Lady Warriors beginning to peak at the right time of the season

WORLAND - A challenge for every coach is to get their team playing their absolute best when the postseason rolls around, or in other terms peak. For the Worland Lady Warriors swimming team they're beginning to show flashes of their peak and coach Mike Blissett couldn't be happier.

Last week the Lady Warriors had two meets on schedule, Friday they hosted their final home meet of the season against Powell and Riverton. Then Saturday they traveled to Buffalo for the Bison Invitational.

Friday's home meet kicked things off in a positive way for the Lady Warriors. Not only were seniors Kaci Bentley, Meg DeBolt, Kyra Klinghagen and Juli Warren honored for their years in the program, but the team also had a new automatic state qualifier. Sophomore Kelli Frimml qualified for the 3A State meet, on Nov. 2-3 in Laramie, in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:16.20 and placing third.

"Kelli had a fantastic meet," said Blissett. "On top of qualifying for state in the 100 fly, she had a lead-off split on the 200 free relay of 29.31, which to my knowledge is the first official time she's gone under 30 seconds in the 50 free.

Blissett said, "Qualifying for state - especially the first time - is a huge accomplishment, I don't care who it is. It takes hard work and dedication, so when it happens for someone they deserve all of that attention. Kelli has been determined to qualify for weeks, and we couldn't be prouder of her to have achieved that goal."

Frimml had been knocking on the door for AQing over the past few weeks, having just missed out during previous meets.

After qualifying, Frimml was understandably excited and as soon as she got out of the pool she was greeted by her equally excited teammates, who swarmed their teammate to celebrate and offer congratulatory hugs.

Blissett said, "The whole team has been waiting and hoping Kelli would qualify for the past couple of weeks. We all knew she was ready, it was just a matter of her putting together a solid race. Add to the fact that the scoreboard wasn't working and her swim became a huge mystery as to how she was doing. So when she finished, it was kind of a delayed reaction as we made sure she actually qualified, before we started to celebrate.

"That's the kind of thing that energizes the team and the pool, and from that point on our swims got even better. I just love how the girls on this team are so supportive of one another. Sometimes they seem to know their teammates' goals better than their own."

Frimml wasn't the only one turning heads on Friday, Ashanti Pedraza tried her hand at the 200-yard individual medley for the first time, placing fourth with a time of 2:48.20.

"Ashanti Pedraza swam the 200 IM for the first time this season and surprised us with a fast time that's very close to the state qualifying time in that event, so we're going to try to get her to go in that and maybe something else, but it'll be tough with only one weekend left before conference," said Blissett about Pedraza.

Juli Warren qualified for state in diving, making it the second season in a row that she's qualified in every individual event. Warren also won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.80.

Macy Trombley added the 500-yard freestyle, placing third at 6:28.61, to her AQ list, putting her at six total events. Kylie Warren bumped her AQ total to three, qualifying for the 200 IM by winning the event on Friday with a time of 1:13.63.

DeBolt dropped a massive 16 seconds from the 100 freestyle and setting a personal record of 1:25.95 in the process. Seeing Debolt's reaction after the new PR was a highlight unto its own for Blissett.

"We also had some insane time drops by some of our girls, most notable was Meg DeBolt in the 100 free when she cut an amazing 16 seconds off her season-best time. We love huge time drops and the reactions they get from the girls. Meg's race and reaction were both fun to watch. She has been a great addition to our team this season," he said.

This week the Lady Warriors prepare for their final meet of the regular season in Laramie on this Friday and Saturday. There will be plenty of 4A teams on hand in Laramie which brings added competition for Worland but Blissett wants his swimmers to watch those 4A schools in how they prepare for a race or handle themselves in the pool.

Time cuts and more AQs are the goals for the Lady Warriors in Laramie, and Blissett also wants for his state swimmers to get a feel for the Laramie pool because in three weeks they'll be back to finish out the season.

"As we head to Laramie, I have two main ideas that the girls need to get a handle on. For one, the state girls need to feel the water and the energy that the pool in Laramie brings," said Blissett.

"The other thing the whole team needs to see is all the 4A teams there, and not only compete well against them but watch them and learn from them. It might give them an idea or two to try for themselves in practice before we hit conference next week. That process alone might cause our girls to move up a spot in the final standings in their races, or even just place top 12."