Simplot Games

Last week I took McKayla and another runner, Ally, to Simplot Games in Pocatello. It was a huge track meet with participants from 18 states and even some from Canada. They had a lot of nationally-ranked runners there. It is such a big meet that each athlete can only enter one event (other than relays). It is not a school-sanctioned meet so parents were responsible. Riverton High was represented by 16 athletes (8 sprinters, 6 distance, and 2 throwers). Three coaches also attended.

Both our mens' and womens' 4x400 relay teams made the finals. The girls placed 6th overall. The boys suffered a sad break. They ran the first 2 legs in record-setting time. The 2nd runner took 2 seconds off his previous best time. Then 150m into the 3rd runner's time, he got cut off and tripped up and went down. Hard. He got back up and finished running and they ended up 4th overall. I think it's amazing they could place 4th with a fall but they were all so bummed about not getting 1st and the record.

Three individuals made the finals as well. Cole Lambourne not only qualified for the 400m final but won it! That was awesome! Courtney Paddock qualified for the 200m final and I'm not sure how she did overall. McKayla qualified for the 1600m final and finished 14th overall. It was a PR for her with a time of 5:25:35. She was happy with that! Actually she PR'd in both races. In the qualifier, she had a PR of 5:26 and then in the finals 2 days later she took another second off that. Her previous best was 5:31. McKayla is the one in all black.