WORLAND - Going eight deep the Worland Warriors boys swimming team went toe-to-toe with their conference rivals during the 3A East Conference meet last Friday and Saturday in Buffalo. Going against much larger teams the Warriors were able to finish third with 213.5 points, had two swimmers named swimmers of the year and had four of their swimmers earn All-Conference honors.

Worland head coach Jeff Bishop and assistant coach Justin Howe were thrilled by their team's results and even noted they just missed out on second place. Buffalo finished second with 226 points.

"We did as well as we could do, we about hit our highest point total. We had second up until the breaststroke which is the last event and the only reason we lost it was because they [Buffalo] had three swimmers and we had one," said Howe.

Added Bishop, "That's how it went all meet, we'd have the top person and they'd have two or three in the finals. Then sometimes we'd have a consolation guy. Buffalo didn't even win any events and we won five and second in three other events."

The Warriors also swept the individual awards with senior Dalton Jeffries earning 3A East athlete of the year, then sharing swimmer of the year with sophomore Zayne Cooper.

The awards were well earned as both Cooper and Jeffries were a part of the 200-yard medley relay that finished first with a time of 1:50.09. Senior Josiah Sanchez and freshman Zach Cole were also on the team.

Jeffries swan in his last 3A East conference meet and ended it on quite the high note being named athlete of the meet and swimmer of the year to go along with championships in the 50-yard (24.03) and 100-yard (54.13) freestyles.

"Was 50 free and 100 free champion, he didn't go into the finals in first place but came out on top. You could just see it walking up to the box that he wasn't going to lose," said Howe.

For Jeffries it was years of hard work culminating perfectly, now he will turn his focus toward the 3A State Meet.

"It definitely meant a lot to me because I've been swimming four years in school, three years in middle school and another six years before that. It was nice because all of the morning practices, strength training classes at the high school all paid off in getting swimmer and athlete of the year," said Jeffries. "I don't know how I'll do at state because there are a lot of tough swimmers but I would like to PR [personal record] and hopefully help my team get second or third in a relay."

Cooper was the 3A East conference champion in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:54.73, beating out Rawlins Dalton Coleman who finished with a 2:05.50 and was a second shy from making it on the WHS record board. He also finished first in 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:04.26.

"He was one second off from making it on the school record board, he'll get that at state. He was also swimmer of the year for our conference and split that with Dalton, who was also athlete of the meet. To have those awards go to kids all from Worland was pretty cool," said Howe.

Josiah Sanchez not only was on the 200-yard medley relay team that took first but also finished second in his two events the 200-yard individual medley (2:23.06), a tie with Rawlins' Joseph Horn, and in the 100-yard butterfly (1:04.05), earning him All-Conference in each event.

Freshman Zach Cole was the Warriors All-Conference swimmer since he was a part of the 200-yard medley relay. He made the finals in the 100-yard backstroke and the consolation finals in the 50-yard freestyle.

While the other four Warriors swimmers did not earn All-Conference honors they certainly showed they can hang with the best. Blake Mautz made an impression on his coaches gutting through an illness to swim his leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay. Andrew Nelson (100-yard butterfly, 200-yard IM) and Gabe Durrant (200-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke) set personal records in their respective events.

"He made the consolation finals in the 100-yard free but couldn't swim it because he was sick. But he came back and swam the relay for us at the end of the meet being dead sick. That showed me a lot that he was able to do that for the team," said Howe about Mautz.

The Warriors lone diver Diamond Hill showed excellent focus when he zeroed a dive but was able to bounce back and score on the remainder of his dives. He also cut a total of 32 seconds in the 500-yard freestyle to set a new personal record.

"He did very well. We missed up on the dive sheet and he had to do a dive he had never done before, that was our fault. He put all of his other dives together and if you zero two dives you're disqualified. At a certain point, he said he really wanted this and went out and got it done. He also cut so much time in the 500-yard. He cut 22 seconds on the first day then made the consolation finals and cut another 10. He's only swum it three times in competition, so that could be a niche for him. It was impressive," said Bishop about Hill.

The 3A State Meet in Laramie does not start until Feb. 15-16. This gives the Warriors plenty of time to sharpen their techniques for the final meet of the season.

"We're now on taper for state. Right now we're fine-tuning strokes, turns and picking everything apart to make it as perfect as we can," said Howe.

Added Bishop on working with Hill, "He's going to run through all dives for state. He still has one dive that's challenging for him but he's done it. He just needs to get over the mental block, other than that he's looking really good."