Three qualify

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
A schedule shakeup at the last minute didn’t appear to rattle the Dogie Swim Team, as three members of the squad punched their tickets to the State Meet by the end of the week.
The Dogies were to host two meets last Friday and Saturday. However teams backed out, which left the squad looking for competition. 
Sheridan was their destination on Tuesday, where they went up against Thunder Basin, Sheridan and Buffalo. The 4A schools dominated the Dogies and the Bison got the better of Newcastle as well, but head coach Doug Scribner was pleased with the improvements his team made on the day.
It was Saturday in Kelly Walsh where the Dogies really showed up and showed out. Though once again they struggled against some of the 4A schools, the team closed the gap in their loss to Buffalo, were narrowly edged out by only two points against Campbell County and defeated Natrona 53-49.
More importantly, Garrett Merchen, James Cox and Austen Kenney each qualified for the State Meet in the 100 Breaststroke, 100 Backstroke and 100 Freestyle respectively. In addition, Kenney was only a mere .17 seconds away from reaching the mark in the 50 Free.
“I’m excited to see those guys swimming on their best times from last year already this early in the season,” Scribner smiled. “Garrett is faster than he was last year, James is within one second of his best time and Austen is right there too.”
Scribner noted that he was especially pleased to see where Kenney is finishing, given he has a tendency to swim tense, which is a detriment to his finishing times. 
“Last year, we worked really hard on getting Austen to relax,” he began. “He tapered really well before State, and in prelims he swam a qualifying time for finals and then swam faster in finals because he was much more relaxed.”
Scribner went on to note that Kenney is addressing technique, form and attacking races in practice, which he hopes will allow the swimmer to relax and have fun now that the pressure to qualify is gone.
“In finals last year, he swam a 50 Free time in the 100 Free that would have put him in the finals of the shorter race, so I’m hoping that now that he doesn’t have to worry about qualifying for State he will relax, which will definitely result in faster times for him,” he nodded.
Several other Dogies also made moves toward qualification, though are still just a little off the mark.
Robert Humes and Merchen each dropped another half-second off their time in the 50 Free, while Kenney is just a hair’s breadth away from qualification in that event as well.
In his qualification run in the 100 Free, Kenney carved off three and a half seconds, Cox dropped almost four seconds in his 100 Back qualifying race while Merchen shaved off .2 seconds to qualify in the Breaststroke.
Relays are also looking promising in the early season. Currently, the Dogies have four people swimming the 100 Free under 1:05. Scribner noted that the goal is to have four at 1:00 for the 400 Free Relay to see success. 
The 200 Medley is also shaping up pretty well, with several options for each stroke with the exception of the Butterfly. Right now that is the only piece that is still up in the air, though there are some options emerging for that leg of the race.
The 200 Free is looking good with five swimmers finishing the 50-yard split at under 29 seconds, which bodes well for the team.
“I’m feeling good about our prospects for our relays because we have quite a few guys who are stepping up to fill those roles,” Scribner nodded. “We also have some pretty good possibilities for individual qualifiers, which is awesome at this point in the season.”
The Dogies have wrapped up pre-Christmas competition and will dive back in with a triangular in Cody on January 5, followed by the Powell Invitational on Jan. 6.