Coach Amanda Aimone took a few minutes of her time last Friday to talk to Dahl Erickson of the First Bank Of Wyoming Sports Friday crew and discuss the Kemmerer Rangers season thus far and the state meet. During the interview Kemmerer was coming off a very successful day 1 of the state event capped off by Seth Krell breaking a 30 years school record on the 100m backstroke among several other top 6 finishers for the Rangers in Gillette on the first day of the event.
The Rangers are coming off a season where they finished 8th at State which is no small feat for a small school competing in a sport with only 2 classifications competing against schools with a vast size advantage over Kemmerer. The Rangers also graduated many seniors that were high placers a year ago but Coach Aimone is adamant that the team returned just as strong this season as they did a year ago thanks to a good freshmen turnout this year which is always good for any program in any sport at the high school level.
The Lander Tigers are once again the powerhouse of the sport as Coach Aimone predicts during the interview with Lander of course returning as the defending state champions from a year ago but add to that, the team has been a consistent power in the top 5 for almost 25 straight years now and should prove to be formidable once again and for many years to come. It is also a bit of a challenge for Kemmerer being the only 2A school that competes in the sport in the state meaning they have to compete exclusively against 3A schools every year but Kemmerer has consistently placed in the top 10 for many years now in large part thanks to the work done by Coach Aimone and the hard work of her student-athletes.
Swimming has never necessarily been a massive part of the sports culture around the mountain states and especially in a state with such a low population like Wyoming but several teams still manage to garner enough intrigue in the sport to put out some very competitive teams and Kemmerer may be the most inspiring one of the whole group. You can catch the full interview with Coach Aimone below:
