◆ 4A West Races start at 11 am Friday October 14 at Star Valley View Golf Course.
The SVXC team traveled to Pocatello, Idaho on Thursday afternoon to compete in the Bob Conley Invite. Both Star Valley varsity teams ran in the Varsity A race. Sophomore Habtamu Wetzel finished second overall with a time of 16:08.70. Senior Stockton Stevens from Twin Falls win the race with a team of 15:40.00.
Sophomore Jase Burton also had a top- ten finish as he ran a 16:36.90 which was good for eighth place.
As a team the Braves placed third with a team score of 105. Skyline (ID) was second with a 101 with Idaho Falls placing first with a score of 54. In all, 16 teams ran in the Varsity A race.
The Lady Braves were led by senior Elsie Pieper who had a 21:16.80. Fellow senior Kaia Barkdull ran a 21:23.80 with sophomore Alexis Angell running a 21:50.50.
As a team they finished 10th out of 16 teams and a score of 272.
Preston won the race with a 66 followed by Thunder Ridge and Highland, both out of Pocatello.
“It was a good day for us,” said Head Coach Ty Draney. “It was a big meet. We saw some of top individuals from around the state. I think it went well.”
After taking a week off to prepare, the squad used that time wisely.
“We cleaned up some of the lessons we learned from Bob Firman the week before,” Draney added. “So we’re sharpening what we can to be set for championship season now.”
• 4A West Regionals at Star Valley View Golf Course
SVHS is the host school for the 4A West Regionals as Wyoming’s largest high schools from the western portion of the state will come to Afton to run at Star Valley View Golf Course on Friday.
Races begin at SVV at 11 am this Friday with the JV girls. The JV Boys, varsity girls and varsity boys will follow.
Other schools in attendance will include Jackson, Kelly Walsh, Laramie, Natrona County and Rock Springs.
“On the boys side we’ll be in the thick of it,” Draney continued. “Anytime you move up [to 4A] there’s a lot more parity. It will be fun. In years past we’ve had a rivalry with Laramie. I’m interested to see where we end up on the girls side. The teams are stronger on the other side of the state. We didn’t engage or race really well at Bob Conley and we’re confident that we’re going to fix that on our home course. Then we’ll see what we can do to take on the behemoths from the other side of the state next week.”
A lot of fast runners will be jostling for position the next two weekends. So even with fast runners, that is no guarantee of team success at the end of the race.
“It could be one of those years,” Draney concluded. “Central is the favorites as the returning champs, Sheridan won the year before them. Anytime you come to a state meet it’s going to be a huge scrum. Teams could win it or not even get on the podium. It’s going to be fun and it may come down to every individual battle as we will look to score the team points that we need.”
