Five Warriors qualify for state in first week of swimming

WORLAND - Starting their season on an excellent note, five Worland Warrior swimmers qualified for the 3A State meet in February during the first weekend of the season.

Swimming at the Powell quad on Dec. 9 and the Cody Pentathlon on Dec. 10, Warriors Trae Bennett, Walker Cooper, Canton Green, Gage Stanek and Wyatt Whitlock punched their ticket to state.

"Wyatt Whitlock was awesome in the 200 IM," said WHS swimming and diving coach Justin Howe. "Gage was second in the 100 back, and it's probably the third fastest time in 3A right now. That gives us a goal in trying to beat the Cody kid, who is fast but so is Gage."

Stanek led the Warriors with the most qualifying events, with five. The senior qualified in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly.

Whitlock qualified in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly. He currently holds the fastest 3A time in the 200 IM with 2:19.31.

Cooper qualified in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle; Green qualified in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke, 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard breaststroke; Trae Bennett qualified in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Other highlights for the Warriors on the opening weekend of the season were Noah Mitchell and Tyson Hoopes. Diving for the first time, Mitchell nearly qualified for state last weekend, and Hoops, a newcomer to swimming, chose to swim against varsity during the Cody Pentathlon.

"A big highlight was Noah in diving. He just had courage. He'll get up there and try anything, and that's what it takes in diving. He's close to qualifying, and I expect him to qualify soon because he's already started throwing harder dives.

"Tyson Hoopes is learning techniques, and at the pentathlon, I gave him the option of swimming JV, which is 50s or varsity, which is 100s. He picked varsity and didn't DQ in anything, which is impressive," said Howe. "Trae Bennett was another standout. He went 1:10 in the 100-breaststroke, which is outstanding for the start of the year. I look forward to him making the finals at state."

Seeing Hoopes choose to swim varsity was exciting for Howe, seeing one of his swimmers accept a challenge like that. It was also a testament to the Warriors leadership in that they push themselves every day in practice and are willing to help their younger and inexperienced teammates.

"It's huge that we have such determined guys on the team. My captains can run practice, and they know what it takes and know what to do. For my new guys, they're swimming with Gage Stanek, one of the fastest swimmers in 3A. Gage is so willing to help new guys or any of his teammates. Wyatt does the same thing," said Howe.

As competitive as they are, the Warriors have set high goals to match their competitiveness and ambition. Many Warriors, like Stanek, aim to make the A Finals during this year's state meet.

"My higher-level swimmers, we're looking past qualifying. We want to place at state, and that starts right now. You have to build yourself up for taper, and you have to push yourself right now. We're looking to get guys in the finals, not the consolation finals," said Howe.

To achieve those goals set for this season, the Warriors are working hard in practice and trying to master the techniques that make the difference between an A and B finals.

This week's focus for Worland, as they prepare for meets in Riverton on Friday and Saturday, is their underwater technique.

"We've been working on a lot of technique and our underwater technique, which is huge in swimming. We've been pushing that a lot early on, and if you ask the guys what they're working on, hopefully, they'll say underwaters," said Howe.