FORT COLLINS — Fossil Ridge picked up right where it left off at last year’s girls swimming state championships.
The SaberCats, in search of a repeat championship, and third in the past four seasons, had a dominant showing on the first day of the Class 5A girls swimming state prelims at the Edora Pool Ice Center.
Their swimmers had the top qualifying time in seven of the eight individual events, and the team also qualified first in two of the three relays.
The SaberCats set the tone with the first event of the day, the 200 medley relay. They finished in 1:39.68, just off of their state record of 1:39.40 set last season. The SaberCats have their sights set on the national public high school record of 1:39.25 set in 2015.
Fossil Ridge also qualified first in the 200 free relay (1:34.57), narrowly missing the state record of 1:34.40 set by Cherry Creek in 2011.
Individually, Coleen Gillilan, a junior, lowered her own state record in the 100 butterfly with a time of 52.17. She also had the top time in the 200 yard freestyle, bettering her seed time in the 200 by 3.7 seconds to 1:47.56.
Zoe Bartel qualified first in the 200 IM (2:01.74) and the 100 breaststroke (1:01.6). She is seeking to defend both events from the 2017 meet.
Kylee Alons qualified first in the 50 (22.70) and 100 (49.70) freestyle races. Alons won both events last season.
Bayley Stewart had the top prelim time (54.55) in the 100 backstroke, an event she won last season.
Bartel, Alons and Stewart are all seniors.
Caraline Baker, a sophomore, also qualified second in both the breaststroke and the butterfly.
Kathryn Shanley. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Elsewhere, Chatfield freshman Kathryn Shanley burst onto the scene with a great showing in prelims. She qualified first in the 500 (5:06.81), edging Fairview junior Amelie Lessing (5:07.88). Shanley was also third in the 200.
Regis Jesuit had an excellent performance in the 400 freestyle relay. The Raiders’ group of Meriel Upton, Parker Biley, Sophia Bradac and Jada Surrell-Norwood had the top prelim time in 3:29.24. Fossil Ridge was second in 3:29.94, and Mountain Vista was third in 3:35.07.
The night closed with a swim-off for the last spot in the 100 butterfly finals. Legacy’s Kandice Chandra (58.33) edged Douglas County’s Margaret Kroening (58.98).
The meet will resume on Saturday with diving prelims at 9:30 a.m., and the finals begin at 3 p.m.
THORNTON — What fun is a full day of swimming competition if it can’t come down to the last event?
Longmont and Pueblo County will never know. They battled back and forth all afternoon at the VMAC in Thornton, with each hoping to walk away with the Class 3A girls swimming championship.
After Amanda Blickensderfer held off Manitou Springs’ Sydney Dolloff-Holt in the 100-yard breaststroke, the Hornets took a six-point lead into the final event, the 400-freestyle relay.
But a missed wall in the consolation final curbed County’s hopes. Despite a second-place finish in the championship race, Longmont came away with 203 total points, good enough to stand atop the podium when the final results came in.
“It’s so exciting,” sophomore Lucille Matheson said. “Especially because last year we didn’t perform as well as we thought we could.”
Matheson got the ball rolling for the Trojans, claiming the 200-individual medley in two minutes, 8.86 seconds.
That race helped Longmont bounce back from what a disappointing day in perlims. In the blink of an eye, the Trojans went from probable contenders to fighters.
“It was a mixed blessing,” coach Kelly Shipley said. “We needed to get knocked down a peg or two.”
It was clear that they came into Friday knowing that every point and every race mattered. Matheson helped again with a second-place finish in the 500-freestyle, finishing in 5:05.98.
Freshman Emma Svendsen took fourth in the 100-backstroke (59.54), but it was after the 200-freestyle relay that the Hornets overtook the Trojans in total points.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
The saving grace for Longmont was that Pueblo County was swimming in the consolation final in the 400-freestyle relay. The Trojans had a shot, and were expected, to win the event. Pueblo County freshman Rachel Paolucci missed a turn and County finished fifth in the consolation race.
St. Mary’s Academy ended up winning the event, but the unexpected finish for County helped Longmont secure its first state swimming title.
“They knew (they had to swim well in the 400),” Shipley said. “We don’t look at points. I think we had a bigger spread than they were aware of, which was good.”
County was another team in search of its first title, but that piece of history will have to wait another year.
“They’re devastated,” County coach Dan Radiff said.
But there is hope for his team. He doesn’t lose a single swimmer from this year’s squad and will easily enter next year as a favorite to secure the title that eluded them by the slimmest of margins this year.
He just hopes that his girls can draw on the experience of this year to push them forward next season.
“You don’t learn lessons from wins,” he said. “You learn lessons from losses.”
