The grind of a long season and many laps in the pool is turning into results for Estes Park girls varsity swim and dive. They earned second place at the Tri-Valley Conference Swimming and Diving Championship and many team members will be competing on Friday through the weekend at the Class 3A CHSAA State Championships.
It was an impressive performance for Estes Park. They totaled 276 points to earn second place at the conference meet.
The Ladycats started quickly at the Tri-Valley meet. Junior Kaelin Flanery won the second event of the meet, the 200 yard freestyle relay, with a time of 2:08.77, which was seven seconds faster than the 3A state qualifying time. Flanery also finished fifth in the 500 yard freestyle final, but was quick enough to qualify for the 3A state championships.
The relay team of senior Andra McDougall, senior Bella Fisher, junior Abby Lemirande and senior Becca Smith earned second place in prelims of the 200 yard medley relay with a time of 1:58.13, 12 seconds faster than the qualifying time for the 3A state championships. Unfortunately, they were disqualified during their swim at the conference finals, but will still compete at the state championships.
The 200 yard freestyle relay team of senior Chloe Walker, Smith, Fisher and Flanery earned second place in the finals, with a time of 1:48.53. They beat the 3A state qualifying time by seven seconds. The 400 yard freestyle relay team also finished second in the finals. Flanery, Lemirande, McDougall and Smith swan the event in 4:00.33, which was 16 seconds faster than the 3A qualifying time.
McDougall earned second place in the final for the 200 yard individual medley, with at time of 2:25.85, a full ten seconds faster than the 3A state qualifying time. She also finished second in the 200 yard backstroke finals and earned her way into the 3A state championships with a time of 1:01.76. Lemirande earned third place in the finals with a time of 1:05.01, easily qualifying her for the 3A state championships. Smith earned third place with a time of 58.07 in the 100 yard freestyle.
Her time was three seconds faster than the 3A qualifying time.
In diving, senior Bailey Ash earned second place in the finals. Her point total of 354.20, was 64 points higher than the 3A state qualifying score.
"There were a lot of jaw-dropping moments," Smith said. "It was completely amazing and I think it was a great effort on all of our parts."
The majority of the team was able to improve their times at the conference meet.
"We all did so much better as a team, we all dropped so much time," Fisher said.
It was an impressive performance all around for Estes Park, but it was not a fluke. The team has spent the time working in the pool and the gym to earn their success.
"[Coach Bill Ruth's] technique is amazing and he is really talented and everything, and the persistence of all the girls on the team, how hard we try, how hard we work out, ... we are feeling really awesome, like we can accomplish something," Smith said.
Another key aspect has been the team spirit of the Ladycats. Whether it is a relay or a team event, they are fully supportive of their teammates.
"The team encouraged me, and all of us encouraged each other to do our best," Flanery said.
The Ladycats have a big challenge ahead of them as they travel down to compete at the state championships in Thornton this weekend, but as they proved in the conference meet, this team is up for any challenge.