Members of the Green River High School swimming and diving team pose with their state title Friday night after returning to Green River.
It was around 10:30 p.m. Friday night when the Green River Lady Wolves swim team rolled back into town after a long two days of competing in Gillette, but the late hour didn't stop the celebration as the swimmers brought home their second consecutive 3A state championship plaque.
Lights flashed and sirens blared as the Green River Police Department and Green River Fire Department escorted the bus full of swimmers and cars full of family and friends through town. When the procession pulled up to the high school, GRHS band members greeted the team with a victory song as swimmers leaned out of the bus windows to wave and cheer.
The swimmers quickly piled out of the bus and into the arms of the waiting crowd, cheering and holding their championship plaque in the air.
Before long, everyone began chanting "speech," and head coach Colleen Seiloff stepped up.
"I want to tell everyone thank you so much for the support," Seiloff started.
She thanked everyone involved in the procession into town, the family and friends who supported each of the swimmers throughout the season, her fellow coaches, and the families of the coaches - "for letting us do this crazy thing for hours a day."
Seiloff described the state championship as "48 hours of just pure go-for-it and get-it-done." She explained the Lady Wolves were 18 points behind going into Friday's competition, so they pushed and made it up.
"We ended up being co-champions with Lander," Seiloff said. "I don't know that I could pick a better team to be co-champions with. They're a pretty amazing team, just as we are."
This year is the first time in state history the 3A championship has ended in a tie. Seiloff described how she told her swimmers that every individual point mattered, and in the end it came down to every point.
"I'm just tickled to death with everybody's performance," Seiloff said. "Everybody contributed, and it was just an amazing time."
Seiloff added how hardworking the girls are, and how fun it is to coach them.
"I'm just so proud of you," she shouted, bringing a cheer from the swimmers and the crowd.
Although this was the second state championship in a row for the Lady Wolves, Seiloff said it was just as good as the first one if not even a little bit better because of how close the competition was.
"These girls just had to fight all season and work hard," Seiloff said, "and they just continued and got better and this was the result and I just couldn't be prouder of them."
The Lady Wolves ended the state championship with 245 points, which tied them with Lander Valley High School and put them 80 points above the next finisher, Powell High School. Green River took first place in six out of 12 events.
Green River also had six swimmers receive all-state honors - Courtney Clark, Lilly Munoz, Tanith Smith, Amaya Spartz, Brianna Uhrig and Hailey Uhrig. Several received honors in multiple events, and Hailey Uhrig was one of three swimmers in the championship who earned all-state honors all four years of their high school career.
All-State Honors
200 Medley Relay Team: Tanith Smith, Brianna Uhrig, Hailey Uhrig, Lilly Munoz
200 IM 2nd: Munoz
50 Free 1st: Smith
500 Free 1st: Courtney Clark
100 Backstroke 1st: Smith
100 Breaststroke 1st: Munoz
100 Breaststroke 2nd: H. Uhrig
400 Free Relay Team: Smith, Clark, Amaya Spartz, Munoz
3A Girls State Swim and Dive Championship Results (Nov. 4-5)
Team Scores
1. Green River: 245
1. Lander: 245
3. Powell: 165
4. Douglas: 144
5. Buffalo: 118
6. Cody: 116
7. Rawlins: 97
8. Kemmerer: 66
9. Sublette County: 64
9. Lyman: 64
11. Worland: 42
12. Newcastle: 16
13. Riverton: 13
200 Yard Medley Relay
1. GRHS (Smith, B. Uhrig, H. Uhrig, Munoz), 1:53.13
200 Yard Freestyle
3. Clark, 2:04.53
4. Spartz, 2:07.45
200 Yard IM
2. Munoz, 2:16.24
6. H. Uhrig, 2:25.23
8. B. Uhrig, 2:28.12
50 Yard Freestyle
1. Smith, 24.68
1 Meter Diving
3. Zella Maez, 325.90
5. Olive Roberts, 274.15
100 Yard Butterfly
12. Madison Moffat, 1:09.92
500 Yard Freestyle
1. Clark, 5:33.25
7. Spartz, 5:52.69
11. Haley Clevenger, 6:04.81
200 Yard Freestyle Relay
8. GRHS (Clark, Chezni Rubeck, Clevenger, Spartz), 1:50.21
100 Yard Backstroke
1. Smith, 1:00.21
11. Ivory Neher, 1:09.91
100 Yard Breaststroke
1. Munoz, 1:05.03
2. H. Uhrig, 1:08.48
5. B. Uhrig, 1:11.02
400 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. GRHS (Smith, Clark, Spartz, Munoz), 3:44.38
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