The faces of the Pueblo County girls swimming team have changed a lot since the Hornet hoisted the Class 3A runner-up trophy last February. It’s still early in the season, but the results haven’t changed as much as those generating them.
The Hornets got hit hard from graduation last year, losing Amanda Blickensderfer and Alex Musso. The two seniors were key components to the 200-yard medley relay teams and performed well in individual positions as the Hornets claimed back-to-back second-place finishes. Losing those two and other seniors that graduated from the program would indicate that County is ready to go into rebuilding mode.
“We graduated 12 seniors,” coach Dan Radiff said. “We’ve been runner-er up two years in a row so you think, well it’s time to start over again. Get things going.”
That transition seems to be going smoother than Radiff could have hoped for. The Hornets finished sixth as a team at the Cheyenne Mountain Invitational on Dec. 21. That was better than any 3A school at the meet and better than several 4A and 5A programs.
“I just don’t know what to expect from these schools because of their experience,” he said. “I’m shocked I got all three relays back into the finals (at Cheyenne Mountain). Usually I can only get two.”
He got to display one of those relay teams right from the get-go. Kandi Liberato, Brooke Musso, Anna Maurello and Adrianna Morrow-Guerrero finished fifth in the 200 medley relay with a time of one minute, 59 seconds.
Maurello is the lone senior on that relay team and one of the big leaders coming into the year for the Hornets. She’s impressed with the way the rest of this team have just come in and really adopted the mentality that this team has taken into the season for the last few years.
“We’ve been battling one of those trophies for so many years now that it’s kind of normal for us,” she said. “We just have to stay focused, work hard and support each other.”
That hard work and support is already showing signs of paying off. Liberato, a junior, has already logged a time of 1:00.06 seconds in the 100 backstroke. That time would have been good enough to finish fifth in the event at state.
It’s not uncommon for times in December to to be a tad slower than what the swimmers expect them to be to in February. As they build themselves up, teams will target specific meets to shift gears and start competing like they’re at state. For the Hornets, it’s their own meet as they host the Hornet Invite on Jan. 17 and 18.
“It’s one of the best meets of the entire season,” Maurello said. “We get to prove to everyone that comes that this is our pool and we know how to swim in it.”
They’ve shown over the last two seasons that they know how to swim. A couple of runner-up trophies are evidence to that fact. And by the time the season is over in February, they’re hoping to add more hardware to show its the overall program, not just a few swimmers that generate successful results.
INDIANAPOLIS — Effective with the 2019-20 high school season, a legal finish now requires the competitor to contact either the touchpad or the finish end coinciding with the individual stroke of the race.
With this change, swimmers can legally complete a race by touching the finish end (end wall), regardless of whether the touchpad is activated.
This rules revision, which affects the finish of all strokes used in swimming, was one of two swimming and four diving changes recommended by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Swimming and Diving Rules Committee at its March 24-26 meeting in Indianapolis. All recommendations were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.
Rule 8-1-7 now will require swimmers to contact the finish end in the manner prescribed by the individual strokes. Descriptions of the backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle finishes in Rule 8-2 state that a legal finish requires contact with either the touchpad or the finish end.
As a result of these changes, a swimmer will no longer be disqualified if the touchpad is not activated in races using automatic-timing systems.
“This change allows for situations in which pools do not have touchpads that stretch the entire width of the lane, or in cases where the touchpad is not activated when the competitor finishes the race,” said Sandy Searcy, NFHS director of sports and liaison to the Swimming and Diving Rules Committee. “In those cases, the competitor legally finishes the race by contacting the finish end.”
The other major swimming rules change involved the protocol for uniform violations, which involved reorganization of Rule 3-3 to specify the penalty protocol for uniform violations. While the penalties associated with an illegal uniform did not change, a new process for communicating any violations to the competitor was approved.
Effective with the 2019-20 season, when an official discovers a competitor wearing illegal attire specifically dealing with suit coverage as described in Rule 3-3-2, the official shall notify the coach of the competitor to make the attire legal before he or she is eligible to compete – if the uniform violation is observed prior to the start of the heat/dive. If the competitor cannot comply without delaying the start of the heat/dive, the competitor is disqualified from the event/dive and is not eligible for further competition until the attire is made legal.
Previously, the official notified the competitor directly when illegal attire was discovered; now the official will notify the coach of the competitor.
“The penalty associated with this rule was written to provide clear indication that the coach of the competitor should be notified when a violation of this nature has occurred,” Searcy said. “In the case of suit construction and cap violations, for practicality and concerns over delay of the meet, the officials may communicate with either the competitor or coach.”
