Set 52 personal records, broke seven school records and tied two others

It was a banner day last Thursday, as Powell Middle School track and field wound up its stellar season in as grand a fashion as can be imagined.

Competing among 32 schools at the Best of the Best meet in Lander, the young Cubs saw 52 personal records posted, seven school records fall and two more school records tied.

The first of those new records set came from the seventh-grade girls when Bryten Checketts finished third in the 200-meter hurdles with a time of 32.32 seconds, besting the 2011 mark of 33.17 by Danna Hanks.

Soon after, Jala Satterwhite, Bryten Checketts, Mattie Larson and Emma Karhu took second in the 4x200 relay, timing in at 1:59.15, toppling the year-old school record of 2:01.6 by Heather Wittick, Sidney O’Brien, Sabrina Shoopman and Kady Wells.

Emma Karhu then tied her own record in the pole vault, set earlier this season, by clearing 7 feet, 6 inches and getting second place.

For the eighth-grade girls, Natalie Dillivan, Shoopman, Gabi Metzler and Wells toppled a record in the 4x200 relay that had stood for 34 years and completed an undefeated season in the event.

Their time of 1:54.66 knocked a little more than 2 seconds off the 1:56.80 set back in 1982 by Gina Gallagher, Angie Crumrine, Kelly Heny and Tracy Nemitz.

Moving to the seventh-grade boys, Kadden Abraham had a hand (or feet) in setting two new school records and tying another.

He tied his own mark in the 100 hurdles at 15.84 and won the event, then took one-half second off the school record in the 200 hurdles with a time of 28.57 for another first-place finish.

The previous record of 29.07 was set in 2003 by Kalei Smith.

Abraham then teamed up with Riley Bennett, Canyon Gonzales and Landon Lengfelder to take second and break the 4x100 relay mark that had stood since 1998.

Their time of 52.00 just nicked the old mark of 52.01 set by Acevado, Elwood, Sims and Diaz. (First names were unavailable as of press time.)

Two more school records were toppled by eighth-grader Brody Karhu.

In winning the 400-meter run, Karhu ran a 52.92, besting Jacob May’s mark of 53.55 from 1999.

He then ran to a win in the 800 in 2:09.91 to moved past Gavin Mills’ mark of 2:12.9 from 2005.

As for other placing finishes for Powell’s seventh-grade girls, Checketts and Karhu went fourth and sixth in the 400, each setting personal bests with times of 1:05.32 and 1:06.50, respectively.

Checketts’ time of 2:40.72 placed her sixth in the 800, while Karhu set a PR in the 200 hurdles (33.68) to place sixth.

Maddie Hackenberg tied her previous best of 7 feet on the pole vault to take third and Crystal Emmett tied for ninth in the shot put with a PR of 23 feet, 6.5 inches.

For the eighth-grade girls, Wells and Dillivan were third and fourth in 200, both setting PR’s, and went third and seventh, respectively, in the 400, again setting personal marks.

O’Brien took fifth in the 800, Kaitlyn Decker seventh in the 1600 and Shoopman had personal bests of 16.62 and 31.69 to get second and third in the 100 and 200 hurdles.

Samantha Herchkorn would tie for fourth in the high jump, clearing 4 feet, 4 inches, Dillivan got 10th in the triple jump at 29 feet, 6.75 inches and Marie Ramier flung the discus 69 feet, 7 inches to take second.

For the seventh-grade boys, Lengfelder took fifth in the 100-meter dash with a PR of 12.92 seconds then set new marks for himself in the 200 (27.25) and 400 (1:00.43) to place eighth in both.

Braily Gann went ninth in the 200 at 27.26 and Tyler Pfeifer was ninth in the 400 with a personal best time of 1:00.96.

Pfeifer then finished third in the 800 in 2:25.54 and fifth in the 1600 at 5:34.84.

The Cubs got another win in the 4x400, with Gann, Joey Hernandez, Lengfelder and Pfeifer timing in at 4:14.34, while Gann cleared 4 feet, 8 inches to get eighth in the high jump and Bennett got second in the pole vault at 9 feet, a new PR.

Zeke Frankenberry and Gonzales finished fifth (34 feet, 2 inches) and seventh (33 feet, 10 inches) in the shot put and flipped their finishes in the discus as Gonzales took sixth (PR 111 feet, 5.5 inches) and Frankenberry eighth (PR 97 feet).

On to the eighth-grade boys, where Cayden Lynn took ninth in the 100 with a personal best 12.39, with Colin Queen (PR 5:05.31) and Dylan Cordes (5:26.72) going second and seventh in the 1600.

Dylan McMillan was seventh in the 100 hurdles in 17.40 and Aidan Smith had a personal best 17.63 to finish 10th.

Lynn joined with Colby Gibbs, Ryan Good and Dacen Phister to get third in the 4x100 (PR 49.64) and Cordes, Karhu, Queen and Tayten Barhaug got a win in the 4x400 in 3:59.47.

Phister would win the pole vault, tying his personal record of 11 feet, with Karhu clearing 10 feet to take second.

Lynn leapt 16 feet, 10.5 inches to get third in the long jump and heaved the shot put 39 feet, 4 inches to take seventh.

And in the discus, Noah Mumford had a throw of 117 feet, 2.5 inches to tie for sixth, while Jaxson Carter tossed his 109 feet, 7 inches for 10th.

Quite a final day for the Cubs on track and field in Lander, where they showed just who was the best of the best.