Just one weekend remains in the Spring sport season as both Soccer and Track & Field will compete in their culminating events next weekend in Cheyenne and Casper respectively.
• Regional Track
Competing at Riverton High School, the Star Valley girls placed second out of eight teams in the 4A West Regional meet with the boys placing fifth.
The Lady Braves were led by the one-two punch of Sara McKen and Valerie Jirak who placed first and second in both the 100 and 200 Meter events, as well as senior Jacie Angell who won the 1600 Meter event and placed second in the 800 Meter.
The quartet of Jirak, McKen, Sadie Hulse and Kammi Merritt combined to place second in the 4 x 100 Meter Relay. The Lady Braves also picked up eight points in the 1600 Sprint Medley with Katie Dandridge, Merritt, McKen and Angell combining to finish second.
Finally, Emily Gertsch claimed first place in the Discus.
Overall the Lady Braves scored 116.0 team points, trailing Natrona County’s 174.5 and edging Cody’s 113.0.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL RESULTS FROM THE 4A WEST REGIONALS.
The Braves were led by Peter Visser who won the 800 Meter and combined with Lane Oesch, John Hunting and Gabe Clinger to win the 4 x 400 Meter Relay. Clinger also placed second in the High Jump and the Triple Jump.
Jesus Carrillo-Zarate won the Pole Vault championship.
Natrona County claimed the boys team title as well with 194.0 team points. Evanston was second with 128.0 and Rock Springs was third with 90.0. Green River finished just in front of Star Valley with 63.5 to the Braves’ 62.0.
The Wyoming State High School Track & Field Championships will take place at Kelly Walsh High School from May 20-22.
• Regional Soccer
The Star Valley teams were in Evanston for the 4A West Regionals where both programs faced an elimination match to start the tournament.
The Lady Braves went up against Natrona County in the first match of the day as the two teams battled to a scoreless halftime. The Fillies found the back of the net twice in the second half to knock off Star Valley 2-0 and end their season.
Rock Springs went on to defeat Kelly Walsh 5-1 in the championship and Jackson defeated Natrona 5-2 for third place.
In the boy’s bracket, Evanston earned their first trip to State in their 25-year history with a 2-1 overtime win over Rock Springs.
The Braves followed up that match by falling behind Natrona County early 1-0, and then rattling off four unanswered goals for a 4-1 upset victory. Kayson Haderlie and Brant Nelson each scored once and Wyatt Dunn scored twice in the win.
Star Valley then battled Jackson in the semifinals in a rematch of last ewe’s match where Star Valley goal-keeper, Ethan Nelson, was injured in a collision. The Broncs won the match 5-2 as Dunn scored two more goals.
Finally, Star Valley clashed with Evanston for third place, leading 1-0 before accidentally knocking in an own-goal just before the half. The Red Devils kept up the momentum as they scored again just out of the half and once more to lead 3-1. Then Kaleb Fila scored to cut the lead to 3-2 and then Brant Nelson found the tying goal less than three minutes in regulation to force overtime.
In the shootout, all five Star Valley players scored as the Braves took the final 5-3 and an official score of 4-3 to claim the #3 seed next week.
In the championship, Kelly Walsh went on to defeat Jackson 2-1.
The Braves will now face Thunder Basin on May 20 at 9 a.m. at Cheyenne East High School.
CLICK HERE FOR THE STATE SOCCER PAGE.
