In yet another sign of the sport’s growth, Sierra Grande has announced its intention of add a girls swimming team in 2018.
The Panthers’ new program will compete in Class 3A this winter, according to an email athletic director Eric Flores sent to the CHSAA office. That classification held its championships for the first time last winter.
“This is great news for the sport,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bethany Brookens, who administers swimming. “It shows that adding a 3A classification really encourages schools to add their own program.”
At last year’s state meet, roughly 54 percent of the participants had never been to the state meet. The total number of participants in girls swimming grew to 4,287 in 2017, up from 4,142 the previous season.
LONE TREE — Over the course of two days at CHSAA’s annual All-School Summit, the state’s athletic directors hear about the impact high school activities have on student-athletes.
On Tuesday morning, they saw it first-hand.
Poudre senior Ky Ecton addressed the ADs to talk about how important high school activities have been in her life. She participates in tennis, cross country, swimming and unified sports at Poudre after growing up also playing volleyball, basketball, track, and skiing.
“When I play high school sports, I am never on my own,’ she said. “High school sports are about more than a score. It is about the fight and the support of a team.”
Ecton comes from a family of athletes. Her older sisters, Kwynn, Kayl and Koy, all played sports growing up. Her mother and father both played sports in college.
The reigning champion at Class 5A No. 1 singles, Ecton said she is “more than by 5k person record, 50-freestyle pace, and first-serve percentages.”
“I am proud to be a passionate nerd who loves school and values her education,” said Ecton, who is in the IB program at Poudre and carries a 4.14 GPA. She also participates in FBLA and DECA, and volunteers at Poudre Valley Hospital and her school.
“I believe that with all my activities and extracurriculars, high school sports keep me balanced,” Ecton said. “I play a sport each season: cross country in the fall, swimming and unified basketball in the winter, and tennis in the spring.
“Tennis is my main sport but I strongly believe that these other sports do help me from getting burnt out and help keep me mentally tough, as a well-rounded individual,” Ecton continued. “Sports keep me motivated in school because I don’t have the time to go home and watch be a couch potato watching Netflix.”
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Ecton said that high school activities have taught her to “never taken anything for granted.”
“I have many opportunities to travel for tournaments, but I have realized that I enjoy high school tennis more than traveling to tournaments,” she said. “I have my smurf crew sporting blue and silver cheering me on, always there for me after I get off the court — win or lose.
“My tennis team is my second family — literally and figuratively,” Ecton continued. “My mother is my head coach and every year I have been on the team, not only has my cousin or sister has played with me, but one of my older sister has been an assistant coach.
“Along with that, I meet new girls every year who may well be my sisters. We care about eachother more than any win-loss record or state title and everyone’s battle on and off the court is experienced by every player. The teamwork is incredible. From rain delays to dance parties, I always know I have my girls with me.”
Ecton said high school activities have allowed her to meet people she never would have otherwise, given her the chance to represent her town and community, and taught her the value of teamwork.
“Most importantly,” she said, “I play to have fun. I love going out there and competing on the court, course, and field, wearing my Poudre Blue and representing the Impalas.”
Ecton concluded by saying that, “High school sports have taught me lessons I never would have learned anywhere else.”
“I have learned to respect all the coaches, parents, athletes, and spectators that make it fun and appealing to play,” Ecton said. “I have learned more from my losses than my wins and experienced how vital teamwork is so nobody gets left behind. Above all sportsmanship is critical, and it’s not worth it if it isn’t fun.
Aspen’s Kennidy Quist is the 3A girls swimmer of the year. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
The 2017 all-state girls swimming teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created based upon results at the state meet.
Swimmers of the year were selected based upon the number of team points they produced at the state meet. This means that they received the full amount of team points from individual events they swam in, as well as one-fourth of the total points earned by the team in relays they swam in.
Finally, in order to be considered for swimmer of the year, athletes must first have made the all-state team by winning in a championship.
Divers of the year were selected by finish at the state meet, as were coaches of the year.
