Weiser teams place high at Middleton meet

The Weiser High School girls and boys track teams earned enough points to place third and fourth, respectively, last Thursday at the Middleton Invitational out of a sizeable field of 14 schools.
 Noting just a few of the many solid performances by the Wolverines, Weiser coach Dave Shirts said Rhett Kunz ran a great strategic race in the 800 meters and Braden Bumgarner looked strong in the 300-meter hurdles. Both won their events.
 The girls picked up points in a lot of different events to compile an impressive team score for the meet. Weiser also competed well in the relays. Abbey Shirts did a nice job in the 400 and anchoring three of the relays, he said.
 “I thought our athletes competed very well. All of the times may not have shown it because of the cold and windy weather, but we had some great performances and showed some mental toughness,” Shirts said.
 Weiser senior Rhett Kunz, a 2018 state champion, ran the shorter 200 meters for the first time this year and finished in third place with a time of 23.59 seconds.
 Kunz beat the field for first place in his signature race, the 800 meters. He finished with a time of 2:03.50. His time at Middleton was about one second slower than what he ran on April 5 at the Probst/Walker Invitational.
 Kunz has won the 800 meters in three of the four meets he has competed in so far this season. The one time he came in second place was at the Probst/Walker Invitational at Emmett.
 The Weiser boys have not found a speedster this year that can place high in the 100 meters, along with middle-distance races in both the 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters.
 In the 300-meter hurdles, Weiser’s Braden Bumgarner edged out Parma’s Matt Pierce for first place. Bumgarner had a personal best time of 43.54 seconds. Pierce ran a time of 44.08. Nick Swank placed fifth for Weiser with a time of 46.21.
 In the relay races, the Weiser boys took seventh place in the 4x100 meters and fourth in the 4x200 meters. The team of Braden Bumgarner, Triston Kautz, Nate Turner and Rhett Kunz finished third in the 4x400 meters with a time of 3:39.70.
 The Weiser boys didn’t have any top 10 finishes in the shot put or discus toss. Fruitland dominated the shot put, taking three of the top four spots.
 Weiser’s Nick Swank tied for fourth place in the high jump with Fruitland’s Dylan Stelling. Both cleared the bar at 5 feet, 6 inches.
 Jordan Watkins had a top 10 finish for Weiser in the long jump. He jumped 18 feet, 4 inches for 10th place. Watkins had a better finish in the triple jump. He cleared 37 feet, 6 inches for seventh place. Nate Turner finished ninth for Weiser with a jump of 37 feet, 3.5 inches, a personal best for him.
 Highlights for the Weiser girls included:
 Weiser’s Abbey Shirts dueled on the track with Middleton’s Ashley Campbell in the 400 meters, with Campbell getting the win in a close race. Shirts ran the race in 1:01.32, which was about a second behind Campbell, who finished in 1:00.18.
 Junior Jade Simonsen had a personal record time in the 100-meter hurdles. She finished fourth with a time of 17.26 seconds. Ellie Walker placed 11th with a time of 18.77 seconds.
 Walker took fourth in the 300-meter hurdles. She ran the race in 52.97 seconds.
 In relay races, the Weiser girls placed fifth in the 4x100 meters. The team of Alyssa Olvera, Riley Warner, Shae Kunz and Abbey Shirts took second place in the 4x200 meters with a time of 1:55.90.
 The Wolverines also earned a second-place finish in the 4x400 meters. The team of Alyssa Olvera, Ellie Walker, Shae Kunz and Abbey Shirts clocked a time of 4:27.35. The Weiser girls were only 35 seconds behind winner Parma.
 Weiser won the SMR 100-100-200-400 meters. The team included Alyssa Olvera, Reagan Doty, Shae Kunz and Abbey Shirts.
 A personal best toss in the shot put earned Weiser senior Sheyanne Hilmer third place. She had a distance of 31 feet. Teammate Yerika Marquez finished fourth in the discus with a throw of 87 feet, 5 inches.
 In the high jump there was a four-way tie for 10th place between Weiser’s Victoria Wyss, LynnZ Rasmussen, Jade Simonsen and New Plymouth’s Lakota Horal. All four cleared 4 feet, 2 inches.
 In the girls pole vault, Regan Doty took second place with a vault of 9 feet, while teammate LynnZ Rasmussen cleared 8 feet, 6 inches for fourth place.
 Weiser junior Ellie Walker finished in second place in the triple jump with a distance of 32 feet, 10.5 inches. Her jump was an inch shorter than event winner Telissa Christensen of Melba. Kaija Sanchez of Weiser placed sixth with a jump of 29 feet, 10.5 inches.