CASPER – A season plagued by snow, cold and cancelled meets wrapped up in a similar fashion last weekend for the Pinedale High School track and field team at the 3A State Track and Field Meet in Kelly Walsh High School in Casper. The team was greeted by snow and cold as they kicked off the meet on Thursday, May 18, with athletes enduring the inclement conditions through Friday before sunny skies returned Saturday.

“State track was a battle with the weather,” head coach Eric Oram said. “Our Wranglers never complained and competed very well. We, as well as everyone else, were dealt a hard card with weather. We had adversity to overcome.”

The Wranglers didn’t let the late season burst of winter get in their way, however, as the team saw its first state champion in seven years, along with additional All-State nods and impressive personal records coming out of the meet. After all the scores were added up, the girls finished in eighth place with 40 points, while the boys finished 12^th overall with 13 points.

On the girls’ side, senior Shantelle Rule finished out her final season with the Wranglers on a high note as she earned state champion accolades in the triple jump after recording a jump of 36 feet, 2 inches. By winning the event, Rule was also presented with All-State recognition for the performance. She later took third place in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.84 seconds and took fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.97 seconds. To wrap up her time at the meet, Rule picked up third place in the high jump after clearing 5 feet.

The team took an astounding five athletes from the girls team to state in the triple jump, which Oram says is a rarity for state track. Typically, teams can only bring four athletes per event, and to bring more, they have to be pre-approved.

“For our school to get five kids in one event is pretty rare,” he said.

Freshman Adriana Liserio secured third place in the event after jumping 34 feet, 1 inch, while sophomore Madison Friend placed fifth with her best jump being 34 feet even. Freshman Anna Harber finished closely behind in eighth place with a jump of 33 feet, 4 inches, while freshman Maggie Majhanovich rounded out the large group of Pinedale athletes in the event with a jump of 31 feet, 7 inches to finish 13th.

The team sent a team to compete in the 4x100 relay event, where Friend, Liserio, Majhanovich and Harber crossed the finish line with a time of 53.90 seconds to take seventh overall.

On the boys’ side, senior Zack Winer closed out his successful season with the team by earning second place in the long jump with a jump of 20 feet, 11 inches. By finishing second in the event, Winer was presented with an All-State nod for his achievement.

Winer wasn’t done just yet, as he went on to pick up fifth place in the triple jump after finishing with a distance of 41 feet, 3.75 inches. Winer was just shy of advancing to the finals of the 100-meter dash, as he placed one slot outside of the top eight, finishing ninth in the preliminaries.

Senior teammate Nathan Stewart gave the team a strong presence in distance events, shaving 22 seconds of his previous personal best in the 3,200-meter event, finishing the race with a time of 10 minutes, 50.89 seconds to earn eighth place. Stewart went on to place 10^th overall in the 1,600-meter race, finishing the race in 4 minutes, 48.74 seconds.

“One of his goals was to medal at state, so that was a pretty cool thing for him,” Oram said of Stewart. “Nathan is one of the most hard-working athletes on the team.”

The Pinedale boys also sent a 4x100 relay team to state, where a team consisting of junior Courtney Campbell, sophomore Teagan Pennock, junior Raven Que and Winer earned ninth place after completing the event in 45.67 seconds.

The head coach was pleased with the results from athletes who have been to state a few times before, along with those who had never previously been to the largest meet of the season.

The team graduates 11 seniors this year, including the two All-State honorees. Oram says it will hurt to lose so many seniors, but he’s excited to bring in new athletes as freshmen next season and to see veteran members from this year’s team strive for success next year.

“We’re losing some rock stars,” he said of graduating seniors. “I think our program is in a good position. We got a lot of young athletes and we’re in as good of a situation as we can be. We look to grow.”

The coach tipped his hat to the entire senior class, who took on leadership roles to provide a sound foundation for the program to excel. In particular, he said seniors Jacob Mitchell, Kyle Brewer and Sergio Saenz played big leadership roles in both practice and at meets all season.

Rule leaves behind school records in the 100-meter hurdles and triple jump, while Winer leaves behind records in the 4x100 relay, triple jump and 100-meter dash.

“These are some of the best athletes Pinedale has ever had,” Oram said. “Some of those records have been up there for 20 years.”

Rule will continue her track and field career at the University of Mary on a track scholarship.

“She will be missed a lot,” he noted. “She is an amazing track athlete.”

The coach acknowledged seniors Aimee Gray and Brewer for making it to the state meet, and thanked senior Rylie Egle for the hard work put in over four years with the program, even though she never had a chance to make it to state.

To prepare for next season, Oram says the team will participate in camps over the summer, along with off-season weight training. One area he would like to gain some additional athlete interest for the upcoming season is on the distance team.