The Durango High School girls swimming team advanced to several event finals with their performances Wednesday at the Class 4A state championships in Thornton.
The team qualified in three individual event finals while its 200 yard freestyle relay team also moved on with its best time of the year.
Sophomore Elin Bjorklund Mischler advanced to Thursday night’s championships in a pair of individual events, the 50 yard freestyle and the 100 freestyle.
Mischler lowered her seed time in the preliminaries by .16 seconds in the 50 free, advancing to Thursday in 15th with a time of 25.28 seconds. Senior Chloe Cook ended up finishing 26th out of 40 swimmers in the event in 26.05.
Mischler also placed 19th in the 100 free preliminary, swimming her fastest time of the year, 56.24, to reach the event’s B final. Freshman Joellianna Rohde finished 30th in 57.67 and sophomore Emma Ebner placed 35th in 58.99.
Rohde, however, advanced to Thursday in the 100 backstroke with her fastest time of the year. Rohde qualified for the finals in 16th with a time of 1:02.79.
The 200 yard freestyle relay team also advanced to Thursday’s finals and finished about a half second away from reaching the A final. Mischler, senior Maren Clay, Ebner and Cook clocked the 12th fastest preliminary time out of 29 teams in 1:45.50.
Durango’s 400 yard freestyle relay team, meanwhile, clocked the 21st fastest preliminary time of 3:56.65 to earn the first alternative spot if a qualified team is unable to compete. Rohde, senior Abby Bowman, Clay and Mischler swam on the relay for the Demons.
In the 200 medley relay, Rohde and seniors Elyza Baumchen, Anna Lawrence and Ashley Forrest clocked the 26th fastest preliminary race in 2:03.93.
Sophomore Olivia Becher also raced in a pair of individual events, but her times were just outside the top 20. Becher placed 32nd in the 200 freestyle in 2:09.01 and 28th in the 500-free in 5:46.66. Cook finished a few seconds later in the 500 free in 31st (5:54.12).
