Dogies poised to dive in

The Dogie men’s swim team is small but mighty this season, and head coach Doug Scribner is looking forward to getting the 2024-2025 season under way.

The team graduated Nate Strickland and lost another couple of juniors from last year’s squad. Unfortunately, Scribner gained no freshmen, so the roster is down to seven — but those seven bring a great deal of potential to the pool.

“We’re down in numbers a little, but we brought back several strong, fast swimmers from last year,” Scribner said. “We return all but one qualifier from last year and quite a few of them spent a lot of time over the summer and the fall in the pool, so we’re taking off faster than we left off last year.”

Two seniors will lead the team in Logan Olson and Sam Scribner. Scribner took a hiatus from swimming last season to try wrestling, but he is back to both swim and dive. Another junior/senior returning is Harrison Gross, while the remaining four are sophomores and include Gabe Hoover, Isaiah Olson, John Sandrini and Lucas Scribner.

“We are excited to have a diver this season,” Scribner said. “We also look to be pretty strong in all the strokes, so even though we are small, we have the potential to score better this year as a team.”

Sam Scribner qualified for the state meet in two events as a sophomore and Coach Scribner anticipates that he will take off right where he left off.

“Sam should be able to help us out quite a bit since he is diving in addition to swimming,” Scribner said. “He did a lot of work over the summer and during the girls’ season, he knows all of his dives already, so he should be competitive right away.”

Hannah Cummings will be returning this year to coach Scribner in diving.

Olson, Gross and Hoover are returning state qualifiers and Scribner is excited about how the three are starting this year.

“Gabe and Logan put in a ton of work in the off season so they are coming in far ahead of where they were last year,” Scribner said. “They are excited to swim, so that’s great.”

Sandrini and Lucas Scribner started last year diving and then transitioned to swimming where they made a lot of improvement.

“This year, John and Lucas plan on focusing on swimming, and if they continue to improve like they did last season, they will be able to fill in where we need speed,” Scribner said. “Every one of these kids swam in club at some point, so they know all their strokes and are really pretty strong in each of them as well.”

Given that every swimmer is competent in all strokes, Scribner is confident that the team will be able to hit every event, and that they will also be able to man all three relays despite the small numbers.

The Dogies will dive into their season this weekend as they travel to Powell on Friday for a pentathlon, then go on to Cody for an Invite on Saturday.

“Conference (competition) is in Cody this year, and we will swim there three times this season,” Scribner said. “It’s a long trip, but it will be great for the boys to get familiar with that pool ahead of time.”