4A West Regional Cross Country Meet [VIDEO]

The 4A West regional cross country meet was held at the Paradise Valley golf course in Casper with some breezy conditions but that's par for the course. On the girl's side, Laramie's Abigail Whitman took first place with a time of 18.33.07. She is the defending state champion in the 10K freestyle Nordic skiing event so cross country skiing certainly helps with cross country running. Muriel Jones was 2nd in the girl's race with a time of 18.55.9. She was competing for Jackson but ran track and field for Big Piney. At last year's state track meet, Jones placed 2nd in the 1600 and the 3200-meter races in 3A with a 3rd place finish in the 800. Kelly Walsh's Finley Klinger took the bronze medal with a clocking of 19.04,32. She took 2nd at the 4A state cross country meet a year ago. Hallie Wilhelm of Natrona was 4th and Evanston's Heidi Barton was 5th. In the team standings for the ladies, Jackson was 1st with 40 points, Natrona 2nd with 59 and Laramie 3rd with 64.

On the boy's side, Ben Williams of Jackson was the runaway winner in 16.10.2. The junior placed 10th in the 3A State Cross Country meet last season and also honed his skills with nordic skiing, The 2nd place finisher his teammate Kade Hatten with a time of 16.14.58. Hatten is just a sophomore and placed 16th at last year's state championships. Jackson made it 1-2-3 with Mason Wheeler getting the bronze in 16.16.7. Laramie's Mason Swingholm was 4th and Jayson Caudell of Rock Springs was 5th. Jackson won the team title easily with 49 points, Evanston was 2nd with 73 and Kelly Walsh 3rd with 81. This year's state cross country meet will be in Afton on Saturday.