THORNTON — Fairview (Class 5A) and Valor Christian (4A) won girls swimming’s 2015 Coaches Invite on Saturday.
The Knights racked up 366 points, well ahead of second-place Regis Jesuit (233). Valor Christian’s 288 points out-paced runner-up Evergreen (114 points).
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Windsor Wizards have a record holder, a young lady who has won state titles and set new standards for the school and even for the state.
Morgan Friesen, the two-time defending Class 4A champion in the 100-yard breaststroke, not to mention the all-classification record holder in the event and the first in state history to swim sub-1:02 with a 1:01.90, is a big-time talent. She also tied the previous record of 1:02.47, set by Cherry Creek’s Kelly Naze in 2010, in prelims at state.
Windsor swimmer Morgan Friesen. (Nina Lewis/ninasart.smugmug.com)
An outstanding all-around talent in the pool, the junior also notched a third-place finish in the 200 IM at last year’s state meet, breaking the Windsor record with a time of 2:06.32. She’s swam on multiple state-placing relays, as well.
Talent is a given but, while Friesen scores points in bunches for the Wizards, her impact on the program goes far beyond the times and places she posts. She has a ripple effect in the pool.
“We have a very strong team this year,” Windsor coach Mandy Schneider said. “Morgan leads that. She leads it in the water and out of the water. I think other girls see that and they see how fast she swims and how well she does and they want to be like that. They want to do those same things that she does.”
Windsor won the Tri-Valley League title last winter and qualified nine girls to the state meet, one season after qualifying four. They return eight of them. Schneider says the work her ladies have put in during the off-season in recent years is helping to elevate the program. Friesen has been at the forefront of that.
“She is very dedicated not only to her high school team, but also her club team, which is very important to her,” Schneider said. “I think that also has been one of the reasons a lot of the girls have swam in the summer. They see what she is capable of doing.”
A stellar sophomore year didn’t come as a surprise to those who follow swimming state-wide after seeing Friesen’s ability as a freshman, when she already won the 100 breaststroke in dominant fashion and broke and rebroke her own record. For Friesen, more than anything, she was just excited for the opportunity to compete for her high school. Winning has been some icing on the cake.
“I had no idea truly,” Friesen said of being able to win a state title as a first-year. “I was super excited for high school. It was just a different experience than anything I had ever done before. Being a representative of your high school, I was super excited, but I had no idea I would have that outcome come out of it. I really didn’t see it coming.”
The amazing things she does no longer surprise, but continue to impress. She’s two-for-two in her best event. Asked if she’s thought about the possibility of going four-for-four in the 100 breaststroke, Friesen had a humble and mature response.
“That would be awesome,” she said. “You never know. There’s always people that come in. What I can control is my work in the pool and just being a part of a team. I am just looking for personal improvements. If I could, it would be awesome. I would be so honored to be able to do that, but right now I’m just working on what I can control.”
Like anyone the caliber of Friesen, she has natural physical gifts. Schneider says her dedication is what’s allowed her to take full advantage of those gifts.
“You can look at times and see that she’s talented, but she is dedicated to swimming in every way,” Schneider said. “She always makes sure that everything she does, she does 100 percent. She is very focused. She swims with her full heart every time she gets in the water.”
So, what’s ahead for the Windsor star? Two more years of high school and then she wants to continue her career in college. With her talent, she might be doing this for a long time. Before that, Friesen wants to see what’s possible with the Loveland Swim Club and Windsor, a program that placed ninth in 4A last season and might be top five this year.
“It takes a team to win a swim meet, it doesn’t take just one swimmer, but her points are definitely one of the things that help boost us at every single meet,” Schneider said. “She is very good at helping everyone else improve too.”
Friesen won’t be the only stellar returner in 4A as 12 all-state performers are back, including two from Evergreen, the two-time defending champions, and four from Valor Christian, the third place team last year.
As for Class 5A, Fossil Ridge, after winning their second state title in the sport, has four all-state returners, three of which were only freshmen or sophomores last season. The Sabercats should be powerful again. Regis Jesuit also returns four all-state honorees.
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Girls swimming preview
Class 4A
Defending champion: Evergreen
Runner-up: Cheyenne Mountain
Regular season begins: December 1
State championships: February 12-13, VMAC (Thornton)
All-State returners: Morgan Friesen, Jr., Windsor; Madison Hoehn, Jr., Valor Christian; Kethrys Buffa, Jr., Manitou Springs; Raili Carter, Sr., Valor Christian; Emily Dolloff-Holt, Jr., Manitou Springs; Katelyn Kenchel, Jr., Evergreen; Brook Landt, Sr., Valor Christian; Kate McDonald, Jr., Evergreen; Veronica Morin, Sr., Manitou Springs; Brooke Stenstrom, Sr., Valor Christian; Samantha White, Sr., Manitou Springs; Cat Wright, Soph., Cheyenne Mountain
Class 5A
Defending champion: Fossil Ridge
Runner-up: Regis Jesuit
Regular season begins: December 1
State finals: February 12-13, EPIC (Fort Collins)
All-State returners: McKensi Austin, Sr., Regis Jesuit; Zoe Bartel, Soph., Fossil Ridge; Jennae Frederick, Jr., Regis Jesuit; Lesley Ann-Knee, Jr., Fossil Ridge; Abigail Kochevar, Sr., Rock Canyon; Bailey Kovac, Jr., Fossil Ridge; Amy Lenderink, Sr., Regis Jesuit; Lindsay Painton, Sr., Regis Jesuit; Bayley Stewert, Soph., Fossil Ridge
Missy Franklin, the dynamic swimming standout who graduated from Regis Jesuit in 2013, was named the Best Female College Athlete at the 2015 ESPY Awards on Wednesday night.
