After finishing third as a team at the Western Slope League Championships on Friday in Grand Junction, the Durango High School girls swimming team will look to carry that momentum into the Colorado Class 4A state championships Wednesday and Thursday in Thornton.
The Demons ended up winning a league title in the 200 yard freestyle relay with its fastest time of the year, 1:44.33. That relay will have Durango’s highest seed at state, but the Demons also qualified for the championships in the other two relays plus five different individual races.
Glenwood Springs won the league title with 528 points, followed by Grand Junction (309), Durango (276), Gunnison (270), Summit (230), Fruita Monument (171), Montrose (162), Aspen (110), Moffat County (83), Delta (70) and Pagosa Springs (55).
Durango’s 200-freestyle relay enters state with the 10th-fastest time in Class 4A, which it swam at the league meet.
DHS also qualified in the 400 freestyle relay with the 17th-fastest time, 3:54.78, and the 200 yard medley relay in 2:03.39, which was the 26th best time and less than two seconds away from the top-20.
Individually, three Demons qualified for state in the 100 yard freestyle. Sophomore Elin Bjorklund Mischler has the teams fastest seed time of 56.29, which scored her a bronze at the league meet and ranks 15th in Class 4A. Freshman Joellianna Rohde qualified in 57.10, the 22nd best time, while sophomore Emma Ebner punched her ticket with a 58.06.
Sophomore Olivia Becher qualified in the 200 free with a top time of 2:07.36, which she swam at the league meet to place fourth.
Senior Chloe Cook will compete in the 50 free. Her qualifying time of 25.80 ranks No. 22 out of the 40 qualifiers, and only .19 out of the top-20. Mischler qualified with the 13th-fastest time in the 50 free, a 25.44 that scored her a silver at the league meet.
In the 500 free, both Becher and Cook will be competing for DHS. Becher qualified 22nd in 5:42.10 and Cook 29th in 5:47.35. Those times helped them finish fourth and fifth at the league meet, respectively.
Rohde also qualified for state in the 100 yard backstroke in 1:03.11, which placed her third at league and ranks 17th in the state.
Durango swims in the preliminaries at state beginning at 5 p.m. Wednesday, following the 4A diving competition. The top 10 fastest swimmers in each event advances to Thursday’s A-final while the next 10 fastest times qualify for the B-final. Thursday’s finals are scheduled to start at 5 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center, following the Class 5A preliminary races.
