For swimmers, seven days of not swimming makes one weak.

For the Panther Swimming and Diving team, the two-a-days, holiday breaks and ailments don’t phase the team but rather pushes them to strive for excellence.

The Panthers were the 3A West Conference runner-ups (255 points), falling short of the conference title by 173 points from the Lander Tigers (428 points) Feb. 7-8.

Sophomore Cole Frank placed fifth on the podium with 297.85 points for 1-meter diving.

“[A] Weak point for me was probably fear of doing some dives,” Frank said. “For the team, I’d say thinking we [don’t] have a chance against Lander.” 

Despite Lander’s 23-year streak of winning state, the Panthers remain close and bonded as a team. 

“I could improve on some dives; some aren’t where they should be,” Frank said, “but I really love the team. It’s been a great season and I’ll miss the seniors.” 

For the lone junior on the team, Tarren Blackmore had strong swims.

“As a team, I feel we did a very good job of supporting our teammates,” Blackmore said. “We wouldn’t have done as well without that support as well as the support from my team, family and friends.” 

Blackmore cut time in the 50-yard freestyle by 1.52 seconds and 2.02 in the 100 yard butterfly.

“One of our weak points is our lack of freshman who were able to provide points,” Blackmore said. “If we can get some of the other freshman qualified and getting points our future looks pretty bright.”

Added Blackmore: “However, I will say that I was greatly impressed by the performances of Rui snagging a podium finish in the [100 yard] backstroke (1:02.38), Kobus getting sub-6 min in the 500 [yard freestyle with a 5:57.6] and with Aidan getting some points in the [100 yard] backstroke.”

Lander has been a powerhouse in the swimming community, club and high school. For both the Panthers and Lady Panthers, they’ve fallen short of dominating against Lander.

The Lander Tigers have won state 23 years in a row.

“The thing that our team needs to work on is powering through our exhaustion at the end of our races,” Blackmore said. “Overall, we need to keep that momentum up through our entire race.

“I’m very pleased with how the team did, but even more proud that Kyler Warren finally qualified,” Blackmore said. “No one deserves it more than him with how much work he’s put in. And with how close he’s been all year, it was exciting to see him get it at conference. I know the whole team was extremely proud of him.”

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