Lady Warriors three-peat as conference champs

NEWCASTLE - At the beginning of the 2016 season the Lady Warriors set a goal of winning the 3A East Conference championship for the third straight season and on Saturday in Newcastle the Lady Warriors did just that.

Worland handily won the conference meet with a 325-point total over the two-day meet. The Lady Warriors won by a staggering 70 points. Douglas was second with 255 points, while Buffalo was third with 216 points.

"They were really excited. After the first day I think they kind of sensed they would probably win if they didn't have any DQs or anything like that. But you never know from one day to the next, so they took care of business and we won by 70 points. They did very well," said WHS coach Mike Blissett.

The Lady Warriors had three individual conference champions, Kristen Collingwood (200-yard freestyle), Juli Warren (200-yard individual medley) and Ellyse Russell (50-yard and 100-yard freestyle). Two conference championship relay teams, 200-yard freestyle relay (Megan Molitor, Collingwood, Warren, Russell) and 400-yard freestyle relay (Hannah McEndree, Collingwood, Warren, Russell). Then to cap it off coach Mike Blissett was named 3A conference coach of the year, Russell was named 3A East conference swimmer of the year and Warren was named sportsman of the conference meet.

"What was most exciting was how much everybody dropped time. It was crazy how much time they dropped because every single girl on the team was cutting time. You always want to get the team peaking at this point in the season and we seem to be doing that, which is a really good thing.

"Out of the 15 girls on our team we had 14 of them place. Out of the 15 we have two more girls qualify for state. Morgan Haley made it in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke and Skylar Wrage made it in the 500-yard freestyle. Then Megan Molitor added the 50-yard freestyle to her list of events she's qualified for and Hailey Schumacher added the 200-yard freestyle to her list of events.

And on top of all of that Ellyse Russell set a conference and team record in the 100-yard freestyle," said Blissett.

Blissett said of team's stellar outing in Newcastle, "I was really proud of the girls for how well everyone did. We had all but one place, even the one who didn't place did so well and dropped so much time from the beginning of the season till now it was amazing to see that happen. Even though she didn't place she still did extremely well and we're really proud of her, as well as the other girls on the team. It was just a fantastic meet I couldn't have asked for more."

Speaking about the hardware picked up by Russell and himself, as well as Warren being named the sportsman of the meet Blissett said, "Both girls absolutely deserved those awards. Juli (Warren) had such a positive attitude the whole meet, from cheering on teammates, to applauding and congratulating opponents on their swims. She has an infectious personality and it's such a pleasure to be around. Ellyse (Russell) was the only swimmer at the meet who won four events, she won both of her individual events and both of the relays she took part in. Not only that, she broke the conference meet record in the 100 free and almost broke the record in the 50. She had an outstanding meet and her performance more than earned her the honor of swimmer of the meet. 

"It's an honor to be named coach of the year, but that credit really just speaks to the girls on this team. They work incredibly hard, and they're a joy to be around. It's easy to look great around these girls," said Blissett. 

With the state meet this week in Gillette Oct. 28-29 and coming off a great conference meet Worland's chances at a state title are promising. "I think what we saw this weekend from the girls there is a window of opportunity and if they can put it together like they did this week. Who knows great things are going to happen for them. As for state it's a tossup between four teams and we're one of them," said coach Blissett.

Full results from the 3A East Conference Meet follows.

Team Rankings

1, Worland, 325.

2, Douglas, 255.

3, Buffalo, 216.

4, Cody, 160.

5, Rawlins, 145.

6, Newcastle, 142.

200yd Medley Relay

3, Worland (Felicia Aguilar, Megan Molitor, Hannah McEndree, Kaci Bentley), 2:05.53.

200yd Freestyle

A - Final

1, Kristen Collingwood, 2:13.08.

2, Kaci Bently, 2:15.23.

B - Final

8, Hailey Schumacher, 2:21.88.

9, Skylar Wrage, 2:24.10.

200yd Individual Medley

A - Final

1, Juli Warren, 2:21.77.

4, Hannah McEndree, 2:37.05.

5, Felicia Aguilar, 2:37.89.

B - Final

12, Alejandra Rice, 3:12.97.

50yd Freestyle

A - Final

1, Ellyse Russell, 24.86

5, Megan Molitor, 28.19.

Diving 1m

4, Kyra Klinghagen, 275.05.

100yd Butterfly

A - Final

4, Kristen Collingwood, 1:08.35.

B - Final

7, Haley Morgan, 1:13.91.

12, Elizabeth Martinez, 1:22.71.

100yd Freestyle

A - Final

1, Ellyse Russell, 54.17.

3, Kaci Bentley, 1:02.22.

500yd Freestyle

A - Final

3, Hannah McEndree, 6:20.45.

4, Hailey Schumacher, 6:26.46.

B - Final

9, Skylar Wrage, 6:37.29.

200yd Freestyle Relay

1, Worland (Megan Molitor, Kristen Collingwood, Juli Warren, Ellyse Russell), 1:46.26.

100yd Backstroke

A - Final

6, Megan Molitor, 1:10.08.

B - Final

7, Haley Morgan, 1:11.62.

8, Elizabeth Martinez, 1:19.45.

100yd Breaststroke

A - Final

2, Juli Warren, 1:13.69.

5, Felicia Aguilar, 1:18.42.

B - Final

9, Kyra Klinghagen, 1:30.19.

11, Emily Brown, 1:33.77.

400yd Freestyle Relay

1, Worland (Hannah McEndree, Kristen Collingwood, Juli Warren, Ellyse Russell), 3:53.46.