Swimmers take 2nd at invite meet

Green River High School's girls swimming team continues to work hard in the pool, gearing up for regionals at home Oct. 13-14.

The girls hosted the Green River Invite Saturday, which attracted swimmers from Gillette, Rock Springs, Evanston, Sublette County, Lyman and Natrona County. Green River ended up taking second with 295 points, finishing behind Gillette's score of 409.

So far, Green River has qualified six swimmers for the state meet in Gillette at the end of October. Those qualifying are Sydni Sanders, Avery Otto-Horn, Ashley Jensen, Cherylann Moritz, Alexis King and Jeese Lauze.

Overall, head coach Colleen Seiloff said the team is performing well in competition and continue to work hard during practices.

"I'm really happy with the progress we've had this year," she said.

The team has been able to make use of the high school's aquatics center more often than last year, which has helped reduce the number of miles the girls have traveled and giving them the benefit of a home crowd to perform in front of. Seiloff said other teams in the region enjoy coming to Green River's facility.

With the state meet in Gillette taking place at the end of October, Seiloff said one of the biggest challenges for the team will be to stay focused on their goals and qualify more swimmers for the meet. Seiloff said a number of girls are finishing close to state-qualifying times and keeping them positive despite not quite making those cutoff times will benefit the team and keep the group competitive. She also said the girls have done a good job of supporting each other over the past several weeks.

In individual events, Sanders finished third in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:08.02, while Kaycee Olson finished ninth, Emily Foerster finished 14th, Cynthia Shereda finished 18th, Demi Tyler took 22nd, and Cassidy Gomez took 24th.

In the 200-meter individual medley, Jensen finished 3rd at 2:30.60, with teammate Moritz taking forth at 2:30.80. Emilee Mandros finished ninth and Bailee Clark took 13th.

In the 50-yard freestyle, Green River's Otto-Horn finished ahead of the pack at 25.21, with her teammate King taking second at 26.33. Patience Bentley took eighth in the event, followed by Jesse Lauze in 10th, Jarin Mandros taking 17th, Miranda Wright finishing 19th, Syonia Jordan in 23rd, Alexis Bybee in 34th, Dannika Kunz in 36th, Merika Moffatt in 38th and Hailey France finishing 48th.

In 1-meter diving, Brianna Rath took third place, while Victoria Allen finished 4th.

In the 100-yard butterfly, Otto-Horn again finished in first place, with a time of 1:00.77. Jensen took third in the event, with a time of 1:09:44, while Olsen finished seventh, and Selena Souza finished 10th.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Emely Reyes finished fifth with a time of 1:04.25. J. Mandros took 11th, Wright finished 15th, Bentley took 16th, Sarah Foerster took 23rd, Gomez took 26th, Shereda took 27th, Tyler took 31st, Bybee finished 40th and France finished 42nd.

For the 500-yard freestyle, Sanders took fourth place with a time of 5:46.65 while Moritz took fifth at 6:06.56. Other Lady Wolves finishing in the event were Emily Foerster in 11th and Clark in 12th place.

King ended the 100-yard backstroke in second place with a time of 1:04.07, while teammate Reyes took seventh at a time of 1:11.49. Sarah Foerster finished 15th and Moffatt took 25th.

In the 100-yard backstroke, Lauze finished fourth with a time of 1:18.73. Emilee Mandros finished seventh in the event at 1:22.05, while Souza took 11th, Jordan placed 14th and Kunz took 23rd.

In team events, Green River's A team finished the 200-yard medley relay in second place with a time of 2:00.29. The GRHS B team took sixth, while the C team took 10th. Green River's D team ended the competition with a disqualification.

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Green River's A team took third at 1:53.01, with the B team finishing seventh at 2:00.00. Green River's D team ended the event in 13th place.

In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Green River's A team finished second at 3:56.03, the B team took seventh with a time of 4:29.19. The C team finished 15th, while the D team ended the event in 17th place.

Earlier in the week, the girls also competed against Gillette Friday, losing to Campbell County High School 103 to 78.