Young Dogies get a taste of State

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
With two individual qualifiers and three relay teams, the Lady Dogies headed to the 3A State Swim Meet in Laramie last Friday hoping to bring home some hardware, and by the time the finals ended on Saturday they had done just that.
Hannah Gross, the team’s top swimmer, had qualified in every individual event during the regular season so had a decision to make regarding which two she would compete in for a title. The 100 Freestyle and the 100 Backstroke were Gross’ top choices, and she was heading into each event with the number one seed.
In the preliminary race of the 100 Free, Gross out-touched the second place finisher from Riverton by .08 of a second, and in the 100 Backstroke she claimed second place. Both finishes guaranteed her good heat and lane positions in the finals on Saturday.
In the finals of the 100 Free, Gross was leading by .2 of a second at the 50 yard mark, but the Riverton swimmer she had defeated in prelims was able to pour it on in the second half of the race to steal the state title in the end. 
Going into the finals of the 100 Backstroke, Gross knew she had time to make up given the way the race had ended on Friday. However, fatigue was setting in and making the task a bit more daunting.
“Hannah was up against the defending state champ from Lander in the 100 Backstroke,” head coach Doug Scribner began. “She started the race a little tired, finishing the first 50 in about the fourth position. She had a great second half though, and ended up touching the wall in second place.”
With both individual events completed, the sophomore finished the year as the state runner-up in each race.
Madi Townsend was the other Lady Dogie who had qualified in an individual event. At the Last Chance Qualifier meet, she cut two seconds off her best time in the 200 Free, which gave her the opportunity to race against the best in Laramie. 
Unfortunately, the 200 Free had a formidable lineup of competitors which filled five heats in the preliminaries.
“I knew the 200 Free would be tough for Madi,” Scribner admitted. “The 200 and 500 were probably the toughest events this year, with five heats in both events. Madi won her heat but did not have the time drop needed to advance to finals.”
Scribner noted that the biggest challenge for his team at the meet would be getting the relays into the top 12 in order to advance to finals. Jackson moved down to 3A, which put 13 teams into each race. Only the top 12 would move on to finals. Newcastle headed into the meet ranked 13th in all three events.
“The girls knew how much time they needed to drop if they wanted to get in to finals, but the prelims went better than I expected,” Scribner exclaimed. “We were seeded 12th in the 200 Medley and 12th in the 400 Free, so all we had to do was swim our time and we would make it in.”
In both of those races, the teams did what they needed to do, finishing 12th in the 200 Medley and 11th in the 400 Free. Unfortunately, in the 200 Free Relay the Lady Dogies needed a pretty big time drop if they were to advance. They were unable to do so, which meant that team would not be competing in finals.
“Our relays had good time drops and I was really encouraged to advance in the 200 Medley because that gave both our seniors, Kassidee Jeppesen and Paige Liggett, the opportunity to swim at the State Meet,” Scribner nodded. “We also dropped three seconds in the 200 Free relay and all four swimmers swam PRs in the race, but it was just not enough to advance.”
Finals began on Saturday with the 200 Medley Relay where the team of Gross, Liggett, Townsend and Autumn Mills dropped another two seconds from their time, but still finished in 12th place. 
The meet ended with the 400 Free Relay, which was a hard fought race. Townsend, Emily Beastrom, Gross and Mills each swam a personal best in the race and finished well, holding on to the 11th place finish they had going in.
“We finished the year with a great State Meet, and we finished ahead of Rawlins who also had two individual qualifiers,” Scribner smiled. “This was an outstanding group of young ladies who are still relatively young. They learned a lot this year about practicing hard and being confident in their races, and they accomplished a great deal this season. I think the girls appreciate the work it will take to place at state next season, and hope they have the ambition to go after that next year.”