torrington’s five relay teams captured gold. The girls’ 4x100-meter team – Asmus, Hawes, junior Jaycee Hurley and senior Alyssa Wondercheck – clocked in more than three seconds ahead of Leyton, Nebraska, to win at 48.95 seconds. The team broke the Torrington High School record in the event they set the previous week.

Asmus, sophomore Natalie Long, Hurley and Wondercheck won the 4x400-meter relay, timing in at 4:17.28 – eight seconds ahead of Leyton.

In the girls’ 4x800-meter relay, Taylor, junior Tiffany Krueger, Long and freshman Esperanza Chavez obtained gold with a time of 11:23.47, beating Gering by 2.69 seconds.

Senior Jorey Asmus, sophomore Brady Dagen, Munoz and junior Tyler Nicolay won the boys’ 4x800-meter relay, clocking in at 9:29.26, nearly 40 seconds ahead of Burns.

Girls top eight

Hurley snapped up hardware in two additional events, placing third in the 100-meter dash with a prequalifying time of 12.82 seconds before securing fourth place in the 300-hurdles at 49.89 seconds.

Pontarolo finished fifth in the 200-meters, at 27.86 seconds, and placed fourth in the long jump with a prequalifying mark of 16-09 ½.

Wondercheck garnered bronze in the long jump, posting a leap of 16-10.

Freshman Sophia Wilson clinched seventh place in the 400-meters, clocking in at 1:09.60. 

In throwing events, freshman Kaia Jacobson took fifth place in the discus at 98-04.

Boys top eight

Hellus secured additional hardware in both the 200-meters, placing fifth at 24.31 seconds, and the long jump, finishing fifth at 19-07 ¾.

Throwers posted solid performances at Burns. Senior Brayden Frazier snagged silver in the shot put, measuring 46-02, and went on to earn seventh place in the discus, at 109-01 ½.

Parriott obtained second place in the discus, clearing 126-10.

Junior Brayden Hime placed eighth in the shot put at 38-07.

Freshman Beau Martinez came in fifth place in the 300-hurdles, timing in at 47.11 seconds.

Freshman Matthew Rogers, sophomore Travis Nobs, Asmus and Dagen placed fourth in the 4x400-meter relay at 4:08.15.