Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Lady Warrior Ella Stanek launches from the wall during the Worland Quad meet on Sept. 7 at the Worland Aquatic Center.
WORLAND - The Worland High School homecoming week caps off at the Worland Aquatic Center today, as the Lady Warriors swim team holds their annual Warrior Invitational.
A total of nine teams will be in the pool today, the entire 3A East with Worland, Buffalo, Cody, Douglas, Newcastle and Rawlins, along with three teams from the 3A West Lander, Powell and Riverton.
"It's a really important meet for every team because it marks the halfway point in the season, has great competition from all over the state, and for the 3A East teams, is the first time all six teams compete at the same time together in the same pool. Every year we look forward to fast swims from every girl on every team, and I expect this year to be no different. This year with our invite occurring over homecoming weekend, we hope it'll be even more special for our team," said WHS girls swimming coach Mike Blissett.
Having the entire 3A East here for Saturday's meet is a big deal for Worland. The main goal for the Lady Warriors is to see how the team and individual swimmers stack up to their conference competition. By the end of the meet on Saturday, Blissett and his staff will have a better idea where to place their swimmers and how high their divers have to finish if they want to bring home a fifth-straight conference championship.
"The biggest team goal is for us to diagnose where we sit in our conference in terms of strength. We'll get a great mid-season evaluation of not only our team's standing but individual standings in our conference as well," said Blissett. "That said, mostly we're still watching for improvements in time and technique in every girl. If we can get those time drops, and we see evidence of the things we've been working on during practice, then we'll have a fantastic meet."
The last time the Lady Warriors competed at the Aquatic Center was on Sept. 7, since then the team continued to improve and add automatic state qualifiers.
At the Newcastle Invitational on Sept. 15 Ella Stanek (200-yard individual medley), Macy Trombley (200-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle) and Kylie Warren (100-yard freestyle) added to their list of automatic state qualifying events.
The Lady Warrior underclassmen have continued to impress their coaches with big time drops and, according to Blissett, several are on the verge of qualifying for state.
A big reason for the time drops is the hard work the Lady Warriors have put into perfecting their techniques, day in and day out at practice.
"Our girls continue to shed big chunks of time off their swims, especially the freshmen. We're pretty excited about how much improvement our younger girls are showing. We have a couple of girls that are on our radar right now for posting their first state qualifying times, too.
"I think everyone on the team has improved a ton in different ways. Our new girls have been working really hard on technique, which has led to huge time drops. Our sophomores have also worked on technique, and have stepped up their game in their workout intensity, which has also led to time drops," said Blissett. "Our returning seniors are also working incredibly hard in practice, and fine-tuning their skills. While their improvements are not always as obvious or as visible on the scoreboard from week to week as those of the younger girls, they are present and will most definitely pay off in the postseason."
The Warrior Invitational begins at 10 a.m. with diving and once that's finished, the swimming portion of the meet will start afterward with the 200-yard medley relay.
