Laramie Volleyball Stays Perfect, While Swimmers Win Conference

An undefeated regular season, the state cross country championships, and the conference champs from the ‘4A West’ were part of last weekend’s recap for Laramie High School.

The Laramie volleyball team completed an undefeated regular season with two wins last Friday and Saturday. The Laramie girls’ swimming and diving team won the 4A West Conference meet by a wide margin. Finally, the state cross country meet didn’t go quite as well as LHS had hoped, entering the competition.

Laramie Volleyball

The Lady Plainsmen swept fourth-ranked Cheyenne East on the road and Cheyenne Central at home last weekend.

They finished the regular season with a 17-0 overall record and went 6-0 in quadrant matches.

Head coach Jill Stucky said they’re very proud of what they’ve accomplished.

“We’ve worked really hard all year long. (It) started this summer with us spending a ton of time on ball control, and then us staying aggressive and using our brains. We always want to be the smartest team that steps on the floor and has the most amount of ball control. I really feel like that’s been a huge deal for us throughout this whole season.”

LHS beat the Thunderbirds by scores of 25-14, 25-21, and 27-25. Alexis Stucky had 16 kills, 12 digs, and three services to pace Laramie. Maddy Stucky added six kills, 13 digs, and 23 assists, while Anna Gatlin contributed six kills and three blocks.

Stucky said of the win over East, “The match was a hard-fought win over a quality opponent. I was extremely impressed by our serving game.”

Against the Indians, Laramie won 25-18, 25-12, and 25-18. Alexis Stucky was the top performer with 15 kills and 25 digs. Gatlin added nine kills and two blocks, while Morgann Jensen finished with five kills and three blocks.

Stucky knows that her squad can’t be satisfied with a perfect regular season.

“As we head into regionals, we need to find a way to get better. We want to keep improving every day.”

Stucky also realizes that teams are giving LHS their best shot each time they step on the floor, as they want to be the team that takes down the No. 1 and their perfect record.

“Absolutely (they are), especially in our (recent) match at Kelly Walsh. I know that was an unbelievable match for us. We were challenged in a way that we definitely needed. We came back to the drawing board and took a look at some pieces where we can move things around and maybe have a little bit better side-out opportunity, or where we could put a little pressure on some of our kids to make them perform at a higher level. That was exactly what we needed.”

Laramie will host the Southeast Regional Quadrant on Thursday. They play at 4 p.m. against Cheyenne Central. That will be followed by Cheyenne East playing Cheyenne South at 5:30 p.m. Those are loser-out matches. The two winners will play again at 7 p.m. to decide the one and two seed for cross-quadrant play at Casper on Saturday.

Laramie Girls’ Swimming & Diving

Add another conference crown to the ledger for the Laramie Lady Plainsmen and head coach Tom Hudson’s resume.

Laramie dominated the 4A West Conference, as they swam in Casper last Friday and Saturday. LHS scored 479 points, nearly 200 more than second-place Kelly Walsh (288).

They won eight of the 12 events at the conference meet. Ashlyn Mathes (200 and 500 freestyle) and Anna Roesler (200 individual medley and 100 butterfly) won two events apiece. Laramie swept all three relays and picked up another victory in the 100 freestyle from Katie McPherson.

Laramie has a ‘Last Chance’ qualifying meet at Rawlins on Friday.

Laramie Cross Country

In cold and slippery conditions, with snow on the ground, Laramie ran at the Class 4A State Cross Country Championships last Friday in Casper.

Both squads finished in the middle of the pack. The Laramie girls took sixth place as a team, while the boys came in eighth.

The highlight individually was from freshman Addison Forry, who placed ninth and earned All-State honors. Her time was 19:18.30.

Senior Ted Rittle was the top boy’s performer. He came in 26 with a time of 17:03.97.

Jackson won both team titles and had the boys’ winner. The girls’ winner came from Natrona County.