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WORLAND - On Saturday at the Worland Aquatic Center the Worland Lady Warriors saw how they stack up against the rest of the 3A East, finishing fourth. There are only three weeks until 3A East conference meet in Douglas and this is the point in the season where the practices get a bit tougher in preparation for the postseason.

Hosting their annual Warrior Invitational, the Lady Warriors placed fourth with 291 points and the only other East team ahead of them was Buffalo with 376.5 points. Powell won the meet with 408 points.

"Buffalo is extremely strong this year. After them, I think we match up against the rest of the conference pretty well, with Cody being the biggest threat," said WHS Mike Blissett. "We've improved tremendously since the start of the season, and I was thrilled to see how we ranked in the final scores at our invite [second in the East]. There's always room for improvement, and I think we'll need to improve on some things if we're going to have a strong showing at conference.

"We only have three more weeks of practice before conference week, and there are still lots of things that need to happen between now and then - like fixing technique, and breaking bad habits. I'd love to get a couple more girls qualified for state before then as well."

On Saturday, senior Juli Warren won the 100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard individual medley and was on the 200-yard medley relay team, along with Ella Stanek, Kylie Warren, Macy Trombley, that won. Warren is one of, if not the top swimmer in 3A and her drive to be the best is straightforward, have as much fun as possible.

"When I was younger we did swim lessons over the summer and it was always something for fun. Swimming was always something fun and it was never serious, until state last year. That's when it finally became serious. I realized that I could be a good swimmer and previous times I had gotten third at state and it wasn't a big deal.

"My approach is keeping it fun and whatever happens, happens. I'm going to have fun and put all of my heart into it and go with whatever happens from there," said Warren.

Other top five finishers for Worland were Kaci Bentley fifth in the 200-yard freestyle; Trombley second in the 50 freestyle and fourth in the 100 freestyle, Kyra Klinghagen third in diving; Stanek second in the 100 backstroke; and Kylie Warren third in the 100 breaststroke.

Worland's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Kylie Warren, Kaci Bentley, Macy Trombley and Juli Warren placed third.

Another standout from Saturday was Moriah Brown. She didn't score points for the team but during the 500-yard freestyle race, she cut a jaw-dropping amount of time. Brown set a season-best time of 7:52.28, a 40-second improvement."

"Moriah Brown was on fire in the 500 free. She dropped 40 seconds off her previous best time this season," said Blissett. "I can't ever remember somebody having that huge of a drop in time in that race. It was fun to watch."

Added Blissett about Stanek and the 200 medley relay, "Ella Stanek in the 100 fly. She dropped about 2 seconds and qualified for state in that event. The girls in the 200 medley relay (Stanek, Kylie Warren, Macy Trombley, Juli Warren). One year ago at the Warrior Invite, our medley relay broke the school record and became the first team that season to go under 2:00. This year in the same meet, our girls didn't get under 2:00, but they were only 0.5 seconds behind last year's record-setting pace, which I think is really impressive. They definitely announced themselves as the medley relay team to beat this season."

The results from Saturday's meet showed the Lady Warriors are among the top teams in the 3A East, but the hard work is far from over. The East is going to be highly competitive and if the Lady Warriors want to bring home a fifth-straight conference championship, the coming weeks of practice are going to be crucial.

Helping the Lady Warriors through this stretch will be their senior leadership group of Kaci Bentley, Meg DeBolt, Kyra Klinghagen and Juli Warren. The senior quartet has made it a focus to keep positive throughout the season and keep encouraging the younger swimmers.

"We got pretty confident girls and they're super excited," said Kaci Bentley. "We swim a lot of yards every day and we're telling them not to focus on that because that can get to you mentally. I think us getting excited helps them go and we always meet up and figure out what we can do to keep up the enthusiasm.

"There's bad races and that happens. When they have those races they feel like they let down the team, which is a good thing because it means they care that much. So we try to keep them pumped up and not get down on themselves."

