Scribner takes advantage of Last Chance Qualifier

It was the final opportunity for the Dogie swim team to punch their ticket to the state meet, and Samuel Scribner took advantage of the Last Chance Qualifier meet in Gillette last Friday to do just that.
Scribner had previously qualified in the 50 Free, but on Friday he dropped .90 of a second in the 100 Free to not only post a new PR, but also to get under the time and to add that event to his state slate. 
“He was close coming in, so we knew there was a chance he could make it,” Coach Scribner nodded. “He raced it well so it was great that we were able to get another qualified event at the meet.”
Prior to the thrill of Scribner’s victory, Harrison Gross felt the agony of defeat as he missed qualifying in the 200 Free by a mere .23 of a second. In his second place finish, Gross posted a PR time of 2:11.23 which was 1.65 seconds faster than his previous best.
“I told him he could join the club with Nate [Strickland] for just missing out on qualifying in a long race by just tenths of a second,” Scribner joked. “He hadn’t been feeling very good, and he missed practice the day before, so, to drop time while not feeling very well is pretty good, and I’m confident he’ll get it next year.”
Fortunately, Gross still has the 500 Free on his state slate for next weekend. 
Though he didn’t qualify for an event on Friday, Aaron Schantle had a fantastic final meet to wrap up his first season of swimming. The junior carved an impressive 5.70 seconds off his 50 Free time, and 5.55 seconds off his 100 Backstroke time.
“Aaron has been working on flip turns, and he is starting to get those down and you can see the results,” Scribner began. “His technique is looking pretty good and he is still working hard so we are seeing really good improvements in his time.”
Ramsey Gross also cut 1.87 seconds off his time in the 100 Butterfly despite racing the event as the only swimmer in the pool.
Scribner had not planned on entering his team in any relays on the day, however the boys expressed their desire to bookend the meet with the 200 Medley and the 400 Free. As such, Scribner told them to form their teams and go for it.
Logan Olson, Strickland, Ramsey Gross and Scribner manned the 200 Medley, while Strickland, Archer Ohnstad, Ramsey Gross and Scribner lined up for the 400 Free.
For the 400, the four swimmers opted to swim a 100 IM for each of their legs, and they put up an impressive time of 4:31.11 even though they swam the backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and the freestyle on each of their legs.
“They wanted to do something funny in the 200 Medley, so they decided they wanted to swim it. They yelled when they jumped off the blocks, and they yelled with every stroke. Ramsey only yelled on the first two strokes because he said it was too hard to do with the butterfly,” Scribner chuckled. “Then I had to give them a hard time because their time on the 400 Free was just about as fast with each doing an IM as it was with the four doing it freestyle.”
The meet only lasted 15 minutes, which included diving, so it went very fast with very little rest in between events. 
“For being so small and so short, it was one of the loudest meets we’ve been to,” Scribner exclaimed. “Everyone was cheering for everyone because these swimmers were trying to qualify for the state meet, so that was great.”
This week is the final competition for the season. It takes place this Thursday and Friday in Gillette. Ramsey Gross will be swimming the 50 Free and 100 Backstroke and two relays, Scribner will swim the 50 and 100 Free and two relays, while Strickland and Harrison Gross will compete in the 500 Free and then will be available for the 200 Medley and the 400 Free Relays.
Scribner will make the final decision on relay teams closer to the state meet.