Lovell boys, girls third at Worland track meet

By David Peck
After a split squad competed at Cody and Greybull on March 26, the Lovell High School track and field squad came together for the Warrior Twilight Invitational in Worland last Thursday, March 31.
Both the Lovell boys squad and the Lovell girls placed third in the nine-team field. The Lovell boys tallied 115.5 points and finished just three points behind second-place Cody. Powell won the meet with 207 points. The Lovell girls scored 88 points and finished behind Cody with 204 points and Powell with 121.
Compared to the weekend before, some Lovell athletes improved their times, heights and distances, while others fell back a bit.
“In the second meet of the year you’re going to have that,” coach Joe Koritnik said. “Some kids progress and move forward, others stay the same or drop back. It depends on their training, and injuries play a role. Some kids are battling muscle strains, which limit the amount of training they can do at this point.”
One athlete who took a large leap forward was junior Miranda Griffis, who improved by 27 feet in the discus from Cody to Worland and placed third with a throw of 106-11, breaking her school record of 103-10 set last season. She is now just six inches from pre-qualifying for State.
Junior Schuylar Davis improved from the Cody meet by nearly 14 feet, throwing the discus 97-10 to place fifth in Worland.
Griffis also set a personal record in the shot put, placing seventh with a throw of 30-9½. Davis finished 11th at 28-8½, also a PR.
“Miranda is our athlete of the week,” Koritnik said. “Not only did she re-set the school record in the discus, she went over 30 feet in the shot and that shows a lot of progress. Coach Lindsay has indicated that she’s ready to pop one. We’re getting to the kind of numbers where we’ll be a viable scorer (in the throws) at any meet we’re at. Schuylar, too, is continuing to show similar improvement. It’s a great day when you PR in both events.”
In the jumps, Jodi Walker won the triple jump with a leap of 32-11, improving by a foot from the Worland meet and pre-qualifying for State. Alyssa Geiser was third at 31-7.
“It takes a while for jumpers to come around and get back in the groove,” Koritnik said. “It’s the same with Karen (Koritnik). Jodi showed improvement and that’s encouraging.”
Freshman Kim Shumway won the long jump at 16-3½, followed by Karen Koritnik at 15-7. Susie Shumway placed third in the high jump at 4-7, battling the wind.
The Lady Bulldogs found success in running events at Worland. The 1,600-meter relay team of Geiser, Koritnik and Susie and Kim Shumway captured first place with a time of 4:21.18 and is looking good, Coach Koritnik said.
“They improved their time and are a real solid group, especially if we get Amanda (Shumway) back,” he said. “The team could have a special time. We want to make sure we have the best 4-by-4 team that we can put out there.”
The quartet of Chelsey Ellis, Kim Shumway, Walker and Geiser placed second in the 400-meter relay, covering the lap in 53.13.
“That’s not a bad time,” Koritnik said. “I was pleased with that.”
In individual races, Susie Shumway won the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:02.23, and Kim Shumway placed second in the 1,600 at 5:45.75.
“That was a solid effort for Susie,” Koritnik said. “She looked good. With a few more quarters she’ll be around the 60-second mark.”
The coach also said Kim Shumway will learn to run a better tactical race as she gains experience, noting that she wanted to stay ahead of her middle school nemesis, Anne Brinegar, and set the pace, whereas as a better sprinter, it would have been better for Shumway to let the Cody runner “do the work” out front and then pass her down the stretch.

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