Four Warriors qualify in first meet

WORLAND - In their first swimming meet of the season, four Worland Warriors qualified for the 3A State meet in Laramie on Feb. 17-18.

"I couldn't be happier with the first meet," said WHS boys swimming and diving coach Justin Howe. "We had four qualifiers, and it really stems from their practice. I haven't had to motivate this year. I give them their workout, and the captains take it from there. We're just swimming and working hard. The kids who didn't qualify are right there. We figure to add a bunch more this weekend."

The four Warriors qualifying for state at the Powell Invitational on Dec. 12 were Trae Bennett, Gavin McEndree, Traeten Quigley and Gage Stanek.

Quigley won and qualified in the 100-yard butterfly (56.56) and 50-yard freestyle (24.37).

Stanek qualified in the 200-yard individual medley finishing first with a time of 2:15.79 and taking second in the 100-yard backstroke (1:01.22).

Bennett placed second and qualified in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:15.23); McEndree took fourth in the 100-yard backstroke and qualified with a 1:06.41.

"For those guys, the offseason work really paid off. They were swimming USA and swimming in the mornings. It was a super start for them and the team," said Howe.

Other highlights include the Warriors taking the top three spots in the 100-yard freestyle. Cooper Walker won the race, touching the wall at 59.60. Finishing second and third were Jack Bishop (1:00.66) and Gavin McEndree (1:03.08), respectively.

Two of the three Warrior relay teams won - the

200-yard medley relay of McEndree, Bennett, Quigley, and Stanek (1:49.51) and the 200-yard freestyle relay of Bishop, Stanek, Cooper and Quigley (1:44.31).

The Warriors have 15 athletes out for this season. With the early qualifiers and a handful more just off from qualifying, the Warriors will be scratching off some of their in-season goals.

"They each have individual goals that they've written down so that they can cross off at some point this season. Some guys have already crossed off a goal or two. In the long run, we're looking at state and should have guys qualify in the top six and challenging for a state title," said Howe.

Having those in-season and long-term goals in place will make it easier for the Warriors to keep pushing themselves in practice. And if that doesn't work, the clock is always there to remind them they can be better.

"In swimming, it's easier for a coach because you always have that clock, and you want that time to keep going down. If you're ahead of everybody, you're still racing that clock. I'm not a yardage guy, we want quality and to keep work toward that," said Howe. "The boys have bought into it, and I'm just having a blast."

Having been an assistant coach within the Warrior program for over a decade, Howe is now in charge of the program. The transition to head coach has been an easy one, having been a part of the program for so long.

"It's not much of anything new because I've had good coaches who have worked with me in the past. It's really not much of a transition, and we've just picked up where we left off from last season," said Howe.

If the Warriors can continue building on their outstanding start in Powell, they can get into the mix for some 3A East conference hardware. Worland will have their work cut out for them with the likes of Buffalo, Cody and Powell to compete against, and it should make for an entertaining 3A East conference meet.

"I look forward to it being tougher with Cody and Powell in the conference. Powell has numbers this season, and Stephanie [Warren, Powell's swimming coach] does an awesome job with her team. Buffalo is just fast, and they keep coming, they're always refueling," said Howe.

The Warriors are in Riverton this weekend for the Riverton Invitational. The Rawlins Pentathlon was canceled due to weather-related road closures. The Pentathlon was a good spot to get some early-season qualifiers, but with the cancelation, Worland will have to use other meets to get those qualifiers.

"That Pentathlon was really nice because every swimmer swims in every event, and you can knock out a bunch of qualifiers. We don't have that, and now we have to make up for that to get those qualifiers we would have had," said Howe.