Track and field athletes work all season long to improve their times and marks, in hopes of qualifying for the state meet during regional competition, the weekend prior. There, for a number of competitors, the process essentially begins once more.

In certain events, track and field athletes must again qualify during the preliminary heats or flights to take part in the finals, in hopes of scoring for their teams and garnering any individual awards.

Evanston qualified a total of 22 athletes (11 boys and 11 girls) for the state meet in Casper at Harry Geldien Stadium this past Thursday through Saturday, May 18-20.

Qualifiers on the boys’ team included Kerry Wheaton, Kody Smith, Tyrell Halladay, Gabe Morris, Hunter Groll, Jamin Barker, Seth Macdonald, Cris Periman, Matthew Geary, Ryan Gomez and Garrett Berger.

The Red Devils scored 27.5 points, good for ninth-place in the 12-team field. Evanston had placed fourth in the regional meet the week prior.

Seth Macdonald would arguably serve as the personified highlight of the state meet for Evanston, and perhaps for the season, as a whole. The senior earned all-state honors, securing the 4A crown in the high jump, with a 2018 state’s best leap of 6 feet, 7 inches, worth 10 points for his team. Earlier in the season, Macdonald broke the Evanston High School record of 6 feet, 9 inches by a quarter-inch in Rock Springs.

The record he captured had been held for 20-plus years by none other than his track coach, Roy Barker, who went on to compete for the Weber State Wildcats. 

“It was special because I was there to witness Seth break my record,” coach Barker said. “He came over and gave me a hug, gave all the coaches a hug. It was a neat thing to be present as he broke my record.” 

Macdonald would go on to break his own school record with a leap of 6 feet, 10 inches at a meet at Davis High School in Utah, the following week. At the regional meet, Macdonald had a sore leg but still managed to clear 6 feet, 6 inches. Following his state championship jump of 6 feet, 7 inches, Macdonald attempted to break the Class 4A state mark of 6 feet, 10 inches and, according to his coach, “narrowly missed clearing 6 feet, 11 inches.”

Macdonald added an additional three points to the Red Devil tally with a sixth-place leap of 21 feet, 7 inches in the long jump.

The Red Devils would score their first points of the state track and field meet in a field event, as junior Cris Periman ended in a four-way tie for sixth place, clearing an even 12 feet in the pole vault, good for 1.5 team points.

Hunter Groll placed second in heat one and third overall in the preliminaries of the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 41.03 seconds. The senior would drop his time to 40.85 seconds in the finals to earn a third place and 6 team points.

Two points were earned by the 4x100-meter relay team comprised of Wheaton, Groll, Periman and Smith for finishing in seventh place with a mark of 44.85 seconds.

Another two points came by way of the 1600-meter sprint medley, which also finished in the number seven spot with a time of 3:45.81. The Evanston foursome consisted of Periman, Wheaton, Berger and Halladay.

The 4x400-meter relay team of Groll, Smith, Morris and Halladay accounted for the final three points for the Devils, coming in at sixth-place with a time of 3:30.72

The Class 4A team totals for the 2018 state track and field meet are as follows:

Laramie — 122

Sheridan — 97.5

Kelly Walsh — 94.5

Natrona County — 82.5

Cheyenne East — 80.5

Rock Springs — 64.5

Cheyenne Central — 54

Thunder Basin — 36

Evanston — 27.5

Jackson Hole — 18

Green River — 14

Campbell County — 11