Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Warrior diver Simon Dalebout flips through the air during a dive attempt during the Warrior Invitational Saturday morning at the Worland Aquatic Center.
WORLAND - The Wyoming boys swimming season has reached the midseason point and with the conference and state meets quickly approaching, the next few weeks are going to be crucial to the Worland Warriors success in the pool and on the diving board.
"If you can swim close to your best time at this point in the season that's really good because we've got a lot of meets and we'll be in our harder part of our practices," said WHS boys swimming assistant coach Justin Howe.
Coming off a three-meet week last week in which the Warriors traveled to Buffalo last Tuesday and hosted the Warrior Pre-Invitational on Friday and the Warrior Invitational on Saturday. Both Howe and WHS boys swimming head coach Jeff Bishop were pleased with their swimmers and divers efforts during last week's meets.
"It was a good weekend and we saw some good things from the boys," said Bishop.
Added Howe, "Andrew's 100 back was really good, he cut some time there. Zach Cole is a sprinter and he's close to qualifying in the 500. Our fast guys are pretty much where we expected them to be."
Among those Warrior swimmers and divers that stood out during last week's meets, was freshman diver Simon Dalebout and the progress he's made on the diving board as well as in the pool.
"Simon is improving and he's getting more confident with his dives. He's really showing that drive right now, he knows where he wants to be and has probably done 100 dives tonight [during the Warriors practice Tuesday night]," said Bishop. "Every time he gets on the board he's improving, and each time he's in the water he gets better too. He works really hard at everything he does."
All in all, the weekend for the Warriors was another positive point in the season and Bishop was pleased with the community support his team received during their home meets, as well as the best working officials in the state.
"It was really cool that the [WHS] band came over. It was awesome, I know they were here to support Gabe [Durrant] but it really benefitted us all. We had a lot of community support too to help with timing. Our officials were outstanding and they are really good at what they do," said Bishop.
The Warriors again have three meets scheduled for the week and have already completed one on Tuesday, the Powell Triangular. Friday they travel to Cody for a dual against the Broncs, then cap the weekend with the Lander Invitational.
This week and next will be among the toughest stretches for the Warriors. They have six meets during that span and have to grind through their toughest practices of the year. But after the Gillette Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 26, their taper begins and that's when Bishop and Howe will have a better idea of which events each Warrior will compete in to best maximize the team's point total come conference and state.
A lot of Worland's event placement for the postseason depends on the layout of the field. Lander and Rawlins are going to offer tough competition since both teams are talented and have larger rosters. Lyman is the only team the Warriors haven't seen this season but that will change as they are scheduled to be at the Lander Invitational this Saturday. Getting a look at Lyman should help Bishop and Howe better piece together how the 3A postseason is going to play out.
"That Gillette meets [on January 25-26], both days are going to be rough. There's going to be a lot of tough teams there and that's going to be exciting," said Bishop. "We haven't seen Lyman yet and I believe that's the only team in 3A we haven't swum against. They're a big question mark right now, we hear they're amazing and other times we hear they're not so amazing.
Added Howe about Rawlins, "They're faster than I thought and we'll have to guess where they're going to place their swimmers for conference and state."