She was unable to attend the award ceremony, but posted a video thanking for her award on Twitter:
Wish more than anything I could have been at the ESPY's tonight. This is what was happening instead!😫🚘 Broken car! pic.twitter.com/yonQRlHVxq
— Missy Franklin Johnson (@missyfranklin) July 16, 2015
Franklin just finished her sophomore season at Cal, where she won three individual NCAA titles — the 200-yard individual medley, 200-yard freestle and 200-yard backstroke — and helped the Bears to the NCAA title. After the season, Franklin was named the Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year, NCAA Swimmer of the Year, and also won the Honda Cup as the top female collegiate athlete.
Franklin has since turned pro.
This is Franklin’s second ESPY. After her performance at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London — where she won four gold medals and a bronze as a junior in high school — she won the 2013 ESPY for Best Female Olympic Athlete.
At Regis, she led the Raiders to state titles as a sophomore and a senior, and runner-up finishes as a freshman and junior. She broke numerous state records, and still holds individual state records for the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 500 free, 200 IM and 100 backstroke, as well as a team records in the 400 freestyle relay.
CHSAA’s Legislative Council met on Thursday. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
AURORA — Girls golf, girls swimming and diving, and girls tennis will each add a third classification in 2016.
The move was made at Thursday’s Legislative Council meeting following a vote on a proposal from CHSAA’s Board of Directors. It needed two-thirds approval as it amended the Classification and League Organizing Committee’s report which was passed in January — and got more than enough with 93 percent of the body approving.
New enrollment splits will be determined by CLOC for 2016-18, but the breakdown of schools per class will be somewhere in this range:
Sport
3A
4A
5A
Girls golf
51
51
51
Girls swimming & diving
40
40
40
Girls tennis
49
49
50
Now the real work starts. The committee for each sport will have to lay out postseason formats and qualifying procedures.
“This is an exciting move for the Association because it offers so many more participation opportunities for girls sports,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bethany Brookens, who oversees both swimming and tennis. “The sport committees will be hard at work to determine the best playoff formats.”
And, when a December survey of athletic directors showed wide support for adding a third class in each sport, it was evident that this would more than likely happen.
A proposal from the Tri-Valley League to return to a 48-team bracket in 4A basketball was shot down by the Legislative Council.
The vote required majority approval to pass, but 64 percent of the body was against it.
When discussing the proposal, those speaking out against it mentioned the fact that the change would happen in the middle of the cycle — but also that 4A has bounced back and forth between 32- and 48-team fields in recent years.
“The basketball committee has wrested with the number of qualifiers (in 4A) for a number of years. We go back-and-forth, back-and-forth,” said Paul Cain, who chairs the basketball committee. “We’ve discussed this as a committee, and I hate to say it, but it’s one of our problem children. We need to figure this out.”
Mike Hughes, the athletic director at Vista PEAK who also represents the Colorado Athletic Directors Association: “We don’t think the quality of competition will increase significantly enough to warrant an additional 16 teams.”
Additionally, a proposal which would have changed specific qualifying procedures for Ponderosa to the 4A tournament also failed.
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Wrestling will use a new weight-management program
Beginning with the 2015-16 season, wrestling will use a new weight management plan for athletes who are trying to drop weight.
According to the wrestling report, the Optimal Performance Calculator “permits wrestlers to descend at a rate no higher than 1.5 percent of their body weight per week.”
Each wrestler will have their weight assessed before they compete.
Wrestling also instituted a dress code for coaches during the postseason.
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Notables
The proposal to add an eighth classification — 6A — to football failed by a wide margin. Here’s a full story on that development. It’s worth noting that the Legislative Council was so against the 6A football proposal that the vote to open the CLOC report to be able to amend it nearly failed. That would’ve meant the body wouldn’t have been able to vote on the addition of 3A in girls tennis, golf and swimming.
Hockey’s addition of JV, as well as the changes it made to the overtime rules, passed. The sport’s changes to period, game and roster limits were also approved. Teams will now only be able to carry 20 players on their varsity roster.
Baseball tried to move the start to its season, as well as its championships, back one week. Both proposals failed individually, though the push-back of the title games was 54-46. That may be back at a future meeting.
The proposals to expand the baseball and softball seasons, as well as the number of innings a player is allowed to play in, were both tabled by the Centennial League. Those will be back to the January 2016 Legislative Council meeting. They were tabled so that the changes, if approved, could take place at the start of a two-year cycle.
New members of the Board of Directors who were approved on Thursday: Doug Pfau (Weldon Valley AD), Troy Baker (Buena Vista AD), and Wendy Rubin (Chatfield principal). Additionally, the Board on Wednesday appointed the following at-large Board members: Kathleen Leiding (Lyons AD), and Kelley Eichman (Fountain-Fort Carson AD).
The meeting marked the final Legislative Council for outgoing Board president Curt Wilson. “Some of the buzz in Colorado right now is somewhat negative,” he told the membership on Thursday. “Despite the tendency to frown, let us not pass by the 99 good things because we’re in such a rush to fix the bad things.”
