Lady Lions take WACO Relays title

Lone Tree finishes first after meet suspended due to lightning

Posted 4/6/22

The Lone Tree girls were putting up points early on Tuesday at WACO. The Lady Lions took gold in two of the first three running events, along with a pair of second-place leaps from Avery Morarie in …

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Lady Lions take WACO Relays title

Lone Tree finishes first after meet suspended due to lightning

Posted

The Lone Tree girls were putting up points early on Tuesday at WACO. The Lady Lions took gold in two of the first three running events, along with a pair of second-place leaps from Avery Morarie in the long jump and Kasey Chown in the high jump. 

The other eight teams were still chasing Lone Tree when the meet was called with six events left to go. Lone Tree finished with 80 points followed by English Valleys with 74 and Springville with 70. 

I’m ecstatic for the girls,” Lone Tree coach Chad Shield said afterwards. “It wasn’t quite how we pictured winning our first meet of the season — with it being cut short due to lightning, however our girls competed really well in the wind and rain.”

Lone Tree’s 4x200-meter relay of Cate Sexton, Arlie Lorack, Morarie, and Chown went into the meet seeded fourth. A second place finish, and a season best time by over two seconds, gave Lone Tree the winning points. 

“We felt like we had a chance to win this meet,” Shield said. “We were second on the heat sheet behind Springville. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t finish the meet, as it would have come down to a couple of points in either direction between our girls and Springville.

“I’m biased, but I would definitely take our chances with the girls we have on our team.”

Vivian Zaruba finished four seconds ahead of Van Buren’s Peyton Poling with a time of 12:42 in the 3000-meter run to give Lone Tree its only individual first-place finish of the night. Rylee Shield finished second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:05.13.

The Lady Lions finished second in three relays — and the 4x800 relay of Avery Lisk, Lilly Mills, Haley Bockelman, and Sami Branson took first without any competitors. 

“Every other team scratched out,” Shield said. “Not only did we have our four girls who ran it, we had two others, Chloe Mills and Emma Slaughter, who volunteered to be on standby in case they were needed (due to injury). I let the girls know that I was very proud of the fact we had six girls ready to run in the event, while the other eight teams didn’t have four that would run in it.  Ultimately the 4x800 helped us win the meet.”  

Lone Tree set 18 new personal records and finished in the top three in nine of the 14 events that were completed. .  

Morarie’s second-place long jump of 14-4.25 and Lisk’s third-place jump of 13-8.75 were both new personal bests.

“Hayden Yoder added over three feet to her discus throw, Lindsay Werbach knocked three seconds off her open 100 hurdle time, and Emma Slaughter went under 16 seconds in her open 100 for the first time,” Shield said. 

“Our shuttle hurdle team knocked almost three seconds off their season best time.  Vivian Zaruba caught and passed girls in the final 200 meters of the 3000 and distance medley — to get first in the 3000 and second in the distance medley.  Rylee Shield received the baton in fourth place in the sprint medley and we ended up finishing second.  

“It was just so much fun watching our girls compete in every single event. I am just really proud of them.”

More than the medals, Shield was proud of his team’s attitude and approach in the less-than-ideal conditions at Tuesday’s meet. 

“We changed our pre-event routine a bit this meet to be more encompassing of our band and quick feet routine in addition to the stretching,” he explained. “The neatest observation to me of the entire meet, regardless of the overall outcome was the ladies willingness to buy into that routine despite the weather conditions. 

"It was raining heavily at times and it never failed that I would look over and see our relay teams or individuals getting ready for their event, even with the additional routine.  I felt they were locked in and were competing with a purpose.  

“It’s been awhile since our girls program has won a track meet as a team, so I am really happy for them. They definitely earned it.”

The Lone Tree boys got a second-place finish from the shuttle hurdle relay of Ethan Willoz, Jader Barajas, Drew Gauley and Cade Patterson.  Patterson and Willoz finished fourth and fifth in the 100-meter hurdle race. 

Gauley finished fifth in the 400-meter dash and fifth in the long jump. The Lone Tree boys finished sixth out of the six teams with 30 points. Columbus finished in first with  110 and English Valleys edged Van Buren by two points for second with 84. 

Lone Tree's meet at West Branch on Thursday has been canceled. Lone Tree hosts its annual track & field invitational on Monday, Aprill 11.

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