WYOMING – Winter storms and sudden schedule changes kept the Sublette County combined boys’ swim team on its toes during a busy weekend.

The team rose to the challenge and scored a 108-50 victory against Kemmerer in Big Piney on Thursday, Jan. 7. Due to weather, Lyman and Lander were unable to attend.

Sublette County won eight of 11 events on Thursday.

Scheduled to compete in Cody and Powell on Friday and Saturday, road closures over South Pass forced Sublette County to change plans. The coaches made several calls and were invited to participate in the Green River Invitational where Sublette County took fourth place, tallying 208 points.

On Saturday, the team competed at the Evanston Invite. Sublette County placed sixth with 164 points.

Junior Dillon Boespflug swam in his first meets of the season, punching his ticket to State in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke. Sophomore Andy DeClue qualified in his seventh individual event, the 50 freestyle, over the weekend.

“With some quick adjustments in location, we were able to swim against some great competition this weekend,” said Coach Ambr Seemann. “In Green River, all of our swimmers improved times and Dillon Boespflug qualified in the 50 free and 100 free in his first meet of the season. As we headed to Evanston, Hayden Flint dove his first 11-dive meet and showed great potential. Brycen Vrska improved his events by a total of 19 seconds in his individual events this weekend. Sage Mahaffey and Ryen Hacklin saw a large cumulative time drop.”

“To say that this week has been challenging but fun week of meets is an understatement,” stated Coach Kursty Day. “The swimmers showed a great amount of grit in their abilities to swim three days in a row and dropped time or stayed consistent with current times. I am very proud of our swimmers and divers.”

Big Piney vs. Kemmerer highlights

Sublette County teams beat Kemmerer in each relay.

DeClue, senior J.T. Day, junior Hunter Scott and junior Owen Nielson took gold in the 200 freestyle relay, clocking in at 2 minutes, 10.70 seconds.

Day, sophomore John Ruby, freshman Calleb Willson and sophomore Ryen Hacklin won the 200 freestyle relay, finishing the race in 2:09.44.

Rounding out relay action, Nielson, DeClue, Hacklin and Scott beat the competition in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 4:32.33.

Hacklin scooped up first place in the 200 individual medley, timing in at 2:45.43. He came in second place in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:26.85.

In diving, Day took first place, tallying 141.35 points after six dives. He picked up bronze in the 100 freestyle at 1:09.34.

Clocking in at 5:14.69, Nielson won the 400 freestyle. He placed third in the 50 freestyle at 29.26 seconds.

Scott took first place in both the 100 freestyle at 1:02.48 and the 100 backstroke at 1:07.25.

DeClue took silver in the 50 freestyle, finishing the sprint in 28.37 seconds. In the 100 backstroke, DeClue came in third place at 1:16.23.

Boespflug took second place in the 100 freestyle, timed in at 1:05.08.

Willson placed second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 3:01.14. Sophomore Hayden Flint picked up silver in diving with 102.50 points.

Additional third-place finishes included freshman Ammon Woolstenhulme in the 200 freestyle (3:07.75), junior Sage Mahaffey in the 200 individual medley (3:12.89) and Willson in the 100 breaststroke (1:31.67).

Rock Springs top-five highlights

DeClue beat out 25 swimmers to take first in the 100-yard freestyle. He finished the race in 55.99 seconds, edging out the runner-up by over a second. He placed fourth in the 200 freestyle at 2:07.18.

Boespflug took gold in the 100-yard breaststroke, swimming the event for the first time this season and coming in well under qualifying time at 1:10.85.

Scott won the 100-yard butterfly, timing in at 58.68 seconds. He picked up bronze in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.15 seconds.

In the 200-yard individual medley, Nielson came in third place, clocking in at 2:29.87. Hacklin followed a split second later, placing fourth in the event at 2:30.18.

DeClue, Hacklin, Nielson and Day took silver in the 400 freestyle relay, finishing the event in 3:50.26.

Sublette County’s 200-yard freestyle relay team scooped up fourth place. Hacklin, Ruby, Mahaffey and Scott completed the event in 1:48.50.

In the 200-yard medley relay, Nielson, Scott, DeClue and Boespflug placed fifth at 1:57.10.

Evanston Invite top-five highlights

Scott placed second in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:10.99. He also picked up third place in the 100-yard butterfly at 1:00.03.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team took silver, with Scott, Willson, DeClue and Nielson clocking in at 1:43.43.

Hacklin came in fourth place in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing in 6:30.06. DeClue placed fifth in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:08.79.

In the 200-yard medley relay, Scott, Hacklin, Nielson and DeClue swam into fourth place at 1:57.40.