Dogies qualify two more swimmers for state

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogie swim team put up two new qualifying times last weekend in Laramie as the team competed in a pre-invite on Friday and an invitational on Saturday. Austen Kenney added the 200 Free to his state slate, and Robert Humes punched his first ticket to the state meet by qualifying in the 50 Free. 
“Though we were still a little tired on Friday, I think being on taper last week really helped us get up to speed,” head coach Doug Scribner nodded. “Austen just determined that he was going to qualify in the 200 Free, so he did, and Robert had a really good weekend dropping time in all of his events.”
Both of these qualifying times were put up during the invite on Saturday, but the Dogies were also at work the day before at the pre-invite.
The two newbies to the team continued to see improvements in their events. Zade Orsborn dropped nearly a second off his 50 Free time, and Grayson Ramsey dropped half a second off his 100 Free and nearly three seconds off his 100 Breaststroke.
“Grayson’s breaststroke was interesting to watch because the kid next to him was seeded a couple of seconds faster. He went out and raced it hard, but in the last 25, the kid was over a body length ahead of him,” Scriber described. “He came off the wall hard and poured it on to not only catch him, but pass him and he just had this whole new energy off the wall.”
The invitational on Saturday began with Kenney’s impressive showing in the 200 Free. Having already qualified in the 50 and the 100 Free, the senior had his eye on adding the 200 Free to his list of potential events at the state meet. 
Heading into the race, Kenney was still a second shy of the 2:15 mark. However, he left no doubt that he was capable of contending with the top athletes in this event as he carved nearly four and a half seconds off his best time to touch the wall at 2:12.42.
The Dogies had very little time to celebrate Kenney’s accomplishment before Humes jumped in to claim the focus of his team’s attention in the 50 Free.
The sophomore made good use of the work he has put in perfecting his starts and his flip turns to swim a qualifying time of 25.78 which is also a personal best for him.
“Another bright spot for us is that we swam in a lot of outside lanes, but we still won quite a few heats,” Scribner stated. “Robert won his heat when he swam his qualifying time in the 50 Free, and Austen did as well in the 200 Free.”
Nearly all the Dogies saw improvements in their events. Kenney, Humes and James Cox each dropped time in the 100 Free, Ramsey improved in the 50 Free and 100 Breaststroke, and the 200 Free Relay team of Ramsey, Humes, Kenney and Orsborn put up a team best of 1:46.67.
“That is the fastest we’ve gone in a long time,” Scribner grinned. “A lot of that was because Grayson went a 26 in his leg on Friday. Things are clicking for Grayson and he’s learning how to race which is awesome.”
The Dogies continue with taper this week as they prepare for their Conference meet scheduled for this weekend in Rawlins, weather permitting.