(Lander, WY) – It was a busy weekend for the Lander Valley High School girls swim team this weekend after the Tigers hosted the Lander Relays on Friday, and the Bruce Gresly Pentathlon on Saturday, August 27th and 28th.
Coach Shawna Morgan of the Lander Valley High School Swim and Dive Team said the goal of the team in 2021 is “to have fun,” and these athletes looked to be doing just that as they cheered on their teammates at the opening swim meets at the Bruce Gresly Aquatic Center.
On Friday, the Tigers hosted 5 teams for the Lander Relays and walked away with the victory. This swim meet featured 4 individual events along with 7 relays.
The relays included events you won’t see at other meets, including a 200 yard butterfly relay and a 500 yard freestyle relay with swimmers swimming 50, 100, 150, and 250 yard legs.
Lander won 9 of the 11 events to capture the meet with 391 points over second place Kemmerer with 232.
Lander was led by first place finishes from Ashlon Koch in the 200 yard freestyle, Lily Hamilton in the 50 yard freestyle, Asha Reid in the 100 yard backstroke, and Emily Anderson in the 100 yard breaststroke.
On Saturday, Lander continued their strong performances at the Bruce Gresly Pentathlon. Over 100 swimmers and divers from 10 teams competed.
At this event, swimmers competed in 5 events (100 butterfly, 100 backstroke, 50 freestyle, 100 breaststroke, and 100 freestyle) and their total times for all 5 events were combined to determine the overall winners.
Six Lander swimmers placed in the top 20, including: Ashlon Koch 3rd, Emily Anderson 5th, Lainy Duncan 7th, Asha Reid 11th, Lara Robertson 14th, and Sharon McMahon 20th.
Sophie Shearin placed 4th in the diving competition.
The overall winner of the pentathlon was decided in the last race of the day as Tara Joyce of Cody took the final freestyle race and beat out second place finisher Makenna Lambert of Buffalo for the overall lead by less than one second (4:42.42 to 4:42.38).
Throughout the season the girls try to improve their performances to reach a qualifying mark for the state meet. Several girls reached that mark already last weekend: Ashlon Koch, Lainy Duncan, Emily Anderson, Sharon McMahon, Lara Robertson, Asha Reid, and Lily Hamilton.
Coach Morgan had this to say about the team:
“This year’s team has 27 athletes. We’ve got a lot of first time swim team members which is pretty cool. Three new seniors: KayKay Sandall joins the team after running cross country for 3 years. In her first high school meet she posted a time that is only 6 seconds away from qualifying in the 100 breastroke! Carly Schultz joins us after she moved to Lander from California last year. She has beautiful swimming technique and is trying diving as well. Irene Remoli-Candel joins us from way across the pond, Spain. She swam for her town team back in Spain and was a gymnast.”
The Tigers are back in action Friday September 3rd in Green River. The team is coached by Morgan, Tim Hester, and Faith Hamilton.
The above information was provided by Lander Swimming.
Below are the results in full.
Lander Relays:
8/27/21Team Scores: Lander 391, Kemmerer 232, World 216, Riverton 183, Sublette 173, Newcastle 79
200 Yard Medley Relay: 1. Lander A 2:07.64, 4. Lander B 2:15.52, 6. Lander C 2:21.69, 8. Lander D 2:34.17
200 Yard Freestyle: 1. A. Koch 2:05.39, 2. L. Robertson 2:14.89, 8. J. Baron 2:44.05, 12. K. Lyles 3:07.51
400 Yard Medley Relay: 1. Lander A 4:41.85, 5. Riverton A 5:38.28
50 Yard Freestyle: 1. L. Hamilton LAN 27.52, 2. M. Osborne RHS 28.60, 4. S. McMahon LAN 29.51, 5. K. Vincent RHS 30.01, 7. L. Piper RHS 31.24, 8. C. Schell LAN 31.99, 10. S. Shelley LAN 32.43, 12. A. Santee RHS 33.94, 15. C. Frude LAN 35.26
Diving: 2. E McKee RHS 142.60, 5. S. Shearin LAN 129.50, 6. M. Witzel RHS 120.70, 9. E. Sanders RHS 81.45
200 Yard Butterfly Relay: 1. Lander A 2:01.87
100 Yard Freestyle: 2. K. Brinda LAN 1:04.10, 3. B. Mullins RHS 1:04.69, 4. A. Nachazel LAN 1:06.13, 5. K. Vincent RHS 1:06.15, 7. C. Schell LAN 1:12.99, 8. A. Santee RHS 1:15.05, 11. S. DeClercq RHS 1:18.88, 14. K Winn LAN 1:24.80
500 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Lander A 5:35.12
200 Yard Freestyle Relay: 2. Lander A 1:58.93, 3. RHS A 2:02.88, 5. Lander B 2:07.14, 9. Lander D 2:21.64
100 Yard Backstroke: 1. A. Reid LAN 1:08.60, 2. T. Reisig LAN 1:13.33, 6. K. Plaisted LAN 1:19.82, 7. A. Applegate LAN 1:22.66, 8. P. Loomis RHS 1:22.87
100 Yard Breaststroke: 1. E. Anderson LAN 1:15.73, 2. L. Dunan LAN 1:17.32, 4. B. Mullins RHS 1:23.32, 5. M. Flint LAN 1:26.84, 6. K. Sandall LAN 1:27.77, 10. S. Shelley LAN 1:38.47, 11. C. Schultz LAN 1:40.74, 12. K. Winn LAN 1:42.43, 13. S. DeClercq RHS 1:50.68
400 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Lander A 4:08.10, 2. Lander B 4:28.75, 6. Lander D 5:09.39, 7. Lander C 5:20.59
Bruce Gresly Pentathlon:
Diving 6 Dives: 9. M. Witzel RHS 112.00, 10. E. Sanders RHS 111.10
Diving 11 Dives: 4. S. Shearin LAN 216.20, 5. E. McKee RHS 207.50
Combined Pentathlon Events Results:
3. A. Koch LAN 4:48.60, 5. E. Anderson LAN 5:04.09, 7. L. Duncan LAN 5:05.62, 11. A. Reid LAN 5:22.34, 14. L. Robertson LAN 5:23.74, 20. S. McMahon LAN 5:39.14, 21. B. Mullins RHS 5:40.56, 22. M. Osborne RHS 5:41.27, 25. K. Vincent RHS 5:46.52, 28. T. Reisig LAN 5:47.55, 29. K. Brinda LAN 5:47.75, 31. A. Nachazel LAN 5:51.57, 45. K. Plaisted LAN 6:10.62, 55. A. Applegate LAN 6:27.17, 56. K. Sandall LAN 6:27.99, 59. J. Baron LAN 6:40.60, 70. K. Lyles LAN 7:16.89, 72. K. Winn LAN 7:24.04.