Swimmers poised for success

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
They were small fish swimming in a big pond, but the Lady Dogie swim team made a bit of a splash in Gillette last Friday and Saturday.
“It was a very good weekend, and the girls made some great improvements,” head coach Doug Scribner exclaimed. “They were excited to compete and it showed.”
There were 17 teams in attendance, most of which were 4A so the competition was indeed fierce. The ladies rose to the challenge and every one of the Lady Dogies who dived into the pool put up personal best performances on the day.
“I told the girls in the 50 free and 100 free that they would be swimming against kids who have the same time as they were putting up,” Scribner began. “There were 12 heats of the 50 Free and this gave the girls a great opportunity to really get out and race. It was a matter of who was going to show up and race.” 
And race they did. Becca Henkle and Lydia Anderson both won their heats and both dropped time in the race as well.
Kyah Miller made amazing strides in her 50 Free. The freshman cut over five seconds off her best time on Friday and then took another two plus seconds off that on Saturday. To put in perspective the enormity of that improvement, Miller took off over a second per ten meters which, by anyone’s standards, is incredible.
“Kyah was pretty stoked about dropping that much time, because she started the season at a 58 in the 50 and has dropped 19 seconds off that time,” Scribner smiled. “I’m not surprised that she has made some big improvements because up until a week ago, she’s been focusing on diving. But, to make that big of a jump in just one week’s time is pretty great.”
Scribner went on to note that Miller has a good freestyle technique and that with a little more time in the pool working on coordinating her stroke and kick as well as working on her flip turn, she possesses the ability to be very fast.
Hannah Gross also dropped time in all of her individual events this weekend, but Scribner admitted that she was tired. Gross won the 100 Backstroke on Friday and finished second to a 4A swimmer in the 50, 100 and 200 Free over the course of the two-day competition. However, in the process she blew all of the other 3A swimmers out of the water.
“Hannah wasn’t tired at this point last year, and yet she still dropped time and was able to race the 4A girls really well,” Scribner declared. “This should bode well for her to have a better state this year than last because she is ahead of where she was last year.”
A bittersweet outcome of the meet happened in diving. Becca Henkle has been getting closer and closer to qualifying for the state meet all season, and was hoping this would be the time she would make that happen. Unfortunately, the junior finished the meet on Saturday a mere point and a half away from her goal.
“Becca was discouraged that she didn’t make it, but it was one of her best meets so far,” Scribner began. “We’ve been working on consistency and she was there, just a couple of dives were a little short.”
Henkle still has two more chances to qualify before the state meet, and next week at the Conference meet in Rawlins, Scribner believes will give her a good opportunity to do so.
“This weekend she will get another chance at the 11 dives and it will be a completely different atmosphere for her with only six divers instead of 44,” he explained. “She won’t have as much time to think and wait around between dives like last weekend where it was probably 20 minutes between dives.”
Lydia Anderson was another Lady Dogie who made great strides in the pool over the weekend, but Scribner believes the freshman has the potential to make even greater improvements over the next two weeks and punch her own individual ticket to the state meet.
“Lydia is very close in the backstroke, but she tenses up so much in races that it is detrimental to her time,” he nodded. “She can keep up with Hannah in practice, so we just have to get her to relax and race like it’s practice so that she can put up the qualifying times she does in practice.”
The Lady Dogies head out for their Conference meet in Rawlins at 7 a.m. on Friday morning with diving starting at 3 and preliminary swim events to follow. Divers will execute eight dives on Friday — five in prelims and three in semifinals. Finals on Saturday will consist of three more dives and since there are only six divers total, all will advance given they do not disqualify.