Thanks to wins in seven events, the Laramie Lady Plainsmen dominated their way to a third straight Class 4A Girls’ State Swimming and Diving Championship.

Laramie swept the relays and had individual wins from Olivia McPherson, Sage Morton, and Katie McPherson. They scored 348 points and won by a margin of 140 points. That’s 11 points better than 2018’s gap over second place.

Green River was runner-up (208 points), while Cheyenne Central came in third (191 points).

The Lady Plainsmen also swept the major awards. For the second straight year, Olivia McPherson won both the ‘Athlete of the Meet’ and ‘Athlete of the Year’ honors. Tom Hudson was named the 4A Coach of the Year, and his assistants, Tamara Bretting and Ben Herdt tied for ‘Assistant Coach of the Year.’

This was the sixth state title for LHS with Hudson as the head coach.

Individually in the pool, Laramie was led by senior Olivia McPherson, who won the 50 freestyle race for a fourth consecutive year. Her winning time was 23.29 seconds, which is an All-American consideration time. McPherson then broke her own state record twice in the 100 breaststroke and won that event for the first time in her career at a state meet. Her victorious time was 1:02.65 and topped a record set in the prelims on Friday.

Senior Sage Morton led a 1-2-3 sweep for LHS in the 500 freestyle race. Morton won it by 21 seconds with a time of 5:04.17. Morton added a runner-up in the 200 freestyle race.

Junior Katie McPherson won the 100 freestyle event in 52.97 seconds for her first individual state title. She came in second to her sister Olivia in the 50 free, by .61 seconds.

For the first time in school history for girls’ swimming, Laramie won all three relays. All three were around four seconds better than the runner-up team.

Two other standouts won a pair of events in Campbell County’s Berkeley Christensen and Rock Springs’ Abi Robinson-Kim.

Christensen won her second straight title in the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly events. The sophomore won the 200 free in a time of 1:54.64 and the 100 butterfly in 56.87 seconds.

Robinson-Kim took first place in the 200 individual medley race and the 100 backstroke race. Her victorious times were 2:08.72 and 58.70 seconds, respectively. The sophomore was runner-up in both of those events a year ago.

Another repeat winner was Natrona junior Gabriella Haigler. She won diving for a second straight year with 387.20 points.

Sheridan’s Zoe Robison was the winner of 4A’s Sportsmanship Award.

 

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