CHEYENNE – The Southeast Cyclones boys track team racked up 22 points to take eighth, while the Lady Cyclones amassed nine to finish ninth at the Okie Blanchard Invitational in Cheyenne on Saturday.
“We put all of our kids in the varsity division,” boys’ coach Mark Bullington said. “I thought we competed very well against the bigger schools.”
Chase Lovercheck tallied up 16 points on his own. He took the top spot in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:03.30. In the 400-meter dash, Lovercheck clocked a time of 51.62 seconds to finish third.
“Chase had a really good day taking first in the half and third in the quarter,” Bullington said. “He ran his fastest time in the quarter ever and he did it from lane eight, which is really hard to do.”
Wyatt Lackman joined Lovercheck in both the 400 and 800. Lackman finished 20th in the 400 (1:04.57) and 23rd in the half-mile (2:41.93). Andrew Cox clocked a time of 2:55.21 in the 800 to finish 25th.
Patrick Swank competed in the two longest races, taking 15th in the mile with a time of 5:36.67 and eighth in the two-mile run with a time of 12:16.53.
Jacob Cushman paced the Cyclones in the 100-meter dash, taking 10th with a time of 12.27 seconds. Porter Ross and Connor Humphrey finished back-to-back in the 100, taking 14th (12.41 seconds) and 15th (12.43 seconds). Brady Fullmer was the final Southeast boy to run in the shortest sprint, finishing 24th with a time of 12.88 seconds.
Ross, who took 18th (25.18 seconds), and Fullmer, who finished 20th with a time of 25.22 seconds, were the top two finishers in the 200-meter dash. Cushman ran a 25.36 and Humphrey crossed the line in 25.64 seconds to take 22nd and 23rd.
“Our sprinters are going to have to get after it if they want to qualify for state,” Bullington said.
The 1600-meter relay team for the Southeast boys took sixth with a time of 3:58.10. In the 400-meter relay, the Cyclones finished in 46.41 seconds to take seventh.
Quinton Steinbock was the only Cyclone to compete in the high jump, where he tied for 10th after clearing 5 feet, 6 inches. In other field events, Ross took 10th in the long jump, clearing 18 feet, 4.25 inches, and Chance Werner finished 11th in the triple jump with 38 foot, 3.75 inch effort.
Southeast’s 22 points was just ahead of Encampment, who finished ninth with 19 points. Rock Springs captured the team title with 115 points, just ahead of Cheyenne Central (109 points).
On the girls’ side, Emily Buchanan was the only Lady Cyclone to compete in the 200-meter dash, taking 15th with a time of 30.49 seconds. She also competed in the 400-meter dash, posting a time of 1:10.29 to finish seventh. Jaiden Hopkins placed eighth in the same event with a time of 1:11.79. Hopkins ran in the 3200-meter run in 14:37.26 to finish third.
Kelci Lovercheck ran in the 800 and 1600-meter runs. In the half mile, she took 10th with a time of 3:05.15. Lovercheck posted a time of 7:04.98 in the mile to finish 16th.
In the field events, Buchanan put up a 28 foot, 4 inch effort in the triple jump, earning her 17th place. Morgan Ekwall was the only thrower to represent Southeast in Cheyenne. She finished 19th in the discus with a throw of 81 feet, 6 inches. In the shot put, Ekwall placed 22nd with a launch of 28 feet, 11 inches.
The Lady Cyclones were only one point out of eighth place, but that spot went to Encampment. Cheyenne East took home the team title for the girls, tallying up 138 points.
The Southeast girls and boys track teams are heading to Burns for their next competitive action on Thursday.
“We will see a lot of our conference there,” Bullington said. “We go by the tapes and the times and we just try to get better every week.”