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Class 5A
Swimmers of the year: Kylee Alons, Fossil Ridge; Zoe Bartel, Fossil Ridge
Saturday, the Skiers proved they’re swimmers too. They added the 3A girls swimming title trophy to their case — it’ll sit neatly next to the seven girls skiing championship trophies. This is the 19th championship overall for the school.
“It’s unbelievable, I’m overwhelmed. These girls worked so hard, they love eachother and it showed,” Aspen coach Kathleen Callahan said. “We’re a tiny team, we have eight girls here and I’m just ecstatic. We made history, who gets to say that?”
Kennidy Quist and Davy Brown led the Skiers as they racked up 209 points. Quist swam and won the 50 and 100 freestyle after coming in second in both events at last year’s 4A meet. Quist had times of 23.50 and 50.33 in the 50 and 100 freestyles, respectively.
Brown swam in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke, winning the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.37. Counting wins in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay, that’s seven medals between the two Aspen swimmers.
Kennidy Quist. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
“It’s everything I could have hoped for to end my high school career. To end with four wins is what every senior wants to do,” Quist said. “To have all these other girls around me and this team to support me that is so small, yet can accomplish so much, it means the world to me.
“Hopefully this just propels us forward and we can continue to do better and better.”
Also in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay for Aspen were Emily Driscoll and Hannah Freeman. Aspen turned in times of 1:48.65 and 3:35.05.
St. Mary’s Academy came in second with 187 points behind an outstanding effort from Alex Reddington. Reddington swam in four events: the 200 free, 100 butterfly, 200 medley relay and 400 free relay.
She said the transition from the 200 medley relay right into the 200 free was a little tough, but that it was part of the sport.
Reddington won her individual events, defending her title in both the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly which she won at the 4A level. In the 200 freestyle, she won by almost five seconds with her time of 1:48.60. Her 100 butterfly time, 54.09, would have been good for second place at Friday’s 5A championships.
Alex Reddington. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
“I’m really pleased with both of those,” Reddington said. “It would have been great to compete against (5A girls) but there were some amazing girls here today and it was great to swim against someone new.”
Glenwood Springs took third with 173 points.
The Demons’ Lauren Fetzko improved dramatically from her preliminary time in the 200 individual medley to win the race over Brown, the favorite. Fetzko improved her time by 7.19 seconds to jump from fourth to first.
Pueblo Central diver Kaylee Eakman won the 3A dive championship with a score of 441.30 after she finished eighth in the 2016 4A meet.
“I don’t even know what to say. I’m speechless,” Eakman said. “It means so much, I’ve worked hard all four years for this. I’ve had two knee surgeries — I’ve had two setbacks — but all this hard work has payed off. I came back and knew I wanted to win my senior year.”
Eakman stood at the back of the diving board staring ahead and took a deep breath. She walked slowly forward, jumped once, twice, and a third time before launching into the air, rotating backwards stick straight with her arms spread and gliding into the water feet first.
The dives continued to get better as she zoned in. Another dive saw Eakman twist backwards tightly bound and break the water hands first, making a minimal splash.
“I didn’t really think about it too much because I psych myself out,” Eakman said. “I just took it one dive at a time.”
Kaylee Eakman. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Eakman did hit the board with her foot on her reverse dive, but came away with the win.
“I leaned forward a little bit,” Eakman said. “I knew I was going to hit it, so I just prepared for it.”
St. Mary’s Retta Smith slid into second place with 389.50. Kent Denver’s Campbell Patteson took third with 372.60.
In the 500 freestyle, Abbey Selin won the race for D’Evelyn by 9.61 seconds with a time of 5:01.15.
Directly after, in the 200 free relay, Pueblo County’s time of 1:41.06 was good for first place. D’Evelyn came in second with 1:42.46.
In the 100 breaststroke, it was Pueblo County again as Amanda Blickensderfer turned in a time of 1:05.26.
FORT COLLINS — The Cheyenne Mountain girls swimming team had been coming that close for what seemed like forever.
