Dogie men are diving in

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Editor
 
Dogie head swim coach Doug Scribner has eight young men working diligently to prepare for the 21-22 swim season, and of the eight swimmers in the pool, four are returning state qualifiers, which Scribner anticipates should bode well for the year.
“We just finished a week of practice and I’m impressed with how they look,” Scribner said. “They are definitely tired, but despite that, they are finishing sets really well, and since they are powering through so well, I told them I’m just going to keep giving them hard workouts because they can handle it.”
The Dogies graduated two from last year’s squad and are senior heavy this season with four including Robert Humes, Zade Orsborn, Travis Scribner and Duncan Cox. From there, sophomores Ramsey Gross and Nate Strickland return and are joined by freshmen Logan Olson and Sam Scribner.
Cox is new to swimming, however all returning swimmers with the exception of Strickland qualified for the state swim meet last season. Strickland was close, and is hungry to get there this year. The two freshmen have club swimming experience and are coming off a cross country season, so Scribner confirmed that they are competing right up with the more veteran swimmers.
“We have seven who are really strong and swim together so they will push each other in practice, which is exactly what you want them to be doing,” Scribner began. “Duncan is brand new to the sport, but I can teach him how to swim. He joined the national guard and wants to get in shape for that and build his endurance.”
The Dogies have swimmers who bring strengths to each of the four strokes, which should bode well for the relay potential of the team. 
Orsborn qualified for the state meet last year in both the butterfly and the freestyle, Humes in the freestyle, Travis Scribner in the breaststroke, and Gross in the freestyle and diving. Gross is not planning to dive this season, however Scribner noted that he is a talented all-around swimmer so will be focusing on perfecting different strokes this year.
Strickland put up a personal record in the 200 IM at the conference meet last season and also comes in with strengths in each stroke, however freestyle is his forte. Olson’s strengths lie in the freestyle and breaststroke, while Sam Scribner is strong in the freestyle. 
“Nate ended the season really well and is super excited and motivated to qualify this year,” Scribner said. “Not only do I want them to think about their individual events, but also about how to be competitive for the relays as well. We ended the season last year with a strong 400 Freestyle team, so I put it out to the guys that we needed four under a minute to be competitive.”
The Dogies will get the chance to test the waters this week in their first competitions
of the season in Powell on Friday and Cody on Saturday. 
“We will be able to get an idea of where we are at this weekend,” Scribner determined. “Looking at the state, we had almost everyone qualified but came up short of sending swimmers to finals. It was a really fast state meet, and this year looks to be the same, so we need to make sure that we are pushing ourselves so we can get there this year.”