Newcastle Opens Season With Two State Qualifiers at Laramie Weekend

LARAMIE, Wyo. - The Lady Dogies opened the girls swimming and diving season with two state qualifiers, three legal relay finishes and encouraging performances throughout the lineup Aug. 28-29 at the Laramie High School Pool. Facing strong Class 4A competition at the Laramie Relays and Laramie Pentathlon, Newcastle consistently delivered impressive times while setting an upbeat tone for the season ahead.

Newcastle began the weekend at Friday’s Laramie Relays, where the team completed three legal relays. The Lady Dogies earned their best relay result in the 200-yard freestyle relay, placing 10th. Those successful exchanges and legal finishes gave the swimmers an important early-season foundation before they shifted to individual competition at Saturday’s pentathlon.

Allie Lunstra led Newcastle’s varsity swimming effort by placing 22nd in the Pentathlon against a talented 4A field and qualifying for the state meet in four events on her first day of individual competition. Allie Lunstra secured the qualifying standard in the 100 freestyle with a time of 1 minute, 1.52 seconds. The strong all-around showing also included a 1:09.11 in the 100 backstroke, a 1:14.66 in the 100 butterfly and a 28.2 in the 50 freestyle.

Newcastle added a second state qualifier when Shelby Smith finished 47th and posted a qualifying time of 1:16.4 in the 100 backstroke. She is close to swimming qualifying times in the 50 Free and 100 breaststroke.

Lunstra also turned in one of the weekend’s strongest finishes, placing ninth among 111 competitors in the 100 backstroke. In diving, Madalyn Francis represented the Lady Dogies with an 11th-place finish.

The junior varsity swimmers provided more reasons for optimism. Second-year swimmer Natalie Dean recorded a personal-best 49.02 in the 50 breaststroke, earning sixth place in a field of 23. Sophomores Chevy Bryan and Lillian Lopez, both competing in their first high school meet, rose to the challenge against 4A competition. Chevy placed 13th in the junior varsity combined standings, while Lillian finished 22nd among 42 junior varsity swimmers.

Smith completed the balanced opening weekend by posting times across all events that were close to, or better than, marks recorded at the end of last season. The Lady Dogies left Laramie with state standards already secured, promising personal progress and valuable experience across varsity, junior varsity, relay and diving competition.