Swimmers hits personal records in Laramie

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogies cut through the water like a hot knife through butter, however although personal bests were put up by head coach Doug Scribner’s crew in race after race, the competition was fierce at last weekend’s 3A State Meet in Laramie.
“Looking at last year’s times, our guys would have been in pretty good shape for making the top 12 in several races,” Scribner began. “But it was a really fast meet this year! I am super proud of how the guys raced and though I was hoping to get a few more people into the top 12, with
as fast as the meet was we weren’t able to get there, but it was not for lack of trying.”
All but one swimmer finished their season with personal best times in their events, both individually and as part of relay teams. 
According to Scribner, the 200 Medley Relay was the fastest it’s been since 2006 and the same thing happened with the 400 Free Relay. It was also the first time a Dogie team has been under four minutes in that event since 2006.
“We were pretty much ranked last in the Four Free all year, but I told them that I wanted us to get into the top 12. However, the only way we would do that was if everyone was under a minute,” Scribner explained. “We went in with one at a minute and one at a 1:01 so I knew we could
do it.”
The team of Zade Orsborn, Ramsey Gross, James Cox and Robert Humes improved from tying Worland for 11th with a time of 3:53.13 in the prelims on Friday to touching the wall in ninth place with a time of 3:49.41 in the finals on Saturday. 
Gross cut five seconds off his best time in his leg of the relay, Cox cut two seconds and, according to Scribner, the time they posted would have been enough to give them sixth place last year. 
“Finals on Saturday were so much fun to watch! We tied with Worland on Friday, which was kind of crazy, and on Saturday we were swimming next to Douglas,” Scribner began. “Zade led off and was a little behind Douglas, Ramsey moved up stroke for stroke and finished a little bit ahead of Douglas, James jumped in tired from the backstroke but he stayed right with Douglas, and then it was down to Robert. They were neck and neck and then in the last 50, Robert turned it on and untouched him. It was just great! Hannah [Cummings] told me she finally understands why it’s my favorite relay.”
Cox was the lone Dogie to advance to the finals in an individual event by finishing 10th in the 100 Backstroke. The senior put up a personal best time of 1:00.84 in prelims and then improved to 1:00.77 in his 12th place finish in the finals on Saturday. 
“James has been working on his start and his turns all season and those two things have allowed him to be a lot faster and have some pretty good time drops,” Scribner nodded. “He started the season at 1:08 but he has really worked hard all season to improve. He dropped three seconds in prelims and he was super excited to be at that one minute mark. He was hoping to hit the 59 mark in finals, and it would have been nice, but I think he was a little more tired than he thought and he did drop even more time.”
In just a short couple of heats after the backstroke, Cox swam a lifetime best of 58 seconds on his leg of the 400 Free and that went a long way toward getting that time and that finish for the relay. 
Grayson Ramsey was second alternate in the 100 Breaststroke and when he saw that he was in the fifth heat he asked Scribner why, and he was told that’s what happens when you’re fast. 
“Last year, a 1:09 would have gotten him in the top 12,” Scribner insisted. “He swam a 1:08 which was three seconds faster than his previous best time, but he would have had to have been under 1:04 to get there this year.”
Conrad Prell had been working all season to qualify in the 500 Free after not doing so last season. He was able to get under the mark at the conference meet two weeks ago, and his goal was to get to 6:00 at the state meet. Going in with a 6:11 meant he would have his work cut out for him. 
“Conrad was aggressive, taking the race out faster than he had before and he held that pace,” Scribner explained. “He swam in a heat with kids who were all right at 6:11, and I told him just to go out and win his heat. From the first 50, he held a nice pace and took off seven seconds to finish in 6:04. He was super excited about how he did in the race, and he was also really happy because his parents were able to make it down to watch him in the race.”
The 200 Medley Relay team of Gross, Ramsey, Cox and Travis Scribner placed ninth in both the prelims and the finals finishing in 1:55.52 and 1:55.23 respectively. The 200 Free Relay team of Ramsey, Orsborn, Nate Strickland and Humes put up a fast time of 1:45.66 in their 10th place finish in the prelims on Friday. Unfortunately, though they cut a second off their time in the finals, a false start disqualified them from earning a place on Saturday. 
“We don’t have a lot of points to show for it, but we had a great meet,” Scribner insisted. “I was just really proud of how well the guys finished their season.”
Cox, Prell and Ramsey will graduate this year, so Scribner will return most of the team to the pool next year. In addition, he is looking forward to having some talent coming up to high school as they will pick up a good IM swimmer who will be able to fill in for any stroke.