Orsborn qualifies at Conference meet

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
Mother Nature tried to stand in the way of the Dogie Swim team, but the boys didn’t let a little delay derail a great performance as the squad added a new state qualifier in two events. Zade Orsborn punched his ticket to the state meet in the 200 Free and the 100 Butterfly in the final meet of the regular season. 
Due to weather conditions, the 3A Conference Swim Meet scheduled for last Friday and Saturday in Rawlins was postponed to Monday. As such, the normal two-day format of preliminary races on day one and finals on day two was abandoned in favor of a regular meet format.
“They scored the top 12 so they just swam it once. It wasn’t the most ideal, but it was the option we decided on,” explained head coach Doug Scribner. “For the circumstances, most teams swam really well. There were pretty good time drops for everyone there so no one got an advantage or disadvantage.”
The Dogies made the trip to Rawlins on Sunday evening, which Scribner admitted worked well since it was snowing on Monday morning. He added that it gave the boys a chance to get good sleep and not
have to crawl off a bus and jump right into competition.
“All of the guys swam really well, and it was awesome that Zade was able to qualify in his two events,” Scribner nodded. “We’ve been working on strategies to swim those races consistently over the last few weeks to get the time he needed.”
The first race for Orsborn was the 200 Free. He was seeded fastest in his heat which Scribner noted was a little concerning because, in theory, he wouldn’t have anyone to try to catch. 
“It was a fun race to watch. I just told him to go out and swim his race on his own, and he attacked it from the very beginning,” he began. “As soon as he started his second 50 and I saw that he was under the time he needed, I knew it was going to be good.”
And it was.
The sophomore cut almost five seconds off his best time to come in nearly three seconds under the 2:15 qualifying mark, however, he got second in the heat.
“Zade was more nervous for the 200 Free than I’ve ever seen him. It was coming down to the wire to get qualified and he knew that,” Scribner smiled. “But, I think having the 200 Free out of the way, he was relaxed for the 100 Butterfly and there was no pressure so he swam well in that race as well.
In the 100 Butterfly, Orsborn started and finished strong and once again, shaved nearly five seconds off his best time to get under the qualifying mark. And this time, he won his heat.
Though there were no other new qualifiers, new PRs were piled up by the Dogies. James Cox dropped almost five seconds off his best time in the 200 IM, but it wasn’t quite enough as he just missed qualifying for that event by two seconds. He also took about a half second off his 100 Backstroke so is close to being back where he was when he qualified for the event in the first weekend of the season.
After a disappointing finish in the 50 Free, Austen Kenney came back strong to swim a good race in the 100 Free where he dropped a little more than a second. His 55.63 finish was a PR, and puts him in a position where he’s close to being among the 12 at state.
In addition to Kenney, Robert Humes, Conrad Prell and Travis Scribner all dropped time in the 100 Free. Humes took off .74 seconds, Prell dropped almost two and Scribner was half a second faster.
The 200 Free relay team of Kenney, Grayson Ramsey, Orsborn and Prell finished fourth with a time of 1:47.89. 
“Those are not our fastest four, but we still were only a second off our fastest time so they all had really good swims,” Scribner stated. “It really doesn’t matter who I put on that relay from our seven guys, because they are all pretty fast in the 50 Free. If we put our best team together, we could be about three seconds faster, so if we choose to swim this relay at state, it will be a good one for us.”
The Last Chance Qualifier meet that was scheduled for this Thursday is not happening as the teams Scribner had invited have backed out. There may be a possibility that Newcastle will still have a time-trial situation for Ramsey, Scribner and Humes if they want to try one more time for a qualifying time, or Scribner may take a suburban to Kelly Walsh to their last chance qualifier, but it will depend on what the boys want to do. 
If they opt not to try one last time, the team will have this week off and focus on preparing for the State meet next weekend.