Every season, the Indians kept coming back to the Class 4A state championship meet as title contenders and leaving without one. A constant back-and-forth between runner-up and third place for the past five years, just short of reaching the top spot on the podium.
That’s why coach Kate Doane said it was so sweet when her team finally flipped the script on Saturday at Edora Pool Ice Center, bringing home Cheyenne Mountain’s first team state title since 2002 — its second in school history.
“It’s a huge relief. Huge heart-opener, too. This is what we’ve been working at for years and this trophy goes to all of the teams I’ve coached before this,” Doane said. “We’ve been sniffing at it for so long that it’s awesome to finally get that recognition.”
The Indians’ run to the team title was powered by their dominant relay teams.
Cheyenne Mountain set the tone early as its 200 medley relay team of Harper Lehman, Sophia Bricker, Cat Wright and Maggie Tibbitt set a 4A state record in the first event of Saturday’s finals, winning in 1:44.59.
Wright and Bricker later teamed up with Mikaila Duncan and Maggie York to win the 200 freestyle relay (1:38.50), at which point the Indians began to distance themselves from defending champion Valor Christian in the team standings.
The Indians’ only individual title was won by Wright, who claimed the 100 butterfly in 55.45 seconds and was runner-up in the 50 free (24.07). Tibbitt was second in the 200 free (1:52.51), and Clare Sanderson contributed a fourth-place finish in the 500 free (5:08.96).
“The individual wins are cool, but the relay ones are so much more fun because you’re getting to share that experience with three other girls,” Wright said. “And then there’s a team title now. That’s the most special out of all of them because it’s everybody, all of us going and doing this as a team.
“That’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Friesen completes career sweep
Windsor senior Morgan Friesen closed out her decorated career by winning her sixth individual state title, two of which were won on Saturday.
The first of Friesen’s victories came as she defended her title in the 200 IM, winning in 2:06.55. She later completed a career-sweep of her signature 100 breaststroke with a winning time of 1:03.72, her fourth-straight win in the event. Her fastest time was recorded her sophomore year (1:01.90), which still stands as the state record.
Dual titles for Heritage’s Andrews
Heritage junior Kylie Andrews won two individual events Saturday, bringing her career title count to three. Andrews defended her championship in the 100 free (50.59) and won the 100 back (55.67).
“I feel really good about that because the competition in both of those events were stiff,” Andrews said. “Getting some titles and having my teammates behind me was an astoundingly good feeling.”
THORNTON — Fossil Ridge spent most of its time during the Class 5A girls swimming state championships in one of two places: Swimming in the front of the pack, or on top of the podium.
“We’ve been talking about that since the beginning of the season,” said Fossil Ridge coach Carolyn Fries. “That was awesome, (the girls) swam so fast.”
The SaberCats took home the 5A state championship Friday with a team score of 390. Fossil Ridge’s Zoe Bartel won two individual events and was part of four relay championships: the 200 medley relay, 100 breaststroke, 200 individual medley and 200 free relay. In the 100 breaststroke, Bartel set a state record of 1:00.22.
“It’s one of the things I get to check off my list,” Bartel said. “It’s not all me, two of (the events) were relays, it’s about the team.”
Teammate Coleen Gillian also swam in four events and came away with three first-place finishes. In total, Fossil Ridge claimed nine of the 11 swimming events. They had a similar showing in prelims on Thursday.
This is the program’s third total title (2012, 2015) which moves the SaberCats into sixth place all-time for Colorado girls swimming championships.
The meet’s second heat saw Fossil Ridge set a state record in the 200-yard medley relay. Bayley Stewart, Bartel, Gillian and Kylee Alons notched a time of 1:39.40. Gillian took home yet another state record of her own with a time of 53.15 in the 100 butterfly.
“We all work our butts off, it’s so good to see our hard work pay off,” Gillian said. “I just try to have fun; when you have fun swimming it’s so much easier. As a team, we’re so close together, so when one person does well, you gotta do your work. It all clicks together.”
