Hall, Arnell, and Bremer Earn WyoPreps Athlete of the Week Honors 10-18-23 [VIDEO]
Standouts in the pool, on the cross-country course, and the football received the nod in our WyoPreps Athlete of the Week honors presented by Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Wyoming.
This week’s recipients are Buffalo freshman Maya Hall and Green River sophomore Tavia Arnell shared the girls' award, and Lingle-Ft. Laramie junior Louden Bremer got the boys' award.
Hall won the 3A East Conference cross-country race last Friday at TA Guest Ranch outside of Buffalo. The freshman won the race at a time of 19:44.01. That was 20 seconds ahead of the second-place runner. Hall also helped the Bison win the team title with 28 points, which was 21 fewer than the second-place team. Not bad for a runner in her first post-season competition.
Hall’s nomination said, “As just a freshman, she showed the grit and toughness like a veteran in some tough conditions and persevered to win the race. Maya looked more like a junior or senior, not a freshman. It was impressive that she was the only runner under 20 minutes in the race.”
Arnell won four individual events over two days of swimming at the Gillette Pre-Invite and Gillette Invite. She captured first place in the 50-freestyle race at 24.86 seconds over 134 other swimmers in the race. Later in the meet, Arnell won the 500-freestyle race at 5:19.58. That was good enough for a school record in an event she doesn’t usually swim. She beat 38 other swimmers in that race. The sophomore wasn’t done. Last Saturday in the Invite, Arnell won the 200 individual medley race at 2:11.42. She was three seconds faster than the runner-up and beat 48 other competitors. Finally, Tavia touched the wall first in the 100-butterfly race at 58.55 seconds. She topped a field of 41 swimmers and was the only one that finished in under 1-minute. All of Arnell’s success helped Green River win the team title at the 21-team event with 336.5 team points.
Coach Colleen Seiloff said, “We competed against 21 teams this weekend which included 3A, 4A, and some teams from out of state. Tavia won all of her individual events, and she helped the team win the meet on Saturday. Tavia broke a school record in the 500 Freestyle. Her time was within a second of her best IM time at state last year, and she swam her best time in the 100 Butterfly beating her state time from last year. All the relays she was on had significant improvements. Tavia is qualified in every swimming event and has the top time in every event in 3A swimming.”
On the boys’ side, the award went to Bremer, who helped his team overcome a 24-0 deficit in the fourth quarter on the road. Bremer had 124 yards rushing and scored two rushing TDs. He added three 2-point conversions and had one catch for 30 yards. On defense, he came through with 11 tackles and forced one fumble. It helped the Doggers beat No. 1 Pine Bluffs, 31-30, in overtime.
His nomination from a coach, not at LFL High School said it best, “He willed the Doggers to the win.”
On Wednesday, WyoPreps had an opportunity to speak with all three student-athletes. Hall discussed how she ran, how it felt to win, what she felt her key was to winning, what she attributes her success early in her career, and more. Arnell touched on her big weekend, setting a school record in an atypical event, competing against top-tier, how she’s feeling at this time of the season, and more. Bremer credited his teammates for his success, as he spoke about their comeback, some of the plays he made, plays his teammates made, and young players stepping up on an undefeated team.
Congratulations to Maya, Tavia, and Louden.
The WyoPreps Athlete of the Week nominations are accepted weekly from 5 p.m. on Fridays through 9 a.m. on Mondays. Anyone can nominate a student-athlete or team. Winners are announced each Wednesday.
Wyoming High School Sports Pics of the Week: Oct 5-10
Gallery Credit: Frank Gambino, Libby Ngo, Dave Treick, Casey Muffley, Lisa Shaw, Anita Bartlett, Adria Trembly, SolassSnaps Photography, Erin Hager, Susan Bullard, Sadie Snively, Greg Wise, Chissy, Sanchez, Tony Montoya, Tina Frady, Ashley Jessen, Cheyenne East High School, Riverton High School, Jolie Fay, Kelsey Ticknor,