Swimmers qualify one more

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
Hannah Gross and Becca Henkle qualified for the state meet early in the season, and last Friday were excited to welcome another team member to their ranks.
Lydia Anderson has been hard at work cutting time to try to get qualified, and she came off of last week just .20 of a second off the mark in the 100 Free. Hard work paid off in Gillette, however, as Anderson took a second off her time to finish 11th in 1:03.58 which is just under 3A qualifying time and is a personal best for her. 
“That was an exciting race, and she had a pretty good attitude going into it,” Scribner began. “She was really excited, and she was mentally ready, it was just a matter of going out and doing it.”
According to Scribner, Anderson took it out fast, finishing her first 50 yards in 30 seconds. He stated that he knew if she could just hold that she’d be in good shape. Coming down the home 25-yard stretch, she was at the halfway point at about 54 seconds, so Scribner and her teammates knew then she had it. 
“All the girls were excited for her, and I was excited for her,” Scribner smiled. “She’s been working so hard and has been so close that to see her finally qualify was just really fun. Now she can focus on getting qualified in the 50 Free as well.”
Anderson has the 50 Free in her sights as a state contender, but once again, she finished just outside of the 28 second 3A qualifying time, clocking in at 28.93.
Gross and Raeleigh Shipp also competed in the 100 Free and Gross won the race in 56 seconds. Shipp was able to drop almost a second and is now at 1:10, and is six seconds away from joining her teammates as a state qualifier.
Gross and Shipp also both competed in the 200 Free where Shipp had another big drop, shaving off nearly four seconds in the race while Gross was just a little off her best time. Despite that, Gross still won the race and touched the wall nearly 16 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
Henkle, who is qualified in diving, added a back one and a half to her repertoire which she threw for the first time on Friday. 
“Becca did a great job on that dive,” Scribner nodded. “She is starting to get some high DD (degree of difficulty) in her dives and we looked at her rankings, and she is ranked 11th in the state in 11 dives.” 
She will have to perform 11 dives at the state meet, so if Henkle can stay consistent she is standing well to make it into the top 12 to compete on Saturday at the culminating meet. She will have two more opportunities during the regular season to compete in the 11 dive format before the state meet. 
On Saturday, the Lady Dogies headed back up I-90 to Buffalo, and Scribner’s pre-meet pep talk for the girls was that they had a lot of great energy in Gillette so he wanted them to carry that energy into Saturday and just have fun. The girls took the advice to heart as they ended up with better time drops, which bodes well given this was their second day of competition. 
The much anticipated faceoff between Gross and the Cody swimmer in the 200 Free on Saturday was not to be. Cody had competed in Buffalo on Friday, but they were not on hand on Saturday so the competition between these top swimmers will have to wait until the state meet to see who will prevail. 
The Cody swimmer upped the ante on Friday however, as she broke the state record in the 500 Free and went 1:57 in the 200 Free. 
“When Hannah heard that, she got a little freaked out,” Scribner chuckled. “I told her it was okay to be nervous, and that she couldn’t control what other people do. We’ve been practicing consistently so she knows what to do. Also, she’s been wanting to have someone to race, so she will go out and have an awesome race because she will have someone to compete against.”
Gross wasn’t without competition on the day, however. There was a swimmer from Green River there who is a very fast backstroker, and her presence made Gross excited to race. 
“The two were neck and neck in the 100 Back, they were turn for turn but the Green River girl just untouched her,” Scribner explained. “They were both tired and they both raced hard with neither giving the race to the other so it was a great one to watch.” 
Gross was able to take the top spot in the 50 Free, and Anderson tried again to get below the qualifying mark in the 50, but she finished just off the mark. 
Shipp dropped another two seconds in the 100 Free and Rebekah Olson dropped almost three and a half seconds in the same race, which are both lifetime bests for them.
“The girls are excited with where they are at right now, because they are swimming well,” Scribner smiled. “We are heading in the right direction as we get nearer to the state meet.”
The Lady Dogies went to Douglas for a dual on Tuesday and will travel to Buffalo on Friday for a triangular against Buffalo and Douglas.