LARAMIE, Wyo. — Dave Denniston didn’t plan for Tuesday’s practice to turn into a Herb Brooks–style test of endurance.
However, Wyoming’s swimming and diving head coach found himself motivating the team in similar fashion to how Brooks was depicted with the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team in “Miracle.”
“Again! Again! Again!” Denniston said with a laugh. “At the end of the day, I was able to keep blowing the whistle and continue to keep pushing them because none of them gave up and they wanted to try to achieve it.”
Denniston admits there were moments in the aftermath of last year’s tragedy — UW swimmers Charlie Clark, Luke Slabber and Carson Muir were killed in a car accident 10 miles south of the Wyoming–Colorado border on U.S. Highway 287 — when he contemplated hanging up the whistle.
However, being around athletes like Brynlee Busskohl, one of the 12 Cowgirl and Cowboy seniors who will be honored before UW’s dual with Denver on Saturday at Laramie High School, has helped everyone in the program swim despite their heavy hearts.
“I will say last year when things were really tough after the accident, I think all of us — athletes, coaches — were just questioning, ‘Can I keep doing this? Do I want to keep doing this?'” Denniston said. “Brynlee was one of the people in my mind that was like, ‘I can’t let this kid down. I know she’s going to swim, and I’ve got to at least do another year for her. And I’m staying.’ I love it, but in a lot of ways she has inspired me.”
Busskohl, who earned all-Mountain West honors for the Cowgirls the past two seasons, described Muir as one of her closest friends. When word about a car crash involving teammates reached the Cowgirls at the conference championships without all of the specific details, “I was telling myself in my head, ‘Please don’t be Carson, please don’t be Carson,'” she said.
Once the names of the deceased were all revealed, Busskohl decided to continue competing in the MW championships, where she finished third in the 200-yard breaststroke final and fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke final.
“There were a lot of my teammates who chose to observe instead, but I knew my teammates would want me to keep going, I knew they wouldn’t want me to throw away all the training I had put in with them,” Busskohl said. “As hard as it was — I caught myself crying a lot — but I’m so glad that I pushed through and kept going.
“I loved writing their names on my arms and my legs, and I loved the support.”
Busskohl began her collegiate career at San Diego State. The three-time reigning MW champion Aztecs blanketed her with a group hug at the somber event last February in Houston.
The senior from Lyman, who attended Denniston’s swim camps in Laramie as a teenager, entered the portal after her freshman year at SDSU.
It was time to come home.
“When I decided to transfer, I realized I was having a hard time being as successful as I wanted to be with swimming and academically,” Busskohl said. “I called Dave and said, ‘I am having a hard time and I think you are what I need.’ And he said, ‘Absolutely, come here.'”
Denniston recruited Busskohl in high school and thought she would be a perfect fit at UW. He also knew she wanted to explore a world outside of the state. One positive aspect of the portal is it gives athletes opportunities to change their career path when things aren’t working out.
Busskohl has been a team leader in and out of the pool since putting on the brown and gold.
“I don’t want to sugarcoat it: I think there were some things at San Diego State she really struggled with and there wasn’t another teammate or mentor for her to rely on that she could completely trust,” Denniston said. “I think that’s one of the roles she has taken on since she has been here. She will recognize when a freshman or a new swimmer is struggling with something and she will be like, ‘Hey, follow me, I’ve got you on this, stay by me and you’ll be fine.’
“I’ve seen her do that a few times and that’s great leadership, that’s beyond example, that’s doing what you need to do to make sure the team and the culture stays at a high level. She has been brilliant at that.”
Entering her senior season, Busskohl, despite being one of the top swimmers in the MW, decided not to put her name in to be considered for team captain. The tragedy of losing three teammates was still weighing on her.
“During the summer I was having a hard time and so I didn’t want that pressure to fall on me,” Busskohl said. “But I don’t believe you need to be captain to be a leader. I love my teammates, and I love making people feel welcome. When I see somebody struggling, I’m always the first person to give them a hand and help them up.”
Busskohl said her love of the pool came from her mom, Amy, who coached swimming, and her older sister, Brooklyn, who also took up the sport at an early age.
After breaking the middle school record in the 100 breaststroke, Busskohl joined a club team in Green River. She made the 100-mile round-trip commute to practice almost every day. At Lyman High School, she was a four-time individual state champion, and she still owns two Wyoming high school records.
“She’s such a phenomenal athlete,” Denniston said. “She has really good body awareness and I knew from seeing her at swim camps that her technique when it came to breaststroke was really superb. So, to coach an athlete like that and being a former breaststroker myself I could communicate with her in a way that maybe the coaches at San Diego State couldn’t because I understood what the water felt like for her.
“Once we were able to establish that trust and make that work, which happened pretty quickly, it was fun to coach her. She was so receptive to everything I was giving her. Coaching her was easy, to be honest.”
The Cowgirls are having a strong season with wins over Air Force, Colorado State and New Mexico. There are some notable challenges ahead, including meets at UNLV, versus Utah in Green River and at DU before the 2025 MW championships.
Busskohl has set lofty individual goals, including winning a conference championship and qualifying for the NCAA championships before graduating.
Getting to that finish line was what Tuesday’s practice was all about.
“What’s cool about her and the people on this team right now is they embrace those challenges knowing this is one of those few times in your life when you can truly see what you’re capable of doing physically,” Denniston said. “That’s what that practice evolved into was, ‘All right, we’re in the bottom of the well and we’re going to keep digging.’ Brynlee was the first person there with a shovel. She’s never been afraid to work hard to get her dreams and to achieve what she wants to do.”
Denniston will focus on UW versus DU and try not to get too caught up in the emotions of senior day.
Busskohl will be soaking in every second of competing with this tight-knit team for the final time in Wyoming.
“One last hoorah,” she said. “I get to say goodbye to one of the greatest things to ever come across my life and my family.”
