Peaking at the right time

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogie Swim team is putting things together as their season nears its end, and last week was one of the best for head coach Doug Scribner’s squad as they competed in the Gillette Pre-Invitational on Friday and the Gillette Invitational on Saturday. In addition to adding another qualifier to the State slate, almost every swimmer posted personal best times in at least one of their events.
“There were a lot of highlights from the weekend, and it was a great one for the guys,” Scribner exclaimed. “They have been really excited for this meet. They were ready to go, and it showed.”
Austen Kenney had previously qualified in the 100 Free, after which he turned his sights to adding the 50 Free as well. Over the last few weeks, he had gotten close enough to taste it, but had been just hundredths of a second off the mark. However, on Saturday he finally achieved the goal, finishing in 25.51 which is just below the 26 second mark needed to punch his ticket to the State meet. 
“On Friday, Austen swam the 200 Free and missed qualifying by a second, so I suggested to him that we forget about the 50 Free and focus on the 200,” Scribner began. “I think the thought of having to swim the 200 instead of the 50 inspired him to relax and shave off that little bit of time in the 50, so he wouldn’t have to do the longer race.”
In addition to the personal best time posted in the 50 Free, Kenney also swam PRs in the 100 Free, the 100 Backstroke and in the Butterfly leg of the 200 Medley Relay.
Garrett Merchen qualified in the 100 Breaststroke, his signature race, early in the season. However, it had been some time since he was back in the range of that time. That all changed last weekend as he nailed a new PR in the race on Friday with a time of 1:18.12 , and then dropped still more for another PR on Saturday when he finished in 1:17.41. The senior also dropped a second in the 100 Free for another PR, and like Kenney, he put up his best time in the Breaststroke leg of the 200 Medley Relay.
The list of Dogies swimming personal bests continued with seniors Kaden Curren and Dalton Parsons each nabbing PRs in the 100 and 50 Free races respectively. Sophomore James Cox PR’d in the 100 Backstroke while freshmen Travis Scribner and Robert Humes each did so in the 100 Breaststroke and 100 Backstroke respectively.
Another highlight of the weekend was that senior Zach Benshoof was able to return to action. Early in the season, he suffered from muscle spasms induced by exercise that dry-decked him, and it was looking like the situation had ended his career prematurely. However, on both Friday and Saturday, Benshoof was able to compete and had no relapses.
“This was the first time that Zach has been able to compete all year, and he was on his best times,” Scribner smiled. “Endurance-wise he suffered, but he raced hard and did a great job!”
Conrad Prell was back down to his best time in the 500 Free and is now about where he was last season. Scribner reported that his foot is feeling better, which makes a huge difference in how he kicks and how he comes off the wall.
Scribner put together the best relay combinations possible for both the 200 Medley and 200 Free relays, and the results were encouraging as the team looks to the Conference Meet this weekend.
“We had really good times in both races. We dropped seven seconds in the Medley Relay with the combination of James, Garrett, Austen and Robert, and they all had PR’s on their legs,” Scribner explained. “Their time is as fast as we’ve been since Terry Rolfe and David Leinen swam in 2008. They finished fifth that year, and I think they were under two minutes. But we haven’t been near that mark since then, so that is awesome.” 
The 200 Free Relay team — also made up of Merchen, Humes, Cox and Kenney — were right on their best times in that event as well. Scribner noted that the crew just had a couple of little technical issues in relay exchanges, but that is something that will be easy to rectify at the Conference Meet.
The Dogies will host the 3A East Conference meet this weekend, with action kicking off at 3:00 on Friday afternoon and resuming at 10 on Saturday morning.