LARAMIE — Green River senior Tavia Arnell is one step closer to finishing her high school career as an eight-time state champion after an impressive showing in Thursday’s preliminaries at the Wyoming High School Girls Class 4A State Swimming and Diving Championships.
Arnell posted the top preliminary times in both the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard butterfly, leading by wide margins in each event. Her time of 2:05.58 in the IM was nearly seven seconds ahead of the next fastest swimmer, and her 56.12 in the 100 butterfly put her almost five seconds clear of the field.
The Lady Wolves also made a strong statement in the team events, starting the day with a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Alayna Kellhofer, Kaylin Uhrig, Arnell, and Zoie Gilmore finished in 1:48.86, with Arnell recording the fastest split of the group at 24.40 seconds and Gilmore closing with a strong 25.61 anchor leg.
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Arnell and Uhrig carried that momentum into the individual races, where both advanced to the finals in the 200 IM. Uhrig took eighth with a 2:24.04, giving Green River two finalists in the event.
Kellhofer also made her presence felt throughout the prelims, finishing fourth in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.14, and fifth in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:04.49. Uhrig added another high finish for the Wolves with a third-place showing in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:07.29.
Sophomore Zoie Gilmore qualified for the finals in the 500-yard freestyle, taking 10th with a time of 5:53.10, showing consistent pacing throughout the long-distance event.
Green River’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Kellhofer, Uhrig, Gilmore, and Arnell capped off the prelims with another second-place finish in 1:42.60, led by Arnell’s 23.66 anchor split.
For Rock Springs, Kaylee Moore and Zoe Schmidt led the way for the Lady Tigers in a deep 4A field. Moore earned a 15th-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a 59.76 and placed 11th in the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:12.92. The Lady Tigers’ 200-yard freestyle relay team of Brooklyn Jackson-Dunn, Moore, Aurora Baker, and Schmidt finished 12th in 1:57.40.
For the full results from Thursday, click here.
The Class 4A finals are set for Friday at 10 a.m. at the Laramie Aquatics Facility. The Class 3A preliminaries will follow Friday afternoon, with their finals scheduled for Saturday morning.
