Powell, Jordan take all-state honors

Encampment High School girls saw two individual second place, all-state finishers in Paige Powell, with her triple jump of 33’5.50” and Cheyanne Jordan, with a shot put throw of 33’10”.

The girls 4x800 meter run team, Cassidy Little, Micaiah Pantle, Ashlynn Johnson and McKenzie Powell also took second place with a time of 10:51.65.

These athletes scored impressively across the board, with Noelle Peterson winning third place for her shot put throw of 33’4.50” and M. Powell’s three third place wins for Triple Jump (33’.5-“), 400 meter dash (1:02.29) and 800 meter run (2:31.17).

P. Powell took a third place in high jump (4’8”) and long jump (15’4.25”). Overall, the Lady Tigers team took fifth place out of 20 teams with 61 team points. “Our girls team only has eight people on it and to place fifth overall is pretty impressive,” said Tigers’ head coach Kegan Willford. “Having 16 athletes compete at state is something else that makes me proud of what the team accomplished this year.”

The boys team saw three individual placers, with Spencer Knotwell taking fifth in the 1600 meter run (5:01.75). Hunter Hammer took sixth for a long jump of 19’.50” and Guy Erickson threw his discus 113’9” for sixth place. The boys 4x800 meter relay team of Spencer Knotwell, Cody Cor, Justin Shaw and Sean Stewart 9:27.14 brought home sixth place as well.

The 2016 track season got off to a slow start with canceled meets, but the Tigers showed up when it counted and took many of their athletes to state with good times and showings.

“I thought the team had another strong showing with their events this past weekend,” Willford said. “We have a relatively young track team and a lot of them gained valuable experience competing at the state meet.”

P. Powell and Jordan were shining examples of up-and-coming stars for the Tigers, with both making all-state in their freshman and sophomore years, respectively. Despite the young team, Tiger fans can hope to see years of improvement ahead of them with these fresh stars.