GILLETTE – The 2023 Wyoming Indoor Track and Field Championships featured a new format.
It was the first time teams were split into divisions of 3A and 4A. The end result was the Torrington High School boys’ team finished runner-up in the Class 3A division, while the Lady Blazers finished fourth.
The Blazers won a total of three individual state titles.
Brendan Flock won two, while Ty Bennick won the other.
Flock won the 55-meter dash in 6.61 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 22.59 seconds. Flock was also third in the 400-meter dash in 51.64 seconds.
Bennick won shot put with a toss of 52 feet, 5 inches, besting the field by more than five feet. Oliver Boyd also medaled in the event with a sixth-place finish with a throw of 43-11.25.
Torrington also had several runner-up finishes.
Slade Hopkins finished second in the 400-meter dash in 51.47 seconds while Aydan Loya was second in the 800-meter run in 2 minutes, 1.46 seconds. Loya was also sixth in the 1,600-meter run in 4 minutes, 39.15 seconds.
In relay action, three of the four teams placed in the top seven.
The 4x400 team of Flock, Dylan Packard, Hopkins and Loya finished third in 3:38.47, while the 4x800 team of Loya, Zeb Munoz, Myles Wilson and Sully Wilson was fourth in 8:47.95.
The sprint medley relay team of of Hopkins, Benjamin Fuller, Myles Wilson and Wyatt Campbell finished seventh in 3:56.50.
In field events, Bryant DeMott finished fourth in high jump, clearing 5-10, while Dawson Mullock placed fifth at 5-8. DeMott also medaled in long jump with a seventh-place finish at 18-8.75, while Mullock finished 10th triple jump.
As a team, the Blazers scored 88 points. Cody won the team title with 113 points, while Evanston was third.
In the girls’ division, Harper Boche and Brooklyn Asmus led the Lady Blazers.
Boche won the team’s lone individual state title in shot put. Her toss of 39 feet set a new 3A state record and won the event by more than a foot over second place.
Meanwhile, Asmus medaled in three events. She finished second in the 200-meter dash in 26.54 seconds, while finishing fourth in the 55-meter dash in 7.61 seconds. She also finished sixth in the 400-meter dash in 1 minute, 2.01 seconds.
The Lady Blazers also had a pair of relay teams medal, including the 4x200 team of Natalie Hawes, Julie LeNezet, Tylar Stoddard and Alyssa Wondercheck. They finished fourth in 1:53.72. The sprint medal team of Hawes, Stoddard, Trishell Pontarolo and Tiffany Krueger placed sixth in 4:44.02.
In other field events, Angie Logsdon came home seventh in both pole vault and triple jump. Logsdon cleared 8 feet, 6 inches in pole vault and had a leap of 31-10 in the triple jump. Also in the triple jump, Stoddard finished fourth at 32-6, while Pontarolo was fifth at 22-1.25.
Wondercheck finished second in long jump with a leap of 17-1.25, eight inches shy of the state winning mark.
As a team, the Lady Blazers scored 56 points. Cody won the state title with 118 points, while Star Valley was second with 94. Rawlins was third with 71.
Torrington opens the outdoor track season on Friday, March 24 at the Binfield Invite in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.
