Four Lady Warrior seniors to be honored during senior night in dual vs. Cody

WORLAND - It's homecoming week and senior night for the Worland Lady Warriors swimming and diving team. Tonight four seniors will be honored in the dual against Cody at 5 p.m., and tomorrow, the team hosts a triangular against Green River and Powell at 4 p.m., both at the Worland Aquatic Center.

The Lady Warrior seniors being honored tonight are Kaila Harris, Annalise Newell, Ella Stanek and Kylie Warren. The quad has not only contributed well in the pool, but they also stepped into leadership roles sooner than expected.

"This is an interesting group because they've had to lead this team, or have a hand in leading it since before they were ready, or even willing," said WHS girls swimming and diving coach Mike Blissett. "This year they have embraced their role on our team and become great mentors for the younger girls. I know we'll see the impact that our seniors this year have made on our team for years to come."

The leadership shown by this year's seniors has been on display all season. When one of their younger teammates finishes an event, one of the four seniors is the first to congratulate them and offer some advice and tips.

That's been the MO all season, even at last week's triangular meet against Lander and 4A Jackson.

"The Lander meet went well, it ended up being a triangular with Lander and Jackson. That meant more competition for our team, which always helps," said Blissett. "Our whole team continues to make obvious improvements each week in the water and on the board, and we have several girls who are inching closer to either qualifying for state in their first event, or adding another state event."

Automatic qualifying for the 3A State meet in Laramie on Nov. 6-7 at the Lander Triangular were Kelli Frimml and Warren. For Warren, she added the 100-yard butterfly to her AQ list, bringing her total to eight and meaning she's qualified for every individual event this season. Then Frimml (2:42.53) added the 200-yard individual medley to her qualifying list to go with her 100-yard butterfly.

"That's definitely not an easy accomplishment, and speaks to how talented an athlete she is. We're grateful to have her on our team," said Blissett about Warren.

While they didn't qualify, Blissett still thought Stanek and Ashlyn Erickson had great meets in Lander. Stanek had a breakthrough in the backstroke, and Erickson continued her streak of setting personal records.

"I think Ella Stanek had a fantastic meet. She's been working very hard all season on her backstroke technique and hadn't seen much in terms of payoff, but in Lander, that persistence finally came through and she had a great swim with a season-best time that we're both looking forward to building on in the coming weeks. She looked great in the water in her other events too, and I was really excited for her.

"I also really like what Ashlyn Erickson is doing this season. Every time she gets in the water, she drops time. In fact, she has broken her own personal record in the 500 free in each of the last three meets that she swam the race. She's another girl who is working very hard in practice, and killing it in the meets. I'm excited to see how the remainder of the season shapes up for her," said Blissett.

Technique and yardage are the focal points for Worland this week. This point in the season is when conditioning is ramped up, and as for technique. The work is never done, there's always room for improvement there.

"We honestly never stop working on technique. I still saw some bad habits popping up this week in Lander that we have to fix," said Blissett. "This week and next week are probably the most critical weeks of the year in terms of yardage in the pool, being deliberate in our effort, and coaches being picky about bad habits. I guess that can come across as not fun, but they know it pays off in the end."