Laramie Girls Alpine Skiing Team Finishes Runner-up at Home Race

It was good start to the new alpine skiing season for Laramie High School, as the Lady Plainsmen took second place in the team standings at the Laramie Invite.

Friday and Saturday’s downhill action took place at Snowy Range Ski Area west of Laramie.

The Laramie girls scored 55 points over the two days and came in behind only Jackson (136) in the team race. Senior Lena Weinstein led the way with a fifth place performance Friday with a time of 2:01.20. She followed that up with a fourth place finish Saturday in 1:52.54.

Those times are from two runs down the course that get combined for the final time each day.

Laramie head coach Jasen Mitchell said it was great to see that start to a season.

“We were really excited about the girls. The whole team put in a really good effort. They’re all really motivated to get better, and a second place finish for them is something that hasn’t happened in a while, so I think that can just add to the motivation.”

The Plainsmen took fifth place in the team race with 13 points. Junior Nick Fadial led the way individually with an 11th place performance Saturday.

Laramie returns to the slopes Jan. 19 and 20 on Casper Mountain at Hogadon Ski Area.

Laramie Indoor Track and Field

The new season began with three wins on the track for the Laramie Plainsmen at the Stadium Sports Grill High School Open meet in Spearfish, S.D. last Saturday.

Roman Smith captured the 200 meters. Tyler Dahl won the 400 meters in front of teammate Jason Upton. The final event winner was Philip Henry, who crossed the finish line first in the 3200 meters.

Overall the Plainsmen had 12 performances that placed in the top eight across all the events.

The Lady Plainsmen produced 13 top-8 finishes during the day long meet. A runner-up spot by the 4X400 meter relay was the top effort. Emmy Johnson finished third in the 800 meters and fourth in the 1600 meters.

Laramie head coach Greg Schabron said some of the marks this early are actually ahead of what they typically are.

“What the first meet really provides for us is kind of a baseline to come up with specific areas of training for those athletes. It could be technique in the field events or certain repetition time that distance runners have to hit. That type of thing.”

Laramie head to Gillette Saturday, Jan. 20 for the Gillette Invite at the Campbell County Recreation Center for their second meet of the indoor season.

Laramie Plainsmen Swimming and Diving

The weekend in the pool and on the diving board saw Laramie go 2-1 in a triple home dual last Friday followed by a fourth place at a mid-season invite Saturday.

Laramie beat Sheridan and Natrona, but lost to Kelly Walsh at the LHS Natatorium last Friday. The Plainsmen won four events overall. Connor Fontana touched first for the 200 freestyle win. Max DeYoung won both the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke. Laramie also won the 400 freestyle relay.

That wasn’t enough to beat KW, as the Trojans depth proved too much in a 104.50-to-81.50 outcome. LHS did defeat Sheridan 131-47 and NC 148-35.

Saturday’s mid-season Cheyenne Invite at South saw Laramie score 157 points, but that was only good for fourth place in the team standings. Thunder Basin won the meet with 240 points. Green River (213) was second followed by Kelly Walsh (206) in third. DeYoung won the backstroke for the only victory by the Plainsmen at the meet.

They host Central, East and South Tuesday followed by the conference duals on Friday and Saturday at home.

Laramie Plainsmen Wrestling

Fifth place is where Laramie ended up at the Blazer Duals in Torrington last Saturday.

Laramie opened with a 42-36 victory over Lusk in round one. They lost 39-35 in a close dual to Newcastle in round two. In the third round, Torrington beat LHS 60-22.

In the first match-up round, the Plainsmen beat Burns 45-28. That put them in the fifth place team match against Wheatland, where Laramie prevailed 42-33.

The Plainsmen were led by senior Arsenio Lemus, who went 5-0 at 132 pounds. Junior Zech Aguilar also went 5-0 at 220 pounds. Senior Ryder Senior came in with a 4-1 mark at 138 pounds.

Laramie will host one of their two home duals Wednesday with a conference match against Cheyenne Central. That dual starts at 6 p.m. for the varsity.