Alons wasn’t done, either. She finished first in both the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle.
The SaberCat relays were dominant. Fossil Ridge also took first in the 200 freestyle relay, just missing the mark on setting another state record with a time of 1:34.60. The state record stays at 1:34.40.
Fossil Ridge capped the championships with a 3:22.45 first-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay, again just missing a state record by 0.03.
Defending champion Fairview came in second behind Fossil Ridge with 334 points.
Brittney Beetcher. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
The Knights’ Brittney Beetcher took first in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:50.46. Beetcher was a two-time champion in the meet, also winning the 500 freestyle — defending both of her previous titles.
“Fossil is amazing, all their girls are amazing. For me, it was just great to race,” Beetcher said. “Defending my two titles was nerve racking, but I have such a good group of girls around me. I did it more for Fairview than myself.”
Third place belonged to Arapahoe. The Warriors ended with a team score of 221.
In the 200 individual medley, it was back to Fossil Ridge, as they took over the podiums throughout the meet. Bartel came in first, with Bailey Kovac and Stewart finishing second and third, respectively. Stewart got her win later in the 100 backstroke, edging out teammate Bailey Kovac for first place.
In diving, Lexie Barker of Douglas County won with a score of 493.25.
“Every year I’ve worked my way up in the placing just a little bit more,” Barker said. It feels good to finally get first. It was very stressful coming up to this because I did really well all season.”
Lexie Barker. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Arapahoe’s Franny Cable came in second, and Douglas County teammate Samantha Tamborski followed in third. Cable scored 474.45, while Tamborski scored 446.65.
Barker smiled at the thought of what was going through her mind as she walked the flexing, seafoam green board a meter above the water.
“Don’t screw up. That’s the first thing. I know how to do the dives correctly, my body knows what it’s doing, I just have to remember to let go of everything and just do it.”
Barker elegantly plunged into the water and onto the podium as the 5A dive champion.
FORT COLLINS — The state championship atmosphere inside Edora Pool Ice Center resurfaces special emotions for senior swimmers like Morgan Friesen.
For the past two seasons, the Windsor standout and her fellow Class 4A state qualifiers have instead been showcasing their talents at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton. That left only a small group who also shared that freshman-year experience entering Friday’s prelims as this year’s championship meet returned to EPIC.
“Just being back here, in this place, brings back a lot of memories of being a freshman and making it to state for the first time and everything else that went with it,” Friesen said. “It’s not about just how much I’ve grown individually, but also as a program. It’s crazy to think how fast it’s all gone by.”
Three years ago, Friesen nervously went into her first state meet hoping for the best. On Saturday, she’ll have a shot at wrapping up her career with six individual state titles.
She finished first in the prelims of both the 200 IM (2:06.18) and 100 breaststroke (1:03.27) Friday, the first of which would lead to a repeat and the latter a career-sweeping four-peat if she wins those events in Saturday’s finals.
In the race for the team title, Cheyenne Mountain appears to be an early frontrunner after finishing third in 2016. The Indians qualified 20 individuals for Saturday’s finals, as well as all three of their relay teams.
Junior Cat Wright leads Cheyenne Mountain with the No. 1 spot in the 100 butterfly (56.11) and was third in the prelims of the 50 free (24.62). The Indians also received help from their younger swimmers as freshmen Harper Lehman, Clare Sanderson and Frances Hayward all qualified for the championship heat of their individual events.
“Just getting to be here and play a part with a team as great as this is something special,” said Lehman, who finished third in the 100 backstroke (57.45), sixth in the 200 IM (2:10.17) and was the opening leg of the top-finishing 200 medley relay team (1:45.29).
“I knew I would be nervous, but this experience is unlike anything else. I had to keep asking my older teammates to say things to help calm me down.”
Those feelings not only stick around, but are to be cherished, according to veterans like Friesen.
“If I had to give any advice to the younger swimmers out here, it would be to make the most of it all,” Friesen said. “Being here representing your school is something that will always be special.”
