By Erin Armstrong
Eleven local swimmers and one more with local ties competed in the 2025 Wyoming Winter Short Course Championships in Gillette, WY from February 28 through March 2.
Friday morning kicked off with Allie Armstrong and Hayden Kozal competing in the Girls 9-10 100 yard freestyle prelims. Armstrong finished 4th and secured a place in the evening finals. Kozal unfortunately placed just outside of the top 8, but dropped an impressive 5.25 seconds off her seed time. Also competing in the 100 yard freestyle prelims in their respective age groups, but falling short of advancing to the evening finals were Penn Vergil, Allie Davies of Gering, Reese Armstrong, and Aidan Machado. However, Armstrong and Davies dropped over 6 and 8 seconds respectively off their seed times. Emma Machado placed 7th in the Girls 17-18 100 yard free prelims and earned a spot in that evening’s finals.
Later that morning, Charlotte Bloyd competed in the Girls 8&U 25 yard free finals, placing 4th with a time of 18.09, dropping 1.08 seconds off her seed time. Penn Vergil and Allie Davies competed in the Girls 11-12 and 13-14 50 Yard Back prelims respectively, but unfortunately finished outside of finals contention. Davies, however, dropped an impressive 10.43 seconds off her seed time.
Friday evening’s finals featured Alliance’s Allie Armstrong, age 10, and Emma Machado, age 18, both swimming the 100 yard freestyle. Armstrong finished 4th place in her age group with a time of 1:12.77, adding a little bit of time to her earlier prelims time from the day. Machado finished 6th place with a time of 58.58 seconds, dropping a couple seconds from her earlier prelims time and finishing in under a minute. With day one completed, the swimmers would return to their hotels for some rest before that early warmup time comes.
Saturday morning kicked off with the 8&U 50 yard freestyle finals, with Charlotte Bloyd finishing in 6th place with a time of 41.12 seconds, dropping over 4 seconds off her seed time. The Girls 9-10 50 Yard free prelims featured Allie Armstrong, Hayden Kozal, and Quinn Bloyd. Armstrong and Kozal placed 4th and 7threspectively and earned spots in the evening finals. Bloyd finished outside of finals contention, but dropped almost 2 seconds off her seed time regardless. Also earning himself a spot in the Boys 11-12 50 yard free finals was Grant Bloyd, finishing 5th in his prelims. Competing in their respective age groups for the 50 yard free, but not advancing to finals were Penn Vergil, Reese Armstrong, Allie Davies, and Aidan Machado, with Armstrong and Davies again dropping time from their seed times. Future Northern State University swimmer, Emma Machado, also secured her place in the Girls 17-18 50 yard free finals with a 4th place prelims finish.
Later that morning, Charlotte Bloyd competed in the Girls 8&U 25 yard fly finals, finishing 2nd place with a time of 21.23 seconds! Later on, Allie Armstrong completed a grueling 500 yard freestyle final in the Girls 9-10 division, finishing in 4th place with a time of 7:40.48, dropping a whopping 22.46 seconds from her seed time. The morning finished up with a mixed 12&U relay team of A. Armstrong, Calvin Blumert of Scottsbluff, Kozal, and G. Bloyd finishing in 5th place with a time of 2:08.32.
Saturday evening’s finals kicked off with the Girls 9-10 50 yard free finals, featuring Allie Armstrong and Hayden Kozal. Kozal finished in 7th place with a time of 36.16 seconds. Armstrong finished in 3rd with a time of 31.82, dropping 1.56 seconds from her earlier prelims time. Grant Bloyd swam the Boys 11-12 50 yard free finals, finishing 6th with a time of 28.55 seconds. And in a tight race, Emma Machado placed 5th in the Girls 17-18 50 Yard free finals with a time of 26.47 seconds. That would wrap up the second day of swimming, sending the swimmers back to their hotels for one more night of rest in preparation for one final long day of competition.
Sunday morning started tough with the Girls 9-10 200 yard free prelims, featuring Allie Armstrong and Hayden Kozal. Allie placed 3rd, securing herself another spot in the evening finals. Hayden placed outside of final contention, but finished with a time of 3:05.30, which was an incredible 22 seconds under her seed time! Reese Armstrong also competed in the Girls 13-14 200 free prelims, placing outside of final contention, but dropped time off of her seed time as well. The Girls 9-10 50 yard breast featured Allie Armstrong and Hayden Kozal, with Armstrong placing 3rd and moving on to finals, and Kozal placing just outside of the top 8 with a time of 51.16. Penn Vergil and Grant Bloyd also competed in the Girls and Boys 11-12 50 yard breast prelims, but both failed to qualify for finals. They both however dropped time off of their seed times. Emma Machado placed 4th in the Girls 17-18 100 yard breast prelims, moving on to that evening’s finals. The morning wrapped up with the IM races. Allie Armstrong, Hayden Kozal, and Quinn Bloyd competed in the Girls 9-10 100 yard IM finals. Armstrong finished 4th with a time of 1:29.45, dropping 1.31 seconds from her seed time. Kozal finished 13th with a time of 1:37.55, almost 6 seconds faster than her seed time. Quinn Bloyd finished 16th with a time of 1:44.54. Grant Bloyd also swam the Boys 11-12 100 IM, finishing 13th with a time of 1:19.63, over 2 seconds faster than his seed time.
And finally, it was time for the Sunday evening finals. Allie Armstrong and Emma Machado were all that remained from the Alliance crowd. Allie kicked things off with the Girls 9-10 200 yard freestyle, placing 3rdwith a time of 2:42.14, and dropping another 4.67 seconds from her prelims time. She had a quick 30 minutes to rest and was back in the water again, this time racing the 50 yard breast. She again placed 3rdwith a time of 42.75 seconds, slightly faster than her morning prelims time. And in her final race as a Torpedo, Emma Machado left it all in the water. She went from placing 4th in prelims in the 100 yard breast to finishing 2nd in finals with a time of 1:15.65, dropping nearly 3 seconds off her prelims time. What a sweet way to finish her senior season in front of her family, friends, and the younger swimmers who have looked up to her for so many years!
Penn Vergil is coached by Barb McCartney and Alyssa Baumnken with the Chadron Sharks Swim Team in the winter. The rest of these swimmers are coached by Kerry Munoz and Judy Johns with the Scotts Bluff County Swim Club in the winter. The Alliance kids are coached by Seth Hulquist, Brock Brass, Kelly Huff, and Gracie Johnson in the summer with the Alliance Riptides Swim Team. We can’t thank these people enough for their time and dedication to our swimmers. The Alliance Swim Team will be holding sign ups in April, more information will be available soon.