Dear Editor,
The cities of Rock Springs and Green River have a deep tradition of rivalry that dates back generations. It does not matter if it is a city, company or school event. Nor does it matter if it is a blood drive, Make-A-Wish, or sporting event. Someone is keeping score and someone is being vocal about who is winning and who is losing. Often, someone takes it too far.
However, last week during the Rock Springs verses Green River basketball battles, and amongst the bad weather, the two high schools respectively tried to host swim and dive meets with Laramie and Cheyenne South at their home pools Friday night and Saturday morning. Needless to say, I-80 was closed and both meets were in jeopardy of being canceled. To complicate matters, Rock Springs was trying to host Senior Night on Friday with a spaghetti dinner afterwards shared with the Laramie team.
Friday morning, Rock Springs head coach Ron DeFauw reached out to Green River head coach Colleen Seiloff asking if they could swim in Rock Springs that afternoon. Gratefully, coach Seiloff and Sweetwater School District No. 2 agreed, and we were able to save Senior Night. Furthermore, both teams shared a spaghetti dinner afterwards. Rock Springs High School and Sweetwater One returned the favor and swam in a Green River meet Saturday morning. During the meet and dinner, more than one parent/grandparent commented about how great it was to the see the two teams eating, talking and laughing together.
In this day and era, it is great to see community camaraderie and great sportsmanship between rival high schools. Head coaches DeFauw and Seiloff are leading by example and showing their young men what it means to be good neighbors and that there is more to life than the score.
Stacie Lynch Newberg
Rock Springs
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