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Article submitted by Tamara Anderson
The Lander girls swimming and diving team hit the water last weekend with a splash to start their season. Friday they traveled to Buffalo to face Buffalo and Newcastle in a triangular meet. At this meet, each swimmer could only swim a maximum of 2 individual events and 2 relays. Coaches, Shawna Morgan, Tim Hester, and Faith Hamilton, strategize to determine which events to enter which swimmers. Nothing new for these coaches who have led the Tiger girls to state championships in the last 4 years. However, how would this team that includes 6 freshmen respond?
The tigers showed up ready to compete and won the meet with a total of 143 points to Buffalo’s 133 and Newcastle’s 29 points. First place finishers were Ashlon Koch (200 yd Freestyle), Lainy Duncan (100 yd Butterfly) and Kristen McPherson (100 yd Backstroke). Strong swims by Koch (500 Free), Lillyan Hamilton (100 Free and 50 Free), Sharon McMahon (100 yd Backstroke), and Maddie Flint (100 yd Breaststroke) earned second places. Lander also earned first place in the 200 yard medley relay and the 400 yard freestyle relay and second place in the 200 yard freestyle relay.
On Saturday, Lander hosted Jackson and Sublette County for the Bruce Gresly Pentathlon. Additional teams were hosted in Riverton due to restrictions on the total number of swimmers per meet. No team scores or places were kept at this meet due to the split-location format. However, Lander showed off some impressive swimming and diving in their home pool. Again Koch led the way, showing her speed and versatility by recording the fastest times in all 5 events she swam. At the pentathlon, swimmers swim up to 5 events and the divers perform 6 dives.
By the end of the weekend, 8 members of the Lander team already earned trips the state meet with qualifying performances. Koch leads the way with qualifying swims in 7 events, followed by Emily Anderson (6 events) and Lainy Duncan (5 events). Others earning qualifying swims include: Lillyan Hamilton, Asha Reid, Kristen McPherson, and Maddie Flint. Diver Skyler Woodruff also qualified.
Coach Morgan said, “I was super excited on how the girls performed last weekend. After all of the restrictions from sports this year and then our pool being closed for extra long with repairs I was a little nervous about how we would perform in our first meets. The girls exceeded my expectations and swam brilliantly! We had personal best times, state qualifying times, tears of joy, tears of pain from being a little out of shape, you name it! I was just happy that we were able to compete and be back in the pool again. Everything about it felt NORMAL and RIGHT! I just hope that we can keep it going and we stay in school and participate in sports. It is so important for kids to be able to do sports! Let’s keep it going!!”
Many different protocols are in place this year due to COVID-19, including limiting spectators at meets. For those fans not able to attend this year, you can still show your support by encouraging these swimmers whenever you see them around town. The team is working on a method to stream the meets through the district webpage for those that cannot attend. Morgan added, “Our team goals for the season are pretty simple this year. We want to successfully complete the season and we want to have fun! 2020 is going to be challenging and we are just going to do our best to stay healthy and COVID free!”
