Laramie High School Cross Country and Volleyball Perform Well

A clean sweep in cross country and a top finish on the volleyball court highlighted action in the fall sports from Laramie High School last weekend.

The Laramie Lady Plainsmen volleyball team (8-2) placed third in the gold bracket of the Gillette Invitational.

Laramie went 3-0 in pool play last Friday with two set wins over 2A Sundance and 3A Rawlins. They rallied to beat Natrona County in three sets, 6-25, 25-22 and 25-21. Sophomore Jennifer Aadland had 19 kills, while junior Katie Welniak contributed 30 digs on defense.

Saturday the Lady Plainsmen opened the top bracket with a 25-23, 25-22 victory over Billings West (MT). In the semifinals, they fell to Cheyenne East 27-29 and 18-25. That pit LHS against Kelly Walsh for third. Laramie got revenge, as they lost in two sets the week before to the Trojans. Scores of that match were 29-27 and 25-22. On the day, Aadland had 20 kills and 21 digs in the three matches. Junior Maia Edwards added 15 kills and seven blocks, while junior Lexi Pulley had 31 digs and Welniak added 10 service aces.

Lady Plainsmen head coach Becky Stewart said we played better from a mental approach.

“I thought we stayed engaged the entire tournament. We were less like a roller coaster of emotions, and so I was really proud of us for that.”

Cross Country

The Laramie High School cross country teams ran over the competition in all four divisions at the Rawlins Invitation last Friday.

Junior Liam McInroy won the boys race, as the Plainsmen went 1-4. Laramie scored 18 points and easily topped the nine-team field.

Senior Maria-Smith Lopez came in second in the girls’ varsity race by only four seconds. She led a 2-6 effort for the Lady Plainsmen, who won the team title with 20 points.

Laramie also won the boy’s and girls’ JV divisions with 26 and 17 points, respectively. Senior Hailey Schmidt and freshmen Mason Swingholm won those races.

Head coach Greg Schabron said, “The kids ran very well after a great week of hard training. Both the girls and guys ran well as a team, very tight pack, as they were conservative the first mile, and it was fun to watch them open up and get stronger as the race progressed.”

Tennis

Laramie wrapped a very busy week with victories by both teams on senior day.

The Lady Plainsmen went 3-1 on the week. They lost to Kelly Walsh 3-2 and beat Natrona County 4-1 last Tuesday. Thursday was a big win over defending state champ Cheyenne Central, 4-1, in the Capital City. LHS sent their four senior girls out on a high note with a 5-0 sweep of Cheyenne East last Friday at home. Senior Lucia Cho went 4-0 at number one singles.

The Plainsmen post a 2-2 record for last week. They beat Kelly Walsh 3-2, but fell to NC 3-2. They also suffered a 3-2 defeat Thursday at Central before a 4-1 victory over East last Friday. The number one doubles duo of Ky Fike and Miles Stump went 4-0 for the week.

On the season the Lady Plainsmen are 5-1 in duals, while the Plainsmen are 4-2.

Girls Swimming and Diving

Laramie hosted three duals at the new LHS Natatorium last Friday and Saturday. The Lady Plainsmen went 2-1 and added a new state qualifier.

They lost to Gillette 114-72 last Friday in a head-to-head showdown with the favored Lady Camels. Laramie won only three events. Maggie Clerkin won the 200 freestyle, Megan Colter took first in the 100 backstroke and Teryn White won diving. In fact, LHS went 1-6 on the diving board.

Their state qualifier was Madison Nagy, who made the state time for the 200 individual medley.

Saturday was a double dual against the Casper schools. The Lady Plainsmen dominated both, as they won all 12 events versus Kelly Walsh and Natrona County. LHS defeated KW 101-74 and NC 112-31.

The Laramie girls are 3-1 on the dual season.

Golf

The varsity golf teams played last Thursday and Friday at the Sheridan Invite. They were on the links for 36 holes at Kendrick Golf Course. Results are coming.