Another weekend, another swim qualifier

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogie swimmers are perfect on the season so far with qualifying a new swimmer in each weekend of competition. The latest to punch his ticket is senior Grayson Ramsey who swam his first ever qualifying time in the 100 Breaststroke Friday in Gillette.
“Grayson was brand new to swimming last season, and he has been steadily improving since then,” said head coach Doug Scribner. “He was swimming next to a kid who had a qualifying time and I just told him to race that kid, and in the end he beat him by two body lengths.”
Ramsey admitted that he was surprised at how well he had done and that because he couldn’t see the other swimmer, he had thought he was way ahead of him. When he discovered he had beat him by so far, that he had set a new personal best by nearly five seconds, and qualified for the state meet, Scribner noted, the senior was pretty excited.
“Grayson is really competitive, so having someone to race was really good for him,” Scribner added. “From the first stroke he was ahead of the kid and by the first turn he was a body length ahead and at the end of the first 50, I knew he meant business and was going to get it done.”
Ramsey’s time of 1:13.58 also puts the senior close to the top 12 in the 3A conference in the 100 Breaststroke.
Though these were only the team’s third and fourth meets, the Dogies are already nearly halfway through their season, and with four members of the team qualified for the state meet, Scribner is confident that the remaining swimmers will also punch their tickets.
“All of the guys had a goal coming into the season, and we knew coming off our home meet that first weekend that our times were looking good,” he began. “Everyone started off this year with really good improvements over last season, so they understand that they need to swim hard and go after their goal times.”
Robert Humes was once again very close to qualifying in the 50 and 100 Free races. In the 50, he finished in 26.31, a mere .16 seconds away from qualifying and in the 100 he was just .59 seconds away from hitting the mark with a time of 59.09. 
“Last year it took Robert a long time to just relax and race, so we’ve been working on that this year,” Scribner explained. “He’s been focusing on swimming strong, but relaxing without forcing it, which has helped his time, and in both races he was smooth and relaxed but swimming strong. Now he knows what he needs to do as far as cleaning things up so he will be fine.”
Zade Orsborn once again put up a qualifying time in the 100 Butterfly on Saturday and also set a personal best time of 1:08.16 which Scribner noted puts him close to being in the top 12 in that event. In addition, the junior finished the 50 Free on Friday with a PR of 26.41 which is less than a second away from a qualifying time, and on Saturday he swam the 200 Free and was just a little over a second away from qualifying for that race as well. 
“Zade has started to sprint really well and he admitted that he wasn’t even really tired when he got out of the 200, so he just needs to pick up his tempo and he’ll be right in there,” Scribner predicted. “He is also right at a 59 in the 100 Free which is super close to qualifying so I expect him to make that happen as well.”
Other Dogies who are close to swimming qualifying times include Ramsey, James Cox and Travis Scribner who are within striking distance in the 50 Free, and Scribner is also just about half a second away from hitting the mark in the 100 Breaststroke.
Nate Strickland joined the team after Christmas so on Saturday he finally had enough practices to be able to compete. He is a freshman and is also strong in the breaststroke, which now gives the team four strong swimmers in that event including Ramsey, Scribner and Orsborn.
The 200 Free and 400 Free relays are also looking good for the Dogies. On Friday, the team of Humes, Cox, Conrad Prell and Orsborn finished second in the 400, while on Saturday Cox, Orsborn, Humes and Prell also finished second in the 200 Free Relay. 
“The goal is to have four guys under a minute in the 100 for our 400 Free Relay. If we can do that we’re looking at being really close to the top six,” Scribner nodded. “We’re sitting 10th right now in the 200 Free relay and if we keep improving our splits we should be in good shape with that relay as well.” 
The Dogies as a team scored well considering the disadvantage they have in numbers as compared to the other teams who were competing. On Friday at the duals meet, the squad lost to Thunder Basin and Laramie, but defeated Campbell County 59-41. Then on Saturday at the invitational meet, Newcastle finished second ahead of Campbell County and the Kelly Walsh JV team.
“After Friday, we had good momentum so we just need to keep that going,” Scribner began. “I’m interested to see how we do against Douglas on Saturday. They beat us at home so I’m challenging the guys to turn the tables on them this weekend.”
The Dogies will head to Worland on Friday to face off against the Warriors, Riverton and Cody, and then will take on Douglas and Natrona in Douglas on Saturday.