Hanna takes a pass

The Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) track team had to give a pass on going to Saratoga Track Invitational.

“We had a couple seniors on a college visit and a few of the kids were out sick, so we made the decision to not to attend especially with the weather being so unpredictable,” Head Coach Jackie Jones said. “From what I understand, they had a successful meet and my hats off to them.”

Jones said with the kids that she had that could have competed, it was decided not to take the chance of having another athlete getting sick.

“We just made the decision with having the sick kids we did, and having our athletes standing out in the elements again, if we could prevent even one kid getting sick that was our goal,” Jones said. “Now we are looking at the weather in the next couple days and you have to say, ‘holy smokes’, these poor kids just can’t catch a break.”

Jones is grateful that the team was able to go Cheyenne on April 9 for a meet and Wheatland on April 10, although the weather was not good the day they competed in Cheyenne.

“It was a stark contrast in weather between those two meets,” Jones said. “We went pretty much from frozen to fried. We were so fortunate with the weather in Wheatland although it was windy.”

She said Taylar and Avery Scott both qualified for State in the 200 meter run. The girls relay teams qualified in three races for state.

“Now some tough decisions will have to be made concerning what I am going to do with individual girls and the teams they are on,” Jones said. “But that is not exactly a bad thing when you have athletes able to compete in many events.”

Jones’ biggest concern is not having any more members of her team get sick.

“I hate to say we are looking to compete in normal conditions, but with kids sick and this crazy weather, this year has been anything but normal,” Jones said. “I absolutely understand that everyone is dealing with pretty much the same thing, but it does start to wear on people, and the kids are really feeling it.”

She said some of her senior girls who face adversity well were starting to feel the effects of the weather and Jones realized to play it safe and protect them.

“We are supposed to go to Kaycee this Friday and early weather forecasts were good,” Jones said. “Now they are calling for 40 degrees and snow again, so now we aren’t quite sure what to expect. So we will take it one day at a time with the weather.”

She said the team is doing training at the Hanna Recreation Center since the outside weather has not been conducive to training outside.

“We are doing some pool training in addition to the gyms and we are so thankful we can do that,” Jones said. “So like I said, we will take it day by day, and hope for the best that we get to go to Kaycee on April 23.”