Ostenson hurdles into state meet

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogies and Lady Dogies got a practice run at the upcoming regional meet Friday as they traveled to Torrington to compete against a mixed-class arena in their last regular season meet of the year. In the process, they got a feel for the venue in which they will be vying for state berths at the regional meet next weekend.
Mother Nature tried to throw a monkey wrench into the day’s events by ramping up the wind and tossing about some lightning early in the day causing a delay in the meet right after the opening couple of relays.
“It wasn’t the best day for us,” head coach Chad Ostenson said. “We were just getting ready to do the open 100 and the 100 hurdles when we had a lightning delay for half an hour. Then we had to get everyone back and warmed up, so that wasn’t great.”
Jaylen Ostenson got a jump on regionals as she punched her first ticket to the state meet by decimating her 3A competition, and finishing third overall in the 300 Meter Hurdle with a personal best time of 49.37 seconds. 
“Jay didn’t have her best race in the 100 earlier in the day, but she came back and had a heck of a run in the 300,” Ostenson said. “The two 4A girls that beat her are pretty solid. I’m looking for her to do pretty well at regionals, though Buffalo does have a pretty solid 300 hurdler who will give her a run for her money.”
Ostenson “struggled” a little in the 100 Meter Hurdle race where she finished fourth behind two 3A opponents in a time slightly slower than her best so far, however she was able to let go of a great one in the discus throw, tossing it 90 feet, 7 inches.
“There were a few of the 3A 100 competition there, but we were missing a couple of Buffalo girls and one from Rawlins,” Ostenson stated. “It’s going to be a serious battle for the top eight at regionals next weekend. It will depend on who has a day.”
Shelby Tidyman performed very well in her events, despite adverse environmental conditions which plagued the day. She tied Khayla Otero of Wheatland for fifth place in the 100 Meter Dash with a time of 13.65. Otero has gotten the better of Tidyman in this event so far this season, so the tie was a great showing. 
Otero did finish .45 seconds ahead of Tidyman in the 200 Meter, however Shelby finished .04 seconds faster than her previous best time, crossing the finish line under the 3A qualifying mark. 
“Shelby really did all right,” Ostenson smiled. “She was right up there in the 100 and kept pretty close in the 200.”
Tiernan Stanton finished fifth in the shot put with a toss of 33 feet, 2 inches, and tried the triple jump for the first time leaping 30 feet, 10 inches, which earned her a 13th place overall finish but was fifth in 3A competition.
Distance runners had their work cut out for them with the wind that was howling on Friday, but Tara Carter was able to wrangle a sixth-place finish in the two-mile run.
“Tiernan tried the triple jump and was just out of the top jumpers and had one really good jump,” Ostenson nodded. “Tara had a challenge in her mile and two-mile races. It had cooled down pretty good by the time her events were up, so she did a good job fighting through that.”
The Dogies’ first contest was the 1600 Sprint Medley Relay, and the team of Holden McConkey, Grayson Ramsey, Dylan Drost and Zach Purviance took fourth place
in 3:49.99. This is the second time this season a qualifying mark has been set by a Dogie medley team, but unfortunately Ramsey suffered a tweak to his quadricep in the race which resulted in Ostenson having to scratch the remaining relays (which he was a part) as well as his 300 Meter Hurdle race.
“Grayson did something to his quad during his leg of the relay, so we decided not to push it for the rest of the day,” Ostenson explained. “I’m not sure how bad it is, but hopefully he’ll be back and ready to go for regionals, because he is a pretty big part of our relays.”
Purviance, in his one individual event, tied for ninth place in the 400 Meter Race with a time of 54.74. Though his placing was one out of a scoring position, he was the second 3A runner across the finish line. 
Drost finished sixth in the 300 Meter Hurdle in 44.12 seconds. Three of those who finished before him were 4A runners, therefore only a Douglas and Torrington athlete got the better of him in the 3A ranks. 
Gunner Ramsey and McConkey broke the top eight in the 200 Meter Race finishing fourth and eighth, respectively. Ramsey also came in fourth in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 10 inches. 
“Zach had a good day in the events he got to compete in,” Ostenson began. “Gunner looked great in the 200. He looked strong, and just looking at times, he should be in the top eight at state.”
Though perhaps not landing themselves in the top eight, a plethora of Dogies set personal best marks throughout the day which bodes well for the upcoming regional meet.
“The boys had a really great day throwing,” Ostenson began. “Pretty much all of them had PRs, so that was a positive from the day.”
The 3A East Regional Track and Field Meet begins at 9:30 a.m. Friday and 9 a.m. on Saturday in Torrington with both field and running events. The format is new this year with 1A, 2A and 3A all competing at the same venue, making it more like a state meet environment with limited down time.
“Depending on little nagging injuries, I think it’ll be a good weekend,” Ostenson said. “It was also nice that we got the lay of the land last weekend.”