Warriors rack up champions and awards at 3A East conference meet

CODY - The Worland Warriors swimming team was not able to bring home the 3A East conference championship. However, the Warriors placed first in 7 of 12 events held at the Paul Stock Aquatic Center in Cody Saturday afternoon.

"We went through the breakdown on Friday and told them that Rawlins had too many kids in the finals for us to win it. That part was a letdown but then we talked about not letting them get on that podium," said WHS boys swimming coach Danielle Warren when talking about team's focus during the finals on Saturday.

While the Warriors were not able to finish first as a team the team did finish second, which is quite the accomplishment when you realize that Worland was one of the smaller teams at the meet.

The Worland 200-yard medley relay (Zayne Cooper, Tristan Warren, Josiah Sanchez, Dalton Jeffries) and 200-yard freestyle relay (Zayne Cooper, Tristan Warren, Caleb Truman, Dalton Jeffries) teams were crowned conference champions.

The individual conference champions for the Warriors were senior Tristan Warren (200-yard individual medley, 100-yard breaststroke, athlete of the meet) who also completed a season goal by earning a spot on the WHS record board in the 100-yard breaststroke; senior Caleb Truman (Diving 1m) and freshman Zayne Cooper (200-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle).

"Zayne Copper won the 200 and 500 while annihilating the competition. What was so impressive about him was the day before (assistant) coach (Justin) Howe told him not to go all out but swim well enough to get a good position in the finals. And he did just that by pacing himself perfectly and it was amazing. For a freshman to do that and know your body and pace like that is awesome," said coach Warren.

"Tristan (Warren) was athlete of the meet, will be seeded No.1 at state in the breaststroke and made it to a spot on the record board. It was a big meet for him. He and Dalton (Jeffries) were swimming two-a-days all season long and it's nice to see when someone's hard work pays for them," said coach Warren.

"Caleb (Truman) did his job in diving. I think it's hard for him because he's so far ahead and he has to push himself in order to be where he needs to be for state. It just shows how hard of a worker he is. Then for him not to have a lot of yards in the pool and finish like he did in the 100-yard freestyle shows how good of an athlete he is," said coach Warren.

Truman also placed third in the 100-yard freestyle and along with Dalton Jeffries was given the sportsmanship award.

Jeffries also had an impressive meet finishing second in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle.

"Dalton gave everything he had in both events and had phenomenal swims in both second-place finishes," said coach Warren.

Other impressive performances that stood out to coach Warren came from Jason Wang, Josiah Sanchez Gabe Durrant, Anthony Padilla and Andrew Nelson.

"One of our bigger highlights was Andrew Nelson qualifying in the backstroke, as a freshman coming in and performing like he did was phenomenal ... Watching Anthony Padillia and Gabe Durrant place in the top-12 spots was a lot of fun. If they work in the offseason they'll be able to have a shot at the top-6 next season. Josiah was hurt at the start of the season but has been really working hard to recover. He's been a consistent presence for us ever since he's been in the water. Jason Wang got sixth in diving and broke the 200 mark. Having less than 10 weeks of diving experience he's come a long way and worked extremely hard," said Warren.

Adding to their swimmers awards, coach Warren and coach Howe were named the conference coach and assistant coach of the year, respectively.

Both coaches were proud of their team not only for their performance but all the work they've put in this season.

Howe had left a little early after things wrapped up Saturday to watch his son play basketball, who plays for Greybull High School, and while the team was out to dinner Warren received a text from Howe after he arrived in Greybull.

"Coach Howe texted us at dinner saying, 'I'm past Emblem and still smiling'," said Warren. "That summed it up for all of us, it was a fun meet and the kids definitely worked hard and enjoyed all of it."

The Warriors this week will have the week off due to the "last chance" meet being removed from the schedule. Instead the team will work on fine tuning their techniques, while also having some fun in the lead up to the state meet in Gillette on Feb. 24-25.

"Turns, streamlines, starts and all the little things you don't have time to work on when you're putting in yardage, that's what we'll work on," said coach Warren. "We'll refine everything so that it becomes second nature, then have a little bit of fun to mix things up."

Results from the 3A East conference meet are as follows.

Team Rankings

1, Rawlins, 313.5.

2, Worland, 254.

3, Douglas, 221.

4, Newcastle, 154.

5, Buffalo, 127.

200yd Medley Relay

1, Worland (Zayne Cooper, Tristan Warren, Josiah Sanchez, Dalton Jeffries) 1:47.88.

200yd Freestyle

1, Zayne Cooper, 1:58.56.

200yd Individual Medley

1, Tristan Warren, 2:15.92.

50yd Freestyle

2, Dalton Jeffries, 24.44.

Diving 1M

1, Caleb Truman, 417.55.

100yd Butterfly

4, Josiah Sanchez, 1:01.52.

100yd Freestyle

2, Dalton Jeffries, 53.92.

3, Caleb Truman, 53.93.

500yd Freestyle

1, Zayne Cooper, 5:28.25.

200yd Freestyle Relay

1, Worland (Zayne Cooper, Tristan Warren, Caleb Truman, Dalton Jeffries), 1:37.04.

100yd Backstroke

4, Josiah Sanchez, 1:05.7.

100yd Breaststroke

1, Tristan Warren, 1:03.63.

400yd Freestyle Relay

5, Worland (Gabe Durrant, Josiah Sanchez, Andrew Nelson, Caleb Truman), 4:17.26.