Newcastle’s Beastrom qualifies in two events

The last regular season competitions were good ones for the Lady Dogie Swim team as they got their first state qualifier of the year in Gillette on Friday. Hailey Beastrom took advantage of the elevated competition she faced over the weekend to qualify for the 3A State Swim meet in both the 50 Freestyle and the 100 Backstroke.
 
Head coach Doug Scribner was unable to witness Beastrom’s accomplishment, as he was with students launching an eclipse weather balloon, but assistant coach Teresa Gross was on hand on Friday to see the junior get under the mark.
 
“It was so awesome to see Hailey get there!” Gross said. “She dropped .20 of a second from last week to get just under in the 50 Free, and then her backstroke was awesome, because she was still a few seconds away from qualifying in that event last week.”
 
Beastrom, indeed, turned on the afterburners in the backstroke by cutting 2.76 seconds off her time from last week to get under the qualifying mark in that event. In addition, Beastrom won her heat in the 50 Freestyle against some pretty tough competition.
 
Beastrom doubled down and cut an impressive 5.12 seconds off her season-best time in the 100 Freestyle at the invitational meet on Saturday. The swim was not only the best of the season for Beastrom, but it was also a personal record of 1.65 seconds for her. According to Gross, her improvement puts her less than three seconds away from qualifying in that event as well. 
 
“Her start was good and her turns were good, so that really helped her in the backstroke,” Gross added. “It was just too bad that Doug couldn’t be there to see Hailey qualify, though.” 
 
These were the team’s two biggest meets of the season. According to Gross, there were 18 teams on hand to compete in the pre-invite on Friday, which usually hosts around eight to 10 teams, and then on Saturday at the invitational there were 20 teams and boys competed as well.
 
“It was one of the biggest meets I’ve ever been to,” Gross admitted. “There were more teams competing both days than we will face at the state meet, and the competition was fierce.” 
 
A bus breakdown on the trip home on Friday meant a late night for the squad, only to turn around and head to Gillette early Saturday morning. Despite the adversity, the team did pretty well against a pool full of competition, which included several 4A teams. 
 
Abi Qualheim continues to improve in her debut season of swimming. The senior cut an incredible 2.04 seconds off her previous best time in the 50 Freestyle on Friday, then she took 5.23 seconds off her time in the 100 Breaststroke on Saturday. Qualheim also hit a milestone in the breaststroke by finishing under two minutes for the first time in that event. 
 
“Abi has just learned the breaststroke this season, and she’s really starting to get it,” Gross said. “It’s really fun to see her do that, and for her to see her hard work paying off.” 
 
Aiko Miyamoto swam PRs in both the 50 Freestyle and the 100 Breaststroke as well, cutting .35 seconds off the former and 3.30 seconds off the latter on Friday. Then on Saturday, she took nearly seven seconds off her previous best time in the 100 Backstroke. 
 
“Aiko continues to cut time in the breaststroke and the backstroke,” Gross said. “She had been having some issues with her shoulders hurting, so it was awesome that she was able to do that well in both of those races.”
 
Rebekah Olson, Veronica Ayers and Ruth Rose also picked up new PRs over the two days of competition. Olson took .71 seconds off her previous best time in the 500 Freestyle on Saturday, Ayers knocked 2.26 seconds off her time in the 100 Backstroke on Friday, while Rose shaved an amazing 7.49 seconds off her previous best in the 200 IM on Friday. 
 
“As a whole, the team cut over 20 seconds off their various events. I was really impressed with all the girls,” Gross said. “We’ve been really working turns and finishes, so everyone did that much better this weekend, they were really thinking about their races, and trying to get to the wall first so that was awesome.”
 
With the regular season at an end, the ladies will start their taper this week as they prepare for the 3A East Conference meet Friday and Saturday in Cody.