Buffalo Triangular Friday August 28, 2020
200-yd Medley Relay 1. A Lander (K McPherson, E Anderson, L Duncan, A Koch), 3. B Lander 5. C Lander
200-yd Freestyle 1. LAN Ashlon Koch 2:09.12, 2. LAN Sierra Firth 2:28.31, 3. LAN Sharon McMahon 2:29.29, 6. LAN Arianna Applegate 2:46.75
200-yd IM 3. LAN Emily Anderson 2:33.10, 4. LAN Lainy Duncan 2:34.20, 7. LAN Asha Reid 2:40.88, 8. LAN Kristen McPherson 2:47.35, 9. LAN Katelyn Brinda 2:48.49
50-yd Freestyle 2. Lillyan Hamilton 27.02, 5. LAN Maddie Flint 29.40, 7. LAN Josey Johnson 32.54, 8. LAN Morgan Hill 34.00
1-Meter Diving 4. LAN Skyler Woodruff 122.60
100-yd Butterfly 1. LAN Lainy Duncan 1:10.82, 4. LAN Asha Reid 1:17.86, 6. LAN Jessica Baron 1:35.25
100-yd Freestyle 2. LAN Lillyan Hamilton 59.92, 4. LAN Arianna Applegate 1:15.73, 6. LAN Josey Johnson 1:17.15
500-yd Freestyle 2. LAN Ashlon Koch 5:39.42, 4. LAN Emily Anderson 6:18.88, 6. LAN Sierra Firth 6:47.99, 7. LAN Katelyn Brinda 6:48.28
200-yd Freestyle Relay 2. A Lander (K McPherson S McMahon, A Reid, L Hamilton), 3. B Lander (M Flint, A Applegate, M Hill, J Johnson)
100-yd Backstroke 1. LAN Kristen McPherson 1:09.49, 2. LAN Sharon McMahon 1:15.59
100-yd Breaststroke 2. LAN Maddie Flint 1:21.68, 5. LAN Jessica Baron 1:38.08, 6. LAN Morgan Hill 1:55.65
400-yd Freestyle Relay 1. A Lander (L Hamilton, L Dunan, E Anderson, A Koch), 3. B Lander (K Brinda, S Firth, S McMahon, J Baron)
Bruce Gresly Pentathlon Saturday August 29, 2020
100 Yd Butterfly
Ashlon Koch LAN 1:03.99, Lainy Duncan LAN 1:12.00, Emily Anderson LAN 1:14.38, Asha Reid LAN 1:14.61, Lillyan Hamilton LAN 1:15.08, Sharon McMahon LAN 1:17.61, Maddie Flint LAN 1:18.91, Kristen McPherson LAN 1:19.78, Katelyn Brinda LAN 1:24.14, Sierra Firth LAN 1:30.43, Jessica Baron LAN 1:34.60
100 Yd Backstroke
Ashlon Koch LAN 1:03.70, Kristen McPherson LAN 1:08.95, Emily Anderson LAN 1:10.50, Asha Reid LAN 1:10.53, Lainy Duncan LAN 1:12.26, Katelyn Brinda LAN 1:14.20, Maddie Flint LAN 1:15.17, Sharon McMahon LAN 1:15.47, Lillyan Hamilton LAN 1:16.27, Josey Johnson LAN 1:19.83, Arianna Applegate LAN 1:21.25, Sierra Firth LAN 1:23.26, Jessica Baron LAN 1:33.57, Morgan Hill LAN 1:33.63
50 Yd Freestyle
Ashlon Koch LAN 26.39, Lillyan Hamilton LAN 27.54, Lainy Duncan LAN 28.56, Emily Anderson LAN 28.80, Sharon McMahon LAN 29.17, Maddie Flint LAN 30.35, Kristen McPherson LAN 30.54, Katelyn Brinda LAN 30.58, Asha Reid LAN 30.79, Sierra Firth LAN 32.08, Josey Johnson LAN 32.38, Jessica Baron LAN 33.47, Morgan Hill LAN 34.17, Arianna Applegate LAN 35.04
100 Yd Breast stroke
Ashlon Koch LAN 1:14.68, Lainy Duncan LAN 1:15.47, Emily Anderson LAN 1:17.55, Maddie Flint LAN 1:23.19, Asha Reid LAN 1:24.87, Kristen McPherson LAN 1:28.07, Sharon McMahon LAN 1:28.59, Sierra Firth LAN 1:30.40, Katelyn Brinda LAN 1:35.64, Arianna Applegate LAN 1:42.43, Morgan Hill LAN 1:48.00
100 Yd Freestyle
Ashlon Koch LAN 56.61, Lillyan Hamilton LAN 1:00.48, Emily Anderson LAN 1:02.96, Lainy Duncan LAN 1:02.96, Asha Reid LAN 1:05.51, Maddie Flint LAN 1:06.45, Katelyn Brinda LAN 1:06.67, Sharon McMahon LAN 1:07.23, Sierra Firth LAN 1:08.17, Kristen McPherson LAN 1:08.40, Jessica Baron LAN 1:12.67, Arianna Applegate LAN 1:13.43, Josey Johnson LAN 1:13.85, Morgan Hill LAN 1:22.41
Diving
Skyler Woodruff LAN 153.20, Sophie Shearin LAN 77.45