Perfection is overrated

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
From the beginning of their season, the Dogie swim team has been on a roll, qualifying a new member of the team, or qualifying in a new event in every weekend of competition. Unfortunately, their perfect season came to an end last Friday at the Last Chance Qualifier meet in Gillette.
“We came up just short of making it a perfect season,” head coach Doug Scribner admitted. “If Ramsey [Gross] had been there, I’m pretty sure he would have qualified in the backstroke, but he had to sit the weekend out because of an ingrown toenail removal.”
Buffalo, Douglas, Campbell County and Thunder Basin were on hand to compete with the Dogies in this final opportunity to put up a qualifying time for the state meet, therefore the event was quite small given most teams only entered the swimmers who were on the cusp of getting under the necessary time.
“I put everyone in to see if they could improve their times for seedings,” Scribner explained. “But everyone
else only entered a few of their kids.”
Though the squad walked away without any new qualifying times, they did accomplish their goal of dropping time in some events.
Conrad Prell was attempting to add the 200 Free to his state slate, and with his second place finish of 2:16.16 dropped three seconds off his previous best time, but was still just a little over three seconds away from qualifying. 
“Conrad swam really well, but he just missed out on that one,” Scribner stated. 
Zade Orsborn dropped some time in the 50 Free, as did Nate Strickland and though both had time drops, Orsborn was still .28 seconds away while Strickland was a little over three seconds away. 
Grayson Ramsey went into the meet with a little under a second to drop in order to add the 50 Free to his repertoire, however the senior wasn’t able to improve upon that time. 
Travis Scribner had a goal to finish under 1:04 in the 100 Free, and not only did he achieve that goal, but he dropped double the time needed to finish, in 1:02.95.
“Travis had a really good swim in the 100 Free,” Scribner nodded. “And he went on to have another good time drop in the 100 Breaststroke.”
Scribner had previously qualified in the breaststroke, but taking off over a second from his time will assist him in better seeding for the state meet. 
Conrad Prell swam the lead off leg in the 400 Free relay and went a 1:02 which, according to Scribner, is a lifetime best for him in the 100 Free distance. 
“I’m encouraged for the 400 Free relay at state, because I feel pretty confident we can get four guys under a minute for it,” Scribner predicted. “We had some pretty good time drops, but we will have to be a bit faster to get that team into the top 12 to be able to compete on Saturday.”
Looking forward to the state meet this Friday and Saturday, Orsborn is qualified in the 200 Free, 200 IM, 100 Butterfly and 100 Free. Scribner anticipates he will choose the 200 Free and the 100 Fly this weekend.
James Cox will be competing in the 100 Backstroke and 100 Butterfly, Ramsey in the 100 Breaststroke, Prell in the 500 Free, Gross in diving and the 50 Free, Robert Humes in the 50 and 100 Free and Scribner in the 100 Breaststroke. 
Coach Scribner is still working out what the three relay teams will look like for the culminating meet, taking into consideration the order of individual events.
Diving starts in Laramie at 4 p.m. on Friday with eight dives and preliminary swimming to follow. On Saturday, the finals for swimming will begin at 10 a.m. with the remaining three dives in the middle as per usual.