Plainsmen Finish Second at Conference Swim Championships

Laramie won three of the 12 events and placed second at the 4A East Conference Boys Swimming and Diving Championships last weekend in Laramie.

The Plainsmen captured first place in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, plus freshman Max DeYoung won the 100 backstroke at the LHS Aquatics Center. It led to 254 team points for Laramie, which was 22 behind conference champion Gillette, who finished with 276 team points. Sheridan took third with 188 points, which was ahead of Cheyenne South, Cheyenne East and Cheyenne Central.

LHS head coach Tom Hudson said when it came to the team performance,

“I thought we competed really hard for how tired we were. They really fought hard and finished every race with a lot of heart.”

Laramie tied for first in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:31.90 with Cheyenne South. They came back three events later and won by nearly three seconds over Sheridan in the 400 free relay. The time was 3:22.85.

DeYoung rolled to a near five second victory in the backstroke. His winning time was 55.26 with second being at 59.94.

Laramie completed the finals with 14 finishes in the top six. Junior Logan Pickard added a runner-up in the 100 freestyle, while senior Matt Mittelstaedt took second in the 500 free.

The Plainsmen added their 12th state qualifier, when freshman Sean Clerkin made the marks in both the 200 and 500 freestyle races.

LHS returns to competition with a Last Chance qualifying meet Friday at South High School in Cheyenne. It starts at 4 p.m. The 4A Boys State Swimming and Diving Championships are Feb. 23 and 24 in Gillette.