Swimmers put in a lot of miles

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
The Dogie men’s swim team competed three times and traveled 720 miles last week as they hosted Douglas in a dual on Tuesday, then traveled to Rawlins on Friday for a triangular against Buffalo and Rawlins, and on to Lander for an invitational on Saturday.
Head coach Doug Scribner explained that his team’s focus on Tuesday was more on how everyone finished in their races rather than on times. As a result, the Dogies won several heats and as a team, only lost by three points which is the best Newcastle has swum against Douglas in quite some time. 
Austen Kenney and Robert Humes went one and two in the 50 Free, and Travis Scribner won the 100 Butterfly. Kenney also took first place in the 100 Free, James Cox and Zade Orsborn finished first and second in the 100 Backstroke, and the team of Orsborn, Humes, Grayson Ramsey and Kenney out-touched the rest of the field in the 200 Free relay.
Friday’s competition in Rawlins gave Newcastle an opportunity to take a practice run in the conference venue which is quickly approaching. In addition, Scribner’s team was able to swim against Buffalo which is only the second time this has happened this season.
“That trip is so long, and it was a smaller meet so the guys just weren’t all that pumped to begin with,” Scribner admitted. “We swam pretty tired and didn’t have a lot of improvements, though there were a couple.”
Grayson Ramsey was an exception, as he had a good weekend dropping nearly two seconds in the Breaststroke in Rawlins and then shaving off considerable time in the 50 and 100 Free on Saturday in Lander. 
“We were a little more rested in Lander and everyone felt better,” Scribner began. “Grayson dropped three and a half seconds in the 50 Free and six seconds in the 100 Free for PRs in both.” 
Ramsey actually got faster each time he swam the 50 on Saturday. His first foray was in the 200 Medley relay, then he got faster in the open and even faster in the 200 Free relay. In the final leg of the Medley, he finished in 28.48, in the open he was 28.27 and in the 200 Free he went 27.65 so now is only two seconds away from putting up a state qualifying time.
Travis Scribner also had a good race in the 100 Breaststroke and finished with a personal best time which is a mere .75 of a second away from qualifying for state in that event.
Despite being down a couple of swimmers in Kenney and Conrad Prell, the two relay teams dropped time in Lander.
“We swam a 2:06 in the 200 Medley which is our best time this season, and then we went 1:49 in the 200 Free relay which is also our best,” Scribner exclaimed. “We haven’t been under 1:50 in a really long time, and they each swam a 27 in that one and that isn’t even James or Robert’s best times.”
Cox has been battling trapezius and shoulder blade soreness, so Scribner explained that he has been backing off a little bit and that has resulted in slower times in the backstroke which the junior qualified for early in the season. After a couple of meets where his time in the event was back above 1:10, he was able to race it harder on Saturday to drop back down to 1:05 which is just .41 slower than his best this season.
“On Saturday, he felt much better so he’s getting back to where he was at the beginning of the season,” Scribner stated. “It’s fine that he’s been favoring it, but it was also good that he started to feel better and could take it out a little harder.”
This weekend, the Dogies will go to Laramie for a pre-invite on Friday followed by an invite on Saturday. There is also a girls meet in Laramie in which Hannah Gross, Lydia Anderson, Rayleigh Shipp and Moriahn Kenney will be competing.