GILLETTE – The Torrington High School indoor track team garnered multiple top-10 finishes at the 2024 Basin Nation Track Meet in Gillette on Friday, February 2 with particularly strong performances in throwing, jumping and sprinting.

“The team posted several personal bests by individuals in field goals and on the tracks,” coach Russell Stienmetz said. “I’m also impressed with relay teams as well for getting the baton all the way around. We were represented well by our athletes. It was a huge meet, not just against 3A schools but also 4A schools.”

Because the state indoor track tournament will be in Gillette, the Basin Nation Meet provided an opportunity for tracksters to get a feel for the local track and jumping and throwing pits.

“The more you compete at that venue, the better and the more acclimated the athletes are once they get to the state competition,” Stienmetz added.

Sophomore Trishell Pontarolo snagged gold in the girls’ triple jump, hitting a mark of 34 feet, eight inches. Pontarolo beat the runner-up, Buffalo’s Sophie Berglund, by a full seven inches. 

Three Goshen County athletes broke into the top 10 in the finals for the boys’ shot put. Senior Tyler Bennick led the pack with a second-place finish measured in at 52-08 ¼. Fellow senior Brayden Frazier took eighth place with a toss of 44-09 ¾. Trey Parriott, also a senior, earned 10th place at 44-03 ½. 

In girls’ sprinting events, sophomore Brooklyn Asmus captured second place, posting a time of 26.85 seconds. Asmus also snapped up third place in the finals for the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.43 seconds, a significant improvement from a fourth-place finish at 7.49 seconds in the preliminaries.

Relay highlights included a second-place finish for the girls’ 4x200-meter team. Asmus, Pontarolo, sophomore Natalie Hawes and senior Alyssa Wondercheck timed the event in at 1 minute, 50.64 seconds.

Senior Tylar Stoddard secured third place in the girls’ triple jump with a leap of 33-07 ½.

Wondercheck picked up third place in the girls’ long jump, clearing 17 feet. 

Hawes placed fifth in the 55-meter hurdles, timing in at 9.42 seconds, a considerable improvement from an eighth-place finish at 9.59 seconds in the prelims.

Senior Harper Boche captured fifth place in the girls’ shot put, hitting a mark of 37-04.

The girls’ sprint-medley relay team – Stoddard, Natalie Lira, Wondercheck and Angie Logsdon – placed sixth at 5:08.46.