With five girls unavailable to make it to the Delta Invitational, the Durango High School girls swim team needed a number of girls to step up. The Demons did just that, and stepped all the way up to the top of the podium.
Durango had one impressive individual performance after another in the Delta pool Friday night as the Demons blew the opposition out of the water. DHS finished with a whopping 392 points, over 100 better than the second-place hosts, in taking the Delta Invitational title.
Saylor Stottlemeyer came in first in the 200 freestyle and Kylie Behn won the one-meter diving competition to lead the way for Durango.
“Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised that we did as well as we did,” Durango head coach Tom Joyner said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “Saylor just killed it and knocked 10 seconds off her best time. Emily Doughty had a great swim and finished second in the 500 free in her first time ever competing in that event. Everyone stepped up.”
Stottlemeyer’s 2 minute, 17.31 second effort in the 200 free was followed closely by Durango’s Claire Larson, who finished in second place with a time of 2:19.44.
Stottlemeyer also found herself on the podium with a second-place time of 1:23.19 in the 100-yard breaststroke. Sadie McAliney was close behind in third in 1:26.66 and was one of five Demons to finish in the top 10 in the 1-meter dive. McAliney was eighth, Ruby Epstein finished fourth, Olivia Mummery was third and Tess Burgwald was second behind Behn’s top point total of 210.40.
Lacey Hoselton took second in the 200 free in 1:04.91 and touched right before Katelyn Doughty (1:05.12) who took third. Larson finished fifth and Riley Mata was eighth and Gracie Weaver was 10th for DHS in a successful 200 freestyle. Weaver was also fifth in the 50 freestyle and Mata placed seventh.
Though the team was shorthanded, Steevie Delio picked up the slack by finishing third in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly. Emily Doughty was right behind in the 200 I.M. with a fourth-place finish.
“Those two events are a tough combination to ask of a kid, but Steevie stepped up big time,” Joyner said. “Steevie is always reliable and one of the hardest workers around. She did great.”
Katelyn Doughty finished less than a second back of the winner in the 100 backstroke with a second-place effort of 1:13.50. Hoselton was fourth in the event.
Durango had two of the top three finishing teams in the 200 and 400 free relays. The 99 points gained in those two events played a large role in the Demons’ win.
Durango will be back in the pool next weekend against Cortez on Friday before hosting the team’s final home meet of the season, and senior day, at 10 a.m. Saturday.
jfries@durangoherald.com
