Laramie Finishes as Runner-Up at State Swimming

The Laramie Lady Plainsmen finished in second place at the 4-A State Swimming and Diving Championships last weekend in Gillette.

Laramie scored 272 points, which put them behind only the home-standing Camels, who put up 378 points.

L-H-S head coach Tom Hudson said,

“It was one of the best state meets that we’ve ever had; tremendous time drops throughout the whole entire meet. We got, like, 80 percent of our kids back in finals or consolation finals.”

The Lady Plainsmen won one title and ended up with 15 top-six individual finishes. Out of those, Laramie had four in the top-three. They also broke a school record in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:40.40.

The title came on the diving board, as for the third time in four years, Ryleigh Kobbe captured the event. The senior scored 424 points and won by 34.5 points.

Kobbe said the loss last year was motivation and to win three out of four is a big accomplishment.

“It feels good that all of my work in the pool has paid off. Honestly, I just did what I do best and just had fun, and it ended up working.”

Kobbe earned her fourth All-State honor in the process.

Other top three finishes came from Maggie Clerkin, Jennifer Snyder and Catie Weathermon.