As the team's top diver Klinghagen has passed on her experience and knowledge to freshman diver Ashanti Pedraza. Whether that be having a confident mindset every time she steps on the board or making sure she perfects the fundamentals.

"A lot of things I do with Ashanti is going through the basic things that will help her. The tiny little, super nitpicky things that will help her succeed. Even if her dives aren't super pretty right now, getting those little things down like, keeping her arms straight or being confident coming out, will make her become really good.

"Your approach has to be spot on, otherwise your dive is going to be off," said Klinghagen, when talking about diving technique. "A lot of people think you walk out there, lift your leg and bounce, but there's so much technicality involved. Your arms have to swing at the right time, your leg has to lift and lower. Even your throw has to be on time, otherwise, you're going to be off."

Having gone through the ups and downs of high school swimming Bently has learned that you have to be honest with your performances. You don't beat yourself up over mistakes, but it's important to recognize them and put in the hard work to correct them. And it's exactly what she did after Saturday's meet.

"My flip turns are actually kind of trashy. I'm working on that and it's really hard when you have six 200s on a really hard time and you want to keep that streamline going and you're trying to hold your breath and you can't. It's hard but that's where he [coach Blissett] has got me working on that," said Bentley.

Warren picked up a lot of her leadership skills from observing the senior leaders, like Saydria Russell, during her freshman season. Russell's leadership along with Blissett telling her swimming is a mental sport are what made her into the leader she is today.

"When I was a freshman, Saydria Russell was a huge impact for me. She was always a leader, always positive, made sure everyone was cheering. I always wanted to be like her in that way. So I wanted to make sure my senior year the girls felt the same way and they all had a good time and had fun.

"My freshman year Blissett always said that swimming was only 10 percent physical and 90 percent mental. I never believed him and as I went up through the year it started growing on me and I realized how much of an effect it was. Last year and this year I realized we need to be together as a team and I need to be more positive myself and be able to uplift others. That way it's still a fun environment," said Warren.

At the end of the season if the Lady Warriors are able to bring home a fifth-straight conference championship and more individual championship medals. It will obviously be a great success but for Warren what will be the greatest success is each and every one of her teammates cutting time and being a better swimmer in November than they were in August.

"I decided my senior year I'm not going to focus on just myself but making sure the other girls are improving because whenever I focus on myself, I start sucking. As long as they're dropping times I'll feel like it [the season] is a success," said Warren.

The Lady Warriors travel to Lander on Friday for a dual with the Lady Tigers and on Saturday they'll be in Douglas, the same site of the 3A East conference meet on October 19-20.

Next

"The conference meet is in Douglas this season, so it's a great opportunity for our girls to get a feel for the environment and water at their pool. A little experience will go a long way for their performance at conference," said Blissett.

Results from the Warrior Invitational are as follows.

200yd medley relay

1, Worland (Ella Stanek, Kylie Warren, Macy Trombley, Juli Warren), 2:00.46.

200yd freestyle

5, Kaci Bently, 2:16.99.

200yd individual medley

1, Juli Warren, 2:20.39.

50yd freestyle

2, Macy Trombley, 26.19.

Diving 1m

3, Kyra Klinghagen, 171.45.

100yd freestyle

6, Ella Stanek, 1:15.07.

100yd freestyle

4, Macy Trombley, 59.08

500yd freestyle

7, Kaci Bentley, 6:14.83.

200yd freestyle relay

3, Worland (Kylie Warren, Kaci Bentley, Macy Trombley, Juli Warren) 1:50.01.

100yd backstroke

2, Ella Stanek, 1:10.91.

Alex Kuhn

Lady Warrior Kaci Bentley takes off from the blocks at the start of the 200-yard freestyle race during the Warrior Invitational Saturday at the Worland Aquatic Center.

100yd breaststroke

1, Juli Warren, 1:13.03.

3, Kylie Warren, 1:19.19.

400yd freestyle relay

7, Worland (Kaci Bentley, Annalise Newell, Kyra Klinghagen, Ella Stanek), 4:30.12.