Swimmers continue competing well

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogie Swim Team is still working toward qualifying members of the squad for the State Meet in February. Though times fell short this weekend, head coach Doug Scribner was pleased with how his team competed in both Cheyenne and in Douglas.
“We did pretty well against Campbell County in Cheyenne, and it was good for us to see 4A teams with some strong swimmers,” he nodded. “In Douglas, even though our times were a little slow, we actually raced pretty well and finished well in a few events.”
At the Douglas Invitational Dogie swimmers finished third in the 200 Free, 50 Free, 100 Butterfly, 400 Free and the 200 Free Relay. Austen Kenney was second in the 100 Free, while James Cox and Garrett Merchen won the 100 Backstroke and 100 Breaststroke respectively.  
Even more impressively, the Newcastle 400 Free Relay team of Robert Humes, Cox, Kenney and Merchen touched the wall first in the last event of the day. Scribner admitted that this is not a race his team is generally in the running to win, and to have done it with all four swimmers having competed in events taking place immediately before the race made the victory all the more sweet.
“It was awesome that we were still doing well toward the end of the meet on the second day of competition,” he grinned. “All four guys had very little time to recover from their previous events, and I was really impressed because we came from behind in order to win the relay.”
The Douglas 4x4 team got off to an early lead with about half a pool length, but in the third leg of the race, Kenney caught his crew up to within a body’s length.
Then it was up to Merchen, the anchor swimmer for the team. Though he had just raced to a first place finish in the breaststroke - the event immediately preceding the four free relay - Merchen found a second wind and grabbed another gear to make up that body length and extend the Dogies’ lead to half a pool length by the time he touched the wall.
“It was really cool because Garrett decided he wasn’t tired after swimming the breaststroke, and he had one of his better 100 Free split times,” Scribner chuckled. “To have started half a pool length behind and finish half a pool length ahead is quite a turnaround.”
Despite competing well there was little to no improvement in times, which Scribner attributed to fatigue as well as the speed at which the meets progressed.
“When we’re at bigger invites, there is time for the guys to rest and recover between races. However, in Cheyenne we were done in an hour and a half and in Douglas we were out of there in an hour and fifteen minutes,” he explained. “There might have been only a few minutes between events for some of the guys at both meets, so it’s understandable that their times were a little off.”
Merchen was an exception to the rule, as he dropped time and had a personal best in his 50 Free in Douglas in addition to swimming his best 100 Free time in the 400 Free Relay.
Kenney was once again within less than a second from qualifying in the 50 Free, and now there are six Dogies who are within the 26-27 second range in that event. With several swimmers capable of swimming the 50 that fast, Scribner has high hopes for the 200 Free Relay as the State Meet looms closer.
“Having that many guys who can swim the 50 in 26 or 27 seconds bodes well for the two free relay,” he smiled. “It’s kind of exciting because most teams will have a really fast guy and then some that are in the 28s or 29s. With so many to choose from, I think we should have a pretty good shot at finishing well.”
This week, the Dogies have only one opportunity to qualify more swimmers, as the only meet on the schedule is a dual in Buffalo on Friday.