Among the four diving rules changes was a change in degree of difficulty in the diving table in Rule 9-4. In a risk-minimization change, the degree of difficulty for back and reverse double somersaults was lowered to match back and reverse 1½ somersaults. This change is consistent with the degree of difficulty assessed to back and reverse dives versus back and reverse somersaults.
In Rule 9-5-6, descriptions of diving positions were adjusted to maintain consistency with national trends. Language has been updated to clarify requirements of the straight, pike, tuck and free positions.
In Rule 9-7-4, the following Note was approved: “In a championship meet, the diving referee may consult with a designated member of the judging panel concerning a possible unsatisfactory dive.”
“The addition of this Note is consistent with the diving referee’s capability of consulting with a designated member of the judging panel concerning a possible failed dive,” Searcy said. “Because of the severity of the penalty and the judging panels seated on opposite sides of the pool or spread out on one side covering 10-12 feet along the side of the pool, providing the option for the referee to consult with another member of the panel to determine if a dive is satisfactory is appropriate.”
Rule 9-1-3 regarding a fulcrum was updated to comply with industry standards. Searcy said the change aligns with current diving board manufacturers’ installation directions.
According to the 2017-18 NFHS High School Athletic Participation Survey, swimming and diving is the 10th-most popular sport for boys with 138,935 participants in 7,595 schools, and the eighth-most popular sport for girls with 175,594 participants in 7,961 schools.
A roundup of Jeffco prep highlights from February with Dennis Pleuss, Jeffco Public Schools’ Communication Specialist. This month’s edition features action from the girls swimming state championships where Ralston Valley, Chatfield and Evergreen ascended to the podium. We were on hand when Evergreen girls basketball, along with Columbine and Wheat Ridge boys basketball teams clinched conference titles. Then there was the National Letter of Intent Signing Day on Feb. 6 where the number of Jeffco student-athletes from the Class of 2019 who have signed grew to more than 150.
THORNTON — Ahead of the 100-yard breaststroke race, Fairview freshman Emma Weber was doing everything possible to get prepared. That included not getting on the podium with her teammates after they took gold in the 200 freestyle relay.
An imposter took her place as the fourth member of the team. She was warming down for that breaststroke race, a race she went on to win. It was Fairview’s only individual championship. But that didn’t matter as the Knights used their depth to win the Class 5A swimming and diving championship at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton.
“We challenged the girls,” coach Bob Smartt said. “There are eight individual races and we challenged them to have four girls make finals in six of those, and they pulled it off.”
Fairview scored 495.5 points to 378 for Fossil Ridge who came in as the two-time defending state champion.
With eyes on that team race, the 200-yard medley relay race – the first event of the meet – became the early focal point. Fairview went with the tactic of having senior Riley Tapley start the race and letting freshman Morgan Lukinac take the anchor.
The plan paid off as the Knights’ time of one minute, 41.66 seconds just edged out the Sabercats.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Fossil Ridge bounced right back with Coleen Gillilan’s win in the 200 freestyle. Freshman Lucy Bell followed up that performance by getting a win in the 200 individual medley. Each team had three placers in the race. The Sabercats took first, fourth and seventh while Fairview’s swimmers finished third, sixth and eighth.
After Lukinac took sixth in the 50 freestyle, the Knights had begun to establish a comfortable lead.
“I don’t really know (when we had it wrapped up) but I know our medley relay was amazing,” Weber said. “The whole team performed amazing tonight.”
And that’s not an exaggeration. According to Smartt the Knights set six school records at the event. All three relay teams broke school marks, Tapley’s 55.65 in the 100 backstroke is a school record, Weber’s winning time of 1:05.5 in the breaststroke is a record and senior Mikayla Seigal’s 100 butterfly mark of 54.97 is a Fairview best.
Seigal was on the last Fairview team to claim the 5A crown back in 2016.
“I think it just shows our team camaraderie and how much depth we have as a team,” Seigal said. “I think each swimmer stepped up to the plate and swam so well for the team and themselves.”
Fossil Ridge claimed the runner-up trophy with a win in the 400 freestyle relay. Coleen Gillilan claimed gold in the 200 and 500 freestyle races while her sister Renee, a freshman, won the 100 fly.
In a meet dominated by the Knights and Sabercats, Lewis-Palmer senior Meredith Rees was the only other swimmer to come away with multiple wins. She claimed the 50 freestyle and the 100 backstroke and wasn’t the top seed in either race.
“That was one of my goals, to win state,” Rees said. “I’ve been so close all the other years and I knew it could be my year because all the other Fossil Ridge girls graduated last year.”
Rees and the Rangers finished 10th in the team race. Regis Jesuit, Cherry Creek and Arapahoe rounded out the top five in the team standings.
Saturday marked Fairview’s third team championship. They won their first back in 2004.
