There’s something to be said about track athletes and their fans. To be successful at track, an athlete needs to have patience, commitment and resilience – patience in earning a win, commitment to put in the time, and the resilience to bounce back from adversity and tragedy. Like the athlete, the fan of track and field also requires those same traits – the patience to sit in the stands for hours on end, the commitment to support a runner through wind and snow, and the resilience to watch a favorite son or daughter stumble and fall time and time again. Track athletes and their fans are a special kind of tough.

The Thunderbirds hosted the Okie Blanchard Invite, one of the biggest meets of the year, in early April. The EHS girls set the tone early by keeping the girls’ championship in the Thunderbird trophy case.

In the 100 meter dash Sierra Dennis took eighth, while Lindsey Grantz placed tenth. In the 200 meter dash, Carolina Withers took eighth, while Savannah Merritt took tenth. Tess Torres placed fourth in the 400 meter dash. Abbie Fredrick won the 800 meter run, and Tess Torres placed eighth.

In the 1600 meter run Abbie Fredrick placed second, while Samantha Jurkowski got tenth. Lindsey Grantz and Sydne Weber placed fourth and fifth in the 100 meter hurdles. In the 300 meter hurdles, Sydne Weber placed fourth. In the high jump, junior Marina Howard won, while Lindsey Grantz placed third, Lily Joslin placed fifth, and Emily Lamm placed eighth. The 4×100 and the 4×400 relays both took third.

Junior Lily Joslin won the pole vault, while Megan Pope placed third, Emily Woods placed fourth, and Alyssa McKee placed fifth. In the long jump Lindsey Grantz brought back fifth place, and Emily Woods placed eighth. Sierra Dennis placed third in the triple jump.

Juniors Cosette Stellern, Sierra Stellern and Jadyn Kanzler finished one, two, three in the shot put. Cosette Stellern won the discus, while Sierra Stellern placed fourth, and Jadyn Kanzler placed seventh.

Not to be outdone by the girls team, the boys fought their way to a second place finish behind Rock Springs.

Justus Whitmire placed third in the 100 meter dash, Kyler Freeman placed fourth, Cole Jensen took fifth, and Pete Mead took eighth. In the 200 meter dash, Justus Whitmire and Cole Jensen took second and third respectively. In the 800 meter run Colton Best placed sixth. Kyler Freeman took fourth place in the 110 meter hurdles. The 4×400 relay teams placed third and eighth.

In the high jump, Drazen Moratzka took fourth and Pete Mead took seventh. Nick Hartigan and Terrance Tatigue took second and third in the pole vault, while Colton Bell placed sixth. In the long jump, Pete Mead placed third while Uriah Garcia, Dakota Merritt, and Ty Bower placed sixth, eighth, and ninth respectively. In the triple jump, Noah Patterson placed ninth, while Ty Bower placed tenth.

Quinn Happold placed fourth in the shot put, and Darttanan Vukota and Austin Jacobsen placed sixth and seventh respectively in the discus.

The track team is currently preparing for Regionals, in Sheridan, on May 13-14. The State Meet is planned for Casper on May 19-21.