The girls of Wyoming high school swimming had their state championships over the weekend, and a pair of win streaks extended. In class 3A, for the state’s smaller schools, Jackson Hole cruised to victory, its third-consecutive state title. In class 4A, for the bigger schools, Campbell County won their second-straight title.
Iliana Jones was the biggest individual mover and shaker, winning dual titles in 4A and smashing two state records. In 3A, both Morgan Gramlich and Carolyn Kennedy took double individual wins.
Class 3A (small schools)
Jackson Hole High School didn’t need a single individual event win to roll away with the 3A title, it’s third consecutive year doing so. The school did sweep all three relays, though, and won by 156 over Powell High.
With three of the four legs of last year’s state record-setting team returning, Jackson Hole was untouchable in the 200 medley. Sophomore Hannah Clancy was the newcomer, leading off in 28.95 and getting her squad an early lead. Then came the returnees: Avery MacFarland on breaststroke, Alanna DeMuro on fly and Elsa Smith on free, all three juniors. the team went 1:54.47 to win easily, aided further by a DQ from Powell High.
Smith and DeMuro made up the front half of the winning 200 free relay as well. They were joined by Abbie Shockley and Jaime Pardee to go 1:41.86, another easy win. Shockley was 25.16 swimming third, the team’s fastest split. The girls were just a half second off their own state record set a year ago.
It was then Shockley, a junior, and Pardee, a senior, who went on to win the 400 free relay. Clancy returned from the medley to lead off, and Reily Gibson manned the other leg for Jackson Hole, which went 3:48.28. Pardee had the best split, going 55.33 on the anchor leg.
Lander senior Morgan Gramlich won twice, taking the 200 free (1:59.46) and 500 free (5:24.78). That vaulted her team to third overall, but wasn’t quite enough to run down Powell for runner-up honors.
Also winning twice was Worland senior Carolyn Kennedy. She swept the sprint races, going 24.80 in the 50 and 54.50 in the 100.
Powell High wound up second as a team, and got an event win from junior Amanda Tracy. Winner of the 200 free last year, Tracy moved to the 200 IM this season and won in 2:18.10.
A pair of seniors won back-to-back titles through the middle of the meet. First, Buffalo High’s Jenna Elmlinger picked up the 1-meter diving win, scoring 324.84 to win handily. Then Rawlins High’s Katelyn Olson capped off her high school career with a state title, going 1:01.65 to win the 100 fly.
Then towards the end of the meet, two sophomore took consecutive races. They were Newcastle’s Rachel Henkle in the 100 back (1:01.81) and Douglas’s Brooke Perala in the 100 breast (1:10.32).
Team Scores:
- Jackson Hole – 296
- Powell – 140
- Lander – 125
- Worland – 123
- Douglas – 104
Class 4A (big schools)
Campbell County High made it two straight class 4A titles, scoring 350 points to win the big school division.
The individual star, though, was Kelly Walsh High School’s Iliana Jones, who broke two state records as a senior. Jones was on her game early, going 1:51.30 to take the 200 free title by over five seconds, smashing a state record in the process. She was also the best in state history in the 100 free, where she went 50.37 to win by four seconds.
Campbell County nearly got a state record from sophomore Rylie Pilon, who won perhaps the most exciting race of the night. Pilon squared off with Cheyenne East’s Abby Urban in the 200 IM and the race was a doozy. Urban, last year’s state champ in the 200 free, roared out to a two-second lead on butterfly (26.56 to 28.63) and maintained it through the backstroke leg. But then Pilon started to accelerate. She made up nearly a second on breaststroke with a 37.35 split, then blasted a 29.55 to pass Urban and touch her out by just .01 for the state title.
Pilon was 2:07.73 and Urban 2:07.74. Both were just a half-second off the state record, which has stood since 2009.
Urban would go on to get a state title in her senior year, though, crushing the 100 fly field in 57.80.
Campbell County swept all three relays, and Pilon had a hand in one of them. The 200 free relay was 1:39.45 to win, with Pilon leading off in 25.09. The fastest split came from Sani Carsrud on the anchor leg at 23.90. Also on the squad were Annie Waldum and Emmalee Carsrud.
Waldum, a junior, was the other individual winner for Campbell County, defending her state title in the 100 breast in 1:05.35. She also competed on the 200 medley relay, splitting 29.89 on breaststroke to help her team outlast Cheyenne Central 1:51.71 to 1:52.02. Also on the winning Campbell relay were Taylor Schiefelbein (back), Emily Jewell (fly) and Emmalee Carsrud (free).
Campbell County powered away with the last relay, going 3:40.98 to win by over five seconds.
One of the most exciting young swimmers in the meet was Rock Springs High School’s Rebecka Anderson, who won two individual races as a freshman. Anderson took the 500 free in 5:12.21, just about three seconds off the state record. She took one event to rest, then got right back in the pool to pace the 100 back in 59.84.
Samantha Geyer was another freshman winner. The Cheyenne Central product took the 50 free in 24.60. The other individual winner was Cheyenne East’s Peyton GrandPre, who took 1-meter diving with a score of 386.45, just a point up on Laramie’s Ryleigh Kobbe.
Team Scores:
- Cambell County – 250
- Laramie – 236
- Cheyenne Central – 145
- Cheyenne East – 144
- Sheridan – 131