Diving prelims for the 4A state meet will begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Finals will begin in the afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
THORNTON — Fossil Ridge is the favorite here at the Class 5A girls swimming state meet. Thursday’s preliminaries hammered that fact home.
The SaberCats, who have been ranked No. 1 all throughout the regular season, entered with the top-seeded time in nine of the 11 swimming events. They lived up to expectations at the Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center, closing the preliminaries with a swimmer or relay team leading nine of the 11 events.
Included:
A record-setting performance by junior Zoe Bartel in the 100 breastroke.
A record-tying time by sophomore Coleen Gillilan in the butterfly.
The top three qualifying times in the 200 individual medley.
A dominant showing from Kylee Alons, who holds the top times in two events.
“I think it kind of has a snowball effect,” Gillilan said of the team’s success. “You start out good, and you’re winning, and then that gets other people excited, and they want to win. It just keeps going.”
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Said Bartel: “We have a highly-competitive group. We’re not just a group of swimmers. We’re a group of athletes that loves to compete. So anytime we see one of our really good friends go and break a pool record, or have a great time, you’re like, ‘Oh, I want to do that! I want to do what they did!’
“It’s almost like a, ‘I don’t want to be left out.’ But it’s also, ‘I want to participate. I want to be a part of this.’”
Bartel shattered her previous state record of 1:01.88 — set earlier this season — with a 1:00.39 in the breastroke.
“She is so talented. She’s a nationally-ranked swimmer,” said Fossil Ridge coach Carolyn Fries. “She’s one of the hardest workers on our team — on a fast team. She’s outstanding.”
Gillilan tied a state record in the 100 butterfly, matching the time of 53.22 swam by former SaberCat Bailey Nero in 2015.
“I was just hoping to make it back,” said Gillilan, who won the 100 fly at the state meet last season and placed second in the 50 free. “It just made me so much more hyper and excited for my next races.”
Alons, a Fossil Ridge junior, qualified first in both the 50 and 100 freestyle races. Her preliminary time in the 50 was 0.23 away from Missy Franklin’s record of 22.41.
The 200 IM was a microcosm of the prelims: Fossil Ridge’s Bartel, senior Bailey Kovac, and junior Bayley Stewart qualified 1-2-3 in the event. Bartel shaved more than four seconds off her seed time to finish in 2:02.44.
Stewart and Kovac also qualified first and second, respectively, in the 100 backstroke.
The 200 medley relay, which opened the meet, saw the SaberCats finish in 1:42.53. They own the top time by more than three seconds — and they can go faster. Fossil Ridge’s seed time was 1:42.39.
Fossil Ridge finished third at last season’s 5A state meet, a year after winning the title. Another championship, which would be the program’s third, is now in their sights.
“We’ll try to keep them excited. We’re going to chase a couple more state records,” Fries said. “They’ve been waiting for this since last year.”
Fairview senior Brittney Beetcher qualified first in both the 200 and 500 freestyle races. She went 1:51.88 in the 200, and 4:59.47 in the 500.
Beetcher won both events last season after finishing second in both as a sophomore.
After the first day of diving, Douglas County’s Lexie Barker led the field. The Ohio State-bound senior had an eight-round semifinal total of 346.85, heading Arapahoe’s Franny Cable (332.45) and Cherry Creek’s Sydney Fulton (322.40).
Barker finished third at the state meet last season, and 23rd as a sophomore, when she didn’t qualify for semifinals.
Thursday, she had the top total of the prelims at 218.90, and extended her lead in the semifinals.
“It’s where I hoped to be,” Barker said. “I didn’t know how this year was going to go. My first year, I didn’t even make the cut. And then last year, I think I got third, so this year, I was thinking, ‘As long as I make podium, I’m good.’
“I’m feeling pretty confident” heading into finals, she added.
Finals for both swimming and diving begin at 4 p.m. on Friday. Prior to that, the first-ever 3A state meet will begin prelims at 10:30 a.m.
