Laramie Sweeps Conference Cross Country

Both of the Laramie High School cross country teams stood atop the podium last Friday at the 4-A East Conference Cross Country Championships.

The domination of the Plainsmen was expected and continued, but the bigger story was the Lady Plainsmen broke through with their first conference title.

The Laramie girl’s finished with 48 points to beat Gillette by nine points and Central by 22. Maria Smith-Lopez and Allison McElwee came in third and fourth to lead L-H-S to the 4-A East crown.

Kyleigh Bingham, Paige Trent and Claire Hamerlinck all placed in the top 16, which enabled the Lady Plainsmen to dethrone the Lady Camels.

Head coach Greg Schabron said the girls really earned this with hard work.

“They’ve kind of been in the shadow of the boy’s dominating performances, but their workouts have shown this is definitely attainable. So, the way things fell into place Friday, hearing them announce that score, it was awesome to see their faces.”

Laramie’s boys were only eight points away from a perfect score, as they won their fourth consecutive 4-A East Conference championship. It also marked their seventh in the last eight years. They scored 23 points.

Schabron said, “They’ve learned to adjust and adapt to whatever race settings, which is what you need going to state. You never know what’s going to happen.”

Chris Henry won his second straight individual conference title in a time of 16:02.09.

Albert Steiner was only 31 seconds behind in third place. Teammates Colin Rucinski, Liam McInroy and Philip Henry finished in fifth, sixth and eighth, respectively. Laramie’s other two runners came in 10th and 11th.

Sheridan was second with 68 points, while Gillette ended up third on their home course with 73 points.

Both Laramie teams are preparing for the 2015 State Cross Country Championships Saturday in Sheridan.

Swimming & Diving

The Laramie Lady Plainsmen finished runner-up at the 4-A East Conference Swimming and Diving Championships. Laramie compiled 268.5 team points over the two-day meet.

Gillette won the competition by 358 points, which was 89.5 ahead of L-H-S.

Lady Plainsmen head coach Tom Hudson said the conference meet went according to plan.

“We got a solid second place; quite a bit of distance away from Gillette at the top; we knew that was going to happen. Although, it was closer than what it was seeded. We did make up a few points, and then a solid 40-50 points ahead of Central and Sheridan.”

Ryleigh Kobbe was the only event winner. She captured the diving with a conference record score of 453.75 points. Kobbe held the old mark of 441.65 set last year. Teammate Peyton Giehm finished second with 342.10 points.

Other top performances came from Shelby Brown and Catie Weathermon, who were second and third in the 50 freestyle. The Lady Plainsmen’s 200 freestyle relay ended up second, while the 400 freestyle relay came in third.

Laramie added three new state qualifiers. Senior Hailey Anderson made it in the 50 and 100 freestyle. Freshman Kelcey Anderson qualified in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. The third qualifier was sophomore Abby Killpack in the 100 backstroke.

The Lady Plainsmen will now prepare for the 4-A State Championships in Gillette October 30 and 31.