Lady Panthers finish swimmers-up at conference

Posted 10/21/14

At the Friday-Saturday meet in Pinedale, the Lady Panthers placed a whopping 18 individuals and relay teams in top six positions.

There was a Powell swimmer in the final of every single event.

“That was just really fun to see that many of …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Lady Panthers finish swimmers-up at conference

Posted

Sending most athletes to state in years

A slew of top finishes and a couple new state qualifiers helped propel the Powell High School girls swim team to second place at the Class 3A West Conference Championships.

At the Friday-Saturday meet in Pinedale, the Lady Panthers placed a whopping 18 individuals and relay teams in top six positions.

There was a Powell swimmer in the final of every single event.

“That was just really fun to see that many of our kids in the top six,” said PHS head coach Luke Robertson. “And you look at seven through 12, and it was the same story: we had lots of kids in those heats.”

Powell finished with 280 points, well behind the 418 amassed by Jackson, but well ahead of the 175 gathered by Lander.

“I’m very happy with second,” Robertson said. He noted the girls’ score was 43 points better than last year’s runner-up performance at conference, “which I think is neat to see that, as a team, we’re getting better.”

Senior SarahJean O’Neill won the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:14.30. She buzzed more than two and a half seconds off her preliminary time (where she came in second).

O’Neill also joined Amanda Tracy, Stephanie Liggett and Tasha McKelvey for a second-place showing in the 200 yard medley relay, teamed with sister Julia Kay O’Neill, Taryn Bohlman and Aly Schneider for fourth in the 200 yard freestyle relay and took fifth in the 50 yard freestyle.

In addition to being on the 200 yard medley relay team, Liggett helped the runner-up 400 yard freestyle relay team (along with Schneider, McKelvey and Tracy) and the senior turned in second-place finishes in the 200 yard individual medley and the 100 yard butterfly.

“I knew they were capable of those kinds of swims,” Robertson said of SarahJean O’Neill’s and Liggett’s medal-earning races.

Fellow senior McKelvey, meanwhile, added in a second in the 500 yard freestyle and third in the 200 yard freestyle with some of her best times. Schneider, a sophomore, took third showing in the 100 yard freestyle. Junior Amanda Tracy earned fourth in the 500 yard freestyle and fifth in the 200 yard freestyle.

In the 100 Yard Backstroke, sophomore Katie Doughty took fourth and senior Natalie Quillen took sixth.

Junior Tristan Bohlman finished fourth in the 200 yard individual medley — catching Robertson’s eye with a finals time of 2:32.72 that “the fastest she’s ever swam it by about two seconds.”

Julia Kay O’Neill finished sixth in the 200 yard individual medley and qualified for the state tournament in diving. It means the freshman qualified in every single event except the 50 yard freestyle, which she narrowly missed.

“I think next year she’ll be able to get it,” Robertson predicted.

The Lady Panthers also added a couple new names to their long list of state qualifiers. Ashley Dillon, a senior who the coach said swims with “so much heart” qualified in the 100 yard backstroke, as did another hard worker, sophomore Claire Miner.

“To see all that hard work pay off for those kids is really exciting,” Robertson said.

In total, 18 of the team’s 26 swimmers qualified for next week’s state championships in at least one event — the highest number Robertson’s seen in his seven years at PHS.

There were almost a few more: freshman Emily McCaslin missed qualifying for state in the 100 yard butterfly by just .18 of a second.

“She’s cut a ton of time in that event since the start of the year,” Robertson said.

Freshman Rylie Kannard knocked two seconds off her previous best to come close to qualifying in the 100 yard backstroke, while Aspen Aguirre dropped three seconds to have a close call herself.

Robertson was unable to physically attend the meet (though “my heart was with them”), as his wife is expecting the couple’s first child.

“It was hard for me not to be there,” Robertson said, but he enjoyed tracking the results remotely and thought his assistant coaches “did just an excellent job of leading the team.”

The state meet takes place Oct. 31 through Nov. 1 in Gillette.

Comments