Blickensderfer, a junior at County, excelled for her team this year, claiming wins in the 100-breaststroke, 100-butterfly and in bother the 200-medley and 200-freestyle relays.
The Hornets didn’t come away with the championship, but she could not have been prouder of how her team performed over the two days at state.
“Victory is not found in the idea of a trophy,” she said. “It’s found in the idea of coming together and being a family. And knowing what we did today, the history that we made, we came together.”
THORNTON — Davy Brown responded to a DQ in a huge way.
Brown, an Aspen junior, lowered her own meet record during the Class 3A girls swimming and diving prelims on Thursday, an hour or so after she was disqualified for a stroke infraction in the individual medley.
Brown’s time of 56.86 in the 100 back lowered the mark of 57.37 she set at last year’s 3A meet. She now has the top qualifying time in the event heading into Friday’s finals. The time was 2.78 seconds faster than her seed time of 59.64.
Her time was even more impressive given that Brown swam the lead leg of Aspen’s 200 freestyle relay in the event prior to the backstroke. The Skiers finished with the second-fastest prelim time at 1:43.06. Pueblo County will enter the finals as the top seed with a time of 1:41.92 in the 200 free relay.
Among the favorites to win a state title for much of the season, Pueblo County had a great first day of the 3A meet.
The Hornets also qualified with the fastest time in the 200 medley relay (1:51.79), and junior Amanda Blickensderfer was the fastest qualifier in the 100 breaststroke. Blickensderfer finished in 1:05.88 — she set the 3A record last year at 1:05.26.
Abbey Selin. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Also shining during Thursday’s prelims was D’Evelyn senior Abbey Selin. A University of Wyoming recruit, she swam the fastest qualifying time in both the 200 and 500 freestyle races. Selin won the 500 last season.
Likewise, Longmont sophomore Lucille Matheson positioned herself well in multiple races. She had the top time in the 200 individual medley after the prelims, and was second in the 500.
Longmont is also expected to challenge for the team title on Friday. The Trojans qualified first in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:46.08. Kent Denver was second in 3:48.27.
St. Mary’s Caitlin Cairns qualified first in both the 50 free and 100 butterfly.
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Tight leaderboard after diving semifinals
Rachel Alexander. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Discovery Canyon sophomore Rachel Alexander seized the lead after the diving prelims on Thursday morning, but there are three others close behind.
Alexander’s score of 279.85 led the group, with Durango junior Kylie Behn nipping behind at 279.30.
St. Mary’s Retta Smith, runner-up in the event last season, sits in third at 278.10, and Fountain Valley’s Harriet Townsend is fourth at 276.40.
Alexander finished fourth last season, while Behn was sixth, and Townsend was fifth.
The top 16 divers, out of 21 who qualified, advanced to Friday’s finals.
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Friday’s schedule
The 3A meet resumes on Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. at VMAC. The 4A swim prelims will be held at the venue on Friday morning.
THORNTON — Rampart wanted to establish itself as the Class 4A girls swimming favorite early. During the 200-medley relay, the first event during Friday’s preliminaries, the Rams set a meet record at one minute, 43.644 seconds.
Overall, the Rams have eight swimmers over five final events, which will be held on Saturday. It puts them in a good position to contend for the team title.
“The relay was definitely a highlight,” Rampart coach Dan Greene said. “That’s a pretty big deal for the girls and it got everyone fired up.”
The team of Catriona Clarke, Edenna Chen, Allana Clarke and Lindsey Immel set the mark and then each went on to lock up individual spots in the finals.
Catorina Clarke will swim for the 200-IM title while Allana Clarke and Immel will go for the 50-freestyle championship. Immel also qualified for the 100-freestyle, as did Chen. Overall, Rampart has a chance to make some serious noise when the 4A finals begin.
And it was all sparked with the relay.
“It was a great start to the meet,” Immel said. “I didn’t know we were going to go that fast and I was so surprised at the time, because saw all of them (celebrating) at the end and I realized we did it.”
Immel said the intent for the girls was to go for that record for prelims then just focus on winning the event, regardless of time, on Saturday.
With a deep roster that includes girls leftover from the 2017 championship team, coach Kate Doane likes where her team stands going into Saturday.
“Cat (Wright) is such a leader and she’ll help keep the momentum going,” Doane said. “She can keep that enthusiasm alive.”
Wright, the 2017 4A swimmer of the year, took first in three events last year. She is competing in four final events on Saturday.
The 4A dive preliminaries will be held Saturday morning as the afternoon session at the VMAC was reserved for the 3A state finals.
The finals for the 4A girls state swim meet will begin at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The pool doors will open for teams at 12:45 and on-site tickets will go on sale at 1:30.
THORNTON and FORT COLLINS — Final results from the 2018 girls swimming and diving state championships are below. Navigate to the classification of your choosing below.
