Lander Boys Swimming Rolls to 29th Class 3A State Title in Row
The streak lives on! Make it 29 consecutive boys’ Class 3A swimming and diving state championships for the Lander Tigers in 2025. On Friday at the Campbell County Aquatics Center in Gillette, Lander used its depth to pull away from the pack. Led by seniors Finn Richards and Colby Blackburn, who both had two individual wins, the Tigers scored 355 points and beat runner-up Buffalo (254) by 101 points. Cody finished in third place at 189 points.
Richards defended his title in the 50-freestyle race with a narrow victory by .01 seconds. His time was 21.11 seconds. The senior added a win in the 100-freestyle race. He touched the wall first at 46.07 seconds. Teammate Colby Blackburn earned first-place finishes in the 100-butterfly race at 52.68 seconds and the 100-backstroke race at 54.04 seconds. The duo also swam on two first-place Tiger relays.
Lander earned wins in the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays. The Tigers won the 200 free relay at 1:27.49 seconds. They concluded their dominant team victory with a win in the 400 free relay at 3:15.03.
Three Class 3A state records fell at the state championships. Two of the new marks were set by Kemmerer junior Malachi Villarreal, who was named the 3A Athlete of the Meet. He set the new standard in the finals of the 200-freestyle race at 1:42.17. Villarreal also broke the 500-freestyle record in the prelims. He swam 4:40.01. In the finals, he broke the record again at 4:37.94. Malachi won by over 39 seconds.
The third record broken was in the 100-breaststroke race. Buffalo senior Tommy Wonka set a new mark in the prelims at 56.36 seconds. He topped that performance in the finals with a new overall state time of 55.09 seconds. Wonka also won the 200 IM at 1:57.46. He was named the 3A Athlete of the Year.
Buffalo won the 200-medley relay at the start of the championships with a time of 1:37.17.
Cody’s Bryson Laing won the diving state championship. He scored 470.10 points through 11 dives. The junior took second last year.
The 3A Coach of the Year Award went to Buffalo’s Mike Miller. The 3A Assistant Coach of the Year was Cami Jackson from Cody.
WyoPreps will have photos and interviews from the championships over the weekend.
Wyoming High School Sports Pics of the Week: Feb. 6-8
Gallery Credit: Anita Bartlett, Mary Martin, Shannon Dutcher, Frank Gambino, Lisa Shaw, Alecia Banker, Kevin Hunter, Upton Booster Club, Christy Olsen, Herder Pride, Dave Treick, Margaret Friday, Leah Powell, Ashley Jessen,
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