DHS and its seniors dominate their one and only home swim meet
Haley Warren helped Durango High School off to a strong start at its home meet Friday in the 200-yard individual medley at the Durango Community Recreation Center. DHS won the five-team meet with 174.5 points. “Overall, as a team, we’ve seen tremendous improvement across the board,” DHS girls swimming head coach Kathryn Ross said. “The girls did awesome.”
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Anne Mummery finished the 100-yard butterfly with a state-qualifying time of 1 minute, 6.65 seconds. It’s her third individual qualification for state. She also made the cut in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard freestyle.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Hailee Pritchard pushed through the 200-yard freestyle and contributed to both the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays. DHS dominated the relay events at its home meet Friday, winning all three events. “We have a team with a lot of depth on it,” DHS coach Kathryn Ross said. “It’s become difficult to put those relays together because we have so many girls who are contenders.”
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Elise Tidwell and the rest of Durango High School’s divers took advantage of their familiarity with the diving board Friday at the team’s home meet at the rec center. “We had some dives we did in a meet for the first time, and those dives were performed incredibly well,” DHS dive coach Mark Fleming said.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Anne Mummery of Durango High School, swims in the 100 butterfly during Friday’s meet at the Durango Community Recreation Center.JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Haley Warren of Durango High School, swims in the 200 yard intermediate medley during Friday’s meet at the Durango Community Recreation Center.JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Bryn Joyner, of Durango High School takes a momment to collect her thoughts before the start of the 100 freestyle during Friday’s meet at the Durango Community Recreation Center.JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Hailee Pritchard of Durango High School, readies for start of the 200 yard freestyle during Friday’s meet at the Durango Community Recreation Center.JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Haley Warren of Durango High School, takes off at the start of the 200 yard intermediate medley during Friday’s meet at the Durango Community Recreation Center.JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Haley Warren of Durango High School, swims in the 200 yard intermediate medley during Friday’s meet at the Durango Community Recreation Center.JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Hailee Pritchard of Durango High School, swims in the 200 yard freestyle during Friday’s meet at the Durango Community Recreation Center.JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Elise Tidwell of Durango High School, competes in the diving segment of Friday’s meet at the Durango Community Recreation Center.JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Durango High School swim team members give each other support before the start of Friday’s meet at the Durango Community Recreation Center.JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald
Each Durango High School swim team senior received a bouquet and stood on one of the starting blocks to recognize them at their final home meet Friday at the Durango Community Recreation Center.
Brooke Kniffin thought, “This is the last time I’m going to swim in high school in this pool.”
Katie Pannell: “Wow, I’m done.”
Emma Dorr told herself not to fall off the blocks.
“It’s definitely difficult,” DHS swimming head coach Kathryn Ross said. “Now I’ve gotten to know the girls, so it’s tough to see them go.”
The Demons went out with a bang, though, scoring 174.5 points to win their one and only home meet this season.
Grand Junction finished second with 129, Montrose third with 116, Montezuma-Cortez fourth with 63 and Grand Junction Central/Palisade fifth with 36.5 points.
DHS opened with the meet with a dominant 200-yard medley relay. The Demons won in 1 minute, 55.23 seconds, which was more than three seconds quicker than their state-qualifying time of 1:58.7.
“(The relays) are a lot more organized now,” said Pannell, daughter of Jim and Kathy Pannell. “Everybody knows where they should be and when they’re going.”
The Demons also won the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays after struggling in the events earlier this season.
The 400 relay clinched the meet for DHS, and Ross said the 200 was “a couple seconds off” from making the state-qualifying time.
Anne Mummery added a state time in the 100-yard butterfly at 1:06.65. She finished second in that race, but the Demons managed two other wins in individual events, both by Kniffin.
Kniffin won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:04.04 and 100-yard freestyle in 56:01, one second faster than her seeded time and three seconds quicker than her closest competitor.
“It was a fun race, and I was really happy with it,” said Kniffin, daughter of Kelly and Rick Kniffin. “I felt the energy and the good spirits.”
Durango divers fed off the crowd and the comfortable environment as well.
Being familiar with the diving board gave the group a boost of confidence.
“A lot of us threw new tricks that we haven’t done,” said Dorr, daughter of Betty and Tom Dorr. “It was a lot more pressure because it was a home meet, and I knew everyone.”
All of the teams expected to attend the meet showed up except for Delta, and all five will travel to Cortez on Saturday for another meet with the same teams.
“Overall, as a team, we’ve seen tremendous improvement across the board,” Ross said. “The girls did awesome.”
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