Dogies step up in Wheatland

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
In only their second meet of the season, the Dogies’ 1600 Sprint Medley Relay Team
qualified for the 3A State Track meet last Thursday in Wheatland. Gunner and Grayson Ramsey, Tristan Troftgruben and Zach Purviance put together a great run to take second in just 3:50.30.
“We had a pretty good weekend and it was great that the medley relay qualified for state,” head coach Chad Ostenson smiled. “We can mess around with the lineup a little bit, too, to see what we can put together going forward.” 
The Lady Dogie team is small but mighty, and all seven members improved in their performances over their first outing last week. 
Shelby Tidyman outran 46 competitors to take second in the 100 Meter Dash in 13.56. She and a runner from Laramie crossed the finish line with only hundreths of a second separating first from second. Tidyman ended up a little short on the lean, therefore took second place.
“Shelby had a great day,” Ostenson began. “She held her own against some pretty big schools, and she just leaned a little bit early at the tape of the 100 and the Laramie girl beat her just by a hair.”
Tidyman also pulled out a good leap in the long jump, flying 14 feet, 8 inches which was enough to garner an eighth-place finish.
“We only hit the board two or three times, so if she can get a couple more of those things I think 16 feet could be within her wheelhouse if she hits the right one,” Ostenson said. “I thought she did a pretty good job considering she hasn’t been able to get outside much, and if we can get some work in the pit and work on her speed and height, she will get the distance.”
Jaylen Ostenson finished fourth in the 100 Meter Hurdle shaving off over a second from her first weekend, finishing in 17.45.
“We haven’t been able to get outside much to get a lot of time on the track, but Jaylen was able to get a little better feel for it in Wheatland,” Ostenson explained. “She was running out of speed with a three-step approach so she switched to a four-step two hurdles earlier in order to maintain her speed.”
Ostenson also had a nice run in the 300 Meter Hurdle with a second-place finish, also faster than her initial time posted in Newcastle. 
“She didn’t cut a ton of time off, but I think if we can get her more time in practice that will improve as well,” Ostenson stated. “With a little more conditioning, she is tough enough to gut it out.”
Ostenson also entered Jaylen in the 200 Meter Open to get a baseline of where she was in that race, and she finished eighth in 29.89.
Tiernan Stanton launched the shotput two feet further than her premier throw last week, taking second place with a toss of 34-03. 
“Tiernan is also getting better, and she probably still had a foot left in the ring,” Ostenson nodded. “She is so much stronger than she looks and she will also benefit from more time outside.”
Sierra Blaney added 14 feet to her best throw in the discus at the first meet of the year, and her 93-foot hurl was enough to earn her a finish in second place behind Allyson Fertig of Douglas.
“Coming from Florida, Sierra is still trying to adjust to our weather up here,” Ostenson chuckled. “But she spun the disc off her hand really well and she’s starting to feel more comfortable. I was happy to see her get a little confidence and she did a really nice job.”
 Dylan Drost was on point on the day for the Dogies. He was his team’s top runner in the 100 Meter Dash, finishing ninth in 12.18, and cut nearly three seconds in the grueling 300 Meter Hurdle to take second with a time of 48.14.
“This was only Dylan’s second time in his life running the hurdles at a meet and he’s only been over them once in practice,” Ostenson said. “He is pretty strong overall, and for never running them, he does a good job getting over them — but his strength is between the hurdles.”
Tristan Troftgruben finished third in the 800 Meter Open in 2:09.59 and ran the 400 leg in the Sprint Medley Relay as well as manned the third leg of the 4X400 Meter Relay who crossed the finish line in third with a time of 3:54.07. The Ramsey brothers ran the first two legs of the 4x4 and Purviance anchored the race.
In the high jump, it came down to a jump-off between Gunner Ramsey and Kade Pruitt of Wheatland who tied for first with a leap of 5 feet, 10 inches. Pruitt got the better of Ramsey in Newcastle a week ago, and ultimately did it again at his home pit.
“They started at six feet and neither of them were able to get over it,” Ostenson explained. “Then Pruitt cleared 5 feet, 11 inches and Gunner didn’t quite make it. I’m looking for some really good things from him this year.”
The Jenkins brothers each qualified for the finals in the discus and ended up finishing eighth and ninth, with Skylar throwing 98-10 and Braden right behind him with a 95-10 toss. 
“I really appreciate Skylar’s leadership,” Ostenson added. “He’s been with us for four years, and it’s great to have him be able to help get the guys going, and it was great to have him experience some success.”
The Dogies will head to Douglas on Friday to a pre-conference meet where they will be able to get a look at the rest of the 3A East Conference to see where they stand at this point.
“Pretty much everyone showed improvement on Friday, and we
are looking to do the same in Douglas,” Ostenson declared. “That’s what we want to be doing right now so I’m pleased with the direction we are going.”