Anderson qualifies for one more

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Editor
 
The Lady Dogies competed in the 3A East Conference meet Friday and Saturday in Worland, where Lydia Anderson added the 100 Backstroke to her state slate by taking nearly 6 seconds off her previous best time between both the preliminary and final races. 
“Qualifying in the backstroke was her goal for the weekend, but I think she was a little surprised at how well she did,” said head coach Doug Scribner. “She was really happy with her time of 1:11 because that is her best time by over 6 seconds.”
With only the last chance meet remaining in the season prior to the state meet, the Lady Dogies now have two swimmers — Anderson and Raeleigh Shipp — who have qualified for five individual events between the two. 
At the conference meet, Shipp, Anderson and Hailey Beastrom were seeded in the top 12 in at least one of their events. The goal for the three going into finals was to try to hold their place in order to make it to finals on Saturday, which they did.
Shipp finished eighth in both the prelims and the finals in the 200 Freestyle, while Anderson was third both days in the 50 Free. Anderson also finished sixth in the 100 Backstroke in the prelims and fifth place in the finals, while Beastrom was ninth both days in that event. 
“It was a good day for us,” Scribner began. “Two years ago, we only had one swimmer qualify to compete in the finals in an individual event, but this year we had three who advanced to swim in four events on Saturday.
Shipp got things started for her team as she advanced in the 200 Free. Her time in prelims was off her best, however in the finals race on Saturday she cut over 2 seconds off her time to swim a personal record of 2:17.48. 
“Raeleigh has only swam the 200 a few times this year, and she learned a lot from Friday to Saturday,” Scribner explained. “It was a really fun race because she was racing the girl next to her the whole time.”
Anderson dropped almost a second from her best time in the 50 Free in the prelims, while Beastrom was right on her best time in the 100 Backstroke both days.
Though they didn’t qualify for the state meet, Ruth Rose and Lilly Ralls each swam great races in the prelims of the 100 Breaststroke. Rose hacked off 32.83 seconds from her
best time in that event, while Ralls took off 5.12 seconds.
“Ruth’s goal was to be at 2 minutes and she ended up taking almost 33 seconds off her previous best time in the breaststroke,” Scribner said. “We worked on her technique and on timing and, she saw a lot of improvement.”
Of the relays, the 400 Free team of Shipp, Rose, Anderson and Beastrom improved nearly 7 seconds from the prelims to the finals and finished sixth place both days. In addition, their time on Saturday of 5:00.27 is the fastest time recorded in the relay for the season. 
“I was hoping to get 4-something in the relay, but 5 minutes is significantly better than anything we’ve done all season,” Scribner said. “They each had really good splits in that race.” 
The 200 Medley Relay team of Beastrom, Anderson, Rebekah Olson and Ralls finished seventh on Friday, but disqualified in that event on Saturday. The 200 Free Relay team of Olson, Rose, Shipp and Ralls also finished seventh in both prelims and finals.
At the state meet, the relay teams must finish in the top 12 to advance to finals, and the Lady Dogies are standing in 12th place for the 400 Free, but 13th in the other two events.
“In the Medley the 12th-seeded team is 27 seconds faster than us, and in the 200 Free it’s 10 seconds faster,” Scribner said. “With our four fastest girls, we would be close, but with a couple of those swimming in individual events close to that race, it’s really not an option to do that.”
With just the Last Chance meet to go, Shipp is qualified in the 200 and 100 Free, Anderson in the 50 Free, 100 Free and 100 Back (she will compete in the freestyle events), and Scribner is hoping to get Beastrom qualified in the 100 Back at the final meet this weekend.
“Hailey is only a couple seconds away and she wasn’t feeling well last weekend,” Scribner nodded. “Hopefully, she’ll be feeling better
and can take those 2 seconds off to get into that event.”
The Last Chance Qualifier meet is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. in Gillette on Friday. Scribner will have everyone swim to get one more meet in before the state meet next weekend.