LHS competes at regionals, soccer teams headed to state

May 13—LARAMIE — The spring postseason has started for two Laramie High girls and boys sports.

The track and field teams competed in the Class 4A East Conference Regional Track and Field Meet Friday and Saturday at Thunder Basin Stadium in Gillette.

The Plainsmen and Lady Plainsmen soccer teams punched their tickets to the upcoming state tournaments after playing from Thursday through Saturday at the 4A East Regional Soccer Tournaments at Sheridan and Big Horn high schools.

Much like all season, Mother Nature had other plans for the Lady Plainsmen softball team's schedule. But LHS was able to fit in three games on Saturday after the home contests were postponed on Friday and later played in Cheyenne.

TRACK AND FIELD

The regional meet decided the seeding and lineups for the upcoming state meet with the top eight finishers in individual events and top four relays.

The Plainsmen qualified nine individuals and two relay teams.

The individual qualifiers are: Flynn Arnold in the 400 meters (second, 51.48 prelim; third, 50.92, final); Cooper Kaligis in the 800 (second, 2:02.46; Meyer Smith in the 800 (seventh, 2:05.98); Dominic Eberle in the 1,600 (fifth, 4:36.36); Gideon Moore in the 3,200 (third, 10:25.56); Max Alexander in the 110 hurdles (fifth, 15.73, prelim; fifth, 15.78, final) and high jump (third, 6-0); John Rose in the high jump (fourth, 5-10); Adrien Calderon in the pole vault (second, 14-0); and Fisher Frude in the pole vault (sixth, 12-6).

For the relays were; the 4x800 relay team of Eberle, Kaligis, Smith and Nathan Martin (third, 8:26.12); and 1,600 sprint medley team of Rose, Jackson Reed, Arnold and Eberle (second, 3:44.67).

The Plainsmen finished fifth as a team with 71 points. Natrona County won with 172, followed by Cheyenne Central for second at 168.33 and Sheridan with third at 88.

The Lady Plainsmen qualified six individuals and a relay team.

The individuals qualifiers are: Addison Forry in the 400 (fifth, 1:02.27, prelim; fifth, 1:02.50, final); Libbie Roesler in the 1,600 (seventh, 5:36.61) and 3,200 (sixth, 12:15.93); Amanda Nilsson in the long jump (fifth, 15-10) and triple jump (fifth, 33-2); Jaidan Catterson in the long jump (sixth, 15-5 3/4 ); Kamrie Bingham in the triple jump (seventh, 32-1 1/4 ); and Maddy Stucky in the discus (sixth, 103-4).

The qualifying relay was the 1,600 sprint medley of Kodi Johnson, Kierra Gardner, Leah Schabron and MacKenna Schabron (third, 4:43.89)

Lady Plainsmen were sixth with 38 points. Natrona won with 165, followed by Central at 134 for second and Sheridan for third at 128.

The 4A state meet will be from Thursday through Saturday at Harry Geldien Stadium in Casper.

SOCCER

The Lady Plainsmen and Plainsmen soccer teams each won their quarterfinal games on Thursday to begin the 4A East Regional Soccer Tournaments.

Those wins also extended their seasons for two more days at regionals and also at the upcoming state tournaments.

The Lady Plainsmen (11-3-1 overall) entered the regional tourney as the No. 2 seed in the conference. The LHS girls then beat Cheyenne South 4-0 in the quarterfinals, lost to No. 3 Cheyenne East 1-0 in Friday's semifinal and beat No. 5 Sheridan 3-2 in overtime in Saturday's third-place game. The final win secured the third seed from the East for state.

The Plainsmen (6-7-2) entered the postseason as the No. 4 seed in the conference. The LHS boys then beat East 2-1 in the quarterfinal, before losing to No. 1 Cheyenne Central 2-1 in the semifinal and 2-1 to No. 3 Sheridan in the third-place contest for a No. 4 seed from the East for state.

Additional information for the regional games was not provided by the coaches to WyoSports at the Laramie Boomerang in time for this publication.

The 4A State Soccer Championships for boys and girls will be from Thursday through Saturday in Rock Springs.

SOFTBALL

What was supposed to be two days of home doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday for Lady Plainsmen softball was once again derailed with schedule changes.

Unlike snow and winter conditions earlier in the season, this time it was because of a couple of days of steady rainfall in Laramie resulting in poor field conditions at Sandy Aragon Softball Complex.

But as the season winds down, the LHS girls were able to reschedule three games for Saturday played in Cheyenne.

LHS (4-7 East, 6-13 overall) took on Campbell County and Thunder Basin for conference games and an additional nonconference game against Campbell County.

The highlight of the day was an 8-7 walk-off win to end the game against Thunder Basin by virtue of a sacrifice fly to center field by Izabella Pacheco to score Emilee Sirdoreus, who knocked a triple to left field to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning.

Pacheco also earned the win from the circle after pitching all seven innings. She gave up eight hits, seven runs (four earned) with two walks and four strikeouts.

It was the second game sandwiched between two contests against Campbell County.

The Plainsmen lost the first against the Camels 9-5 for a conference game despite a solid performance at the plate from Paysen Witte. She was 2-for-4 with both of those for doubles and notched three RBIs. Haley Loya also had a pair of singles.

Laramie's rally in the final game, a 10-8 nonconference loss to Campbell County, came up short. Down 10-0 in the middle of the third, LHS scored two runs in the bottom of that frame and six more in the fourth before the game ended.

Emily Loya connected for a home run, Haley Loya had two doubles; and Carson Milam, Macy McKinney and Sirdoreus had a double each.

The Lady Plainsmen are next scheduled host Wheatland for a make-up doubleheader at 4/6 p.m. on Tuesday.