BIG PINEY – In a display of endurance, the Pinedale High School outdoor track team competed at the Roy Peck Invitational in Riverton on Saturday, April 29, less than 24 hours after hosting the Mountain Man Track Meet in Pinedale on Friday.

Climbing back on the bus on Tuesday, May 2, the Lady Wranglers and Wrangler boys once again laced up their running, jumping and throwing shoes to battle a relentless headwind and cross-county rivals at the annual Puncher Invitational.

Pinedale fielded only a portion of both its boys’ and girls’ squads at Riverton. The girls’ team still managed to place eighth out of 13 teams at the meet, tallying 29 points. Only five boys competed in Riverton and did not place as a team.

“The small group that traveled to Riverton performed really well,” said Head Coach Kyle Sullivan. “With several personal bests, we saw this group rebound from the home meet competition nicely. Potentially the most beneficial part to this meet was the weather. While we will not complain about 65 degrees and sunshine, our team is really only used to 40 degrees and snow, so this nice weather can be a shock to their systems.”

Representing Pinedale in throwing events, junior Katyana Dexter reached new lengths in the girls’ discus. Snagging gold in the event, Dexter’s throw measured in at 141 feet, 10 inches.

Dexter’s discus toss set a new Pinedale High School record. She set the previous record during the 2022 season at 139 feet. Dexter beat Worland’s Manaia Peterson by more than 32 feet at Riverton.

At the Puncher Invitational on Tuesday, the girls’ 1600-meter sprint medley team, consisting of senior Stephanie Resendiz, sophomore Mae McGuire, senior Mandy Majhanovich and sophomore Madison Antonino, set a new PHS school record in the event.

Posting a time of 4 minutes, 29.79 seconds, the athletes beat the 2022 record set by Keatin Bollock, Evelynn Shivers, Matazi Landers and Lexie Goodrich at 5:12.01.

Riverton – additional highlights

Katyana Dexter picked up second place in the discus with a throw measured in at 40-00 ½.

In distance events, Antonino snapped up silver in the girls’ 800-meter run, hitting the finish line in 2 minutes, 28.69 seconds. Antonino placed eighth in the 400-meter run at 1:05.13.

Freshman Alicia Dexter earned seventh place in the girls’ long jump with a leap clearing 14-00 ½.

Puncher Invitational girls’ top eight

Katyana Dexter soundly won both the girls’ shot put, at 40-08, and the discus, at 127-09.

Majhanovich picked up gold in the long jump, clearing 14-11. She earned silver in the 200-meter dash, posting a time of 28.91 seconds. Majhanovich also secured fifth place in the 100-meter dash at 14.50 seconds.

Junior Seren Noble won the girls’ 100-meter hurdles, clocking in at 19.07 seconds.

In the girls’ 1600-meter run, freshman Ellie Tolson bagged first place with a time of 6:36.45. Tolson also captured sixth in the long jump at 13-00.

McGuire won the 300-meter hurdles, crossing the finish line in 55.90 seconds. McGuire also picked up third place in the 100-meter hurdles at 19.86 seconds.

The all-freshman team of Claire Thonhoff, Ellie Tolson, Candice Goodrich and Alicia Dexter captured gold in the 4x100-meter relay at 55.50 seconds, beating Big Piney by nearly 3 seconds.

Other sprinting highlights consisted of a second-place finish for Resendiz in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.93 seconds. Resendiz went on to place third in the 200-meters at 29.22 seconds.

Landers secured second place in the 400-meter run, posting a time of 1:10.53.

In the pole vault, sophomore Isabelle Rigo came in second place, reaching 6-09.

Junior Lauren Jones snagged second place in the 100-meter hurdles at 19.43 seconds. She finished the 300-meters in second place as well, timing in at 57.64 seconds. Jones also placed eighth in the 100-meters with a time of 14.96 seconds.

Alicia Dexter finished second in the long jump, clearing 14-08. She garnered fourth place in the 100-meters with a time of 14.33 seconds and placed eighth in the 200-meters at 32.09 seconds.

Freshman McKinzie Mortensen took second place in the 800-meter run, posting a time of 2:55.47. She snapped up fourth place in the 100-meter hurdles at 20.90 seconds.

Junior Shelby Pearson achieved fourth place in the 800-meters, clocking in at 3:13.49.

Fellow junior Trista Covill earned sixth place in the 200-meters, timing in at 31.02 seconds. She finished seventh in the long jump at 12-10 ½.

Sophomore Evelynn Shivers placed seventh in the event with a time of 31.94 seconds.

Freshman Candice Goodrich snagged sixth place in the 100-meter hurdles, clocking in at 21.23 seconds.

In throwing events, senior Morgan Grossman secured fifth place in the shot put with a throw of 27-06 ½. She went on to place eighth in the discus at 66-08.

Sophomore Karsyn Henn achieved sixth place in the shot put, clearing 27-04 ¼.

Freshman Haven Whitley placed seventh in the discus, at 73-05 ½, and eighth in the shot put, at 23-09.

Puncher Invitational boys’ top eight

Senior Luke Gray captured gold in two jumping events. He won the high jump with a leap measured in at 5-02. In the pole vault, Gray secured first place, reaching 9 feet. He topped the day off with a third-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles at 50.91 seconds.

Senior Ethan Jensen won the 200-meter dash, posting a time of 25.14 seconds. He placed third in both the 100-meter dash, with a time of 13.00 seconds, and the high jump, at 5 feet.

Fellow senior Sawyer Siefkes earned first place in the triple jump, clearing 39-01. He also placed second in the 400-meters, at 1:00.48, and third in the long jump, at 16-10 ½.

Clocking in at 59.38 seconds, junior Bodie Jensen won the 400-meter dash. He snagged second place in the pole vault, reaching a height of 8-06. In the 100-meters, Bodie Jensen placed fifth at 13.31 seconds.

Junior Doug Dexter edged out the competition in the discus, winning with a throw measured in at 99-06. He also placed fifth in shot put at 34-08.

Junior Ian Obod, Ethan Jensen, Bodie Jensen and senior Noah Sletten garnered gold in the 4x100-meter relay, posting a time of 51.20 seconds.

In the high jump, senior Dillon Boespflug earned second place, clearing 5 feet. Boespflug placed fourth in the 300-meter hurdles at 56.58 seconds. He rounded the afternoon off with a fourth-place finish in the 100-meters at 13.13 seconds.

Senior Liam O’Connor finished the 1600-meter run in second place, timing in at 5:36.32.

Freshman Sergio Duarte Villa picked up second place in the long jump at 17-01.

The 1600-meter sprint medley relay team – senior Cade Covill, Sletten, Siefkes and sophomore Joey Bain – placed second with a time of 4:11.57.

Covill accomplished third place in the shot put with a throw of 35-03 ¾. He finished sixth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.40 seconds. In the 200-meters, Covill placed seventh at 27.54 seconds.

Bain picked up third place in the 200-meters at 25.89 seconds. He snagged seventh place in the shot put at 31-10.

Junior Andy DeClue snapped up third place in the discus at 89-11 ½. He also earned fifth place in the 200-meters with a time of 27.32 seconds.

In the 400-meter dash, freshman Brayson Boyer took third place at 1:01.92.

Obod secured fourth place in both the long jump, at 16-04 ½, and the 200-meter dash, at 26.30 seconds.

Junior Michael Casebolt took fourth place in the 1600-meter run with a time of 6:15.72.

Junior Dalton Fryman captured sixth place in the 200-meters, posting a time of 27.54 seconds. He placed eighth in the 100-meters at 13.63 seconds.