The Durango High School swimming team had excellent performances on the first day of the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 3A Girls State Championships for swimming and diving at Chatfield Senior High School in Littleton on Friday afternoon.
Durango had two swimmers advance to the A finals of their respective events, while two relay teams advanced to the A final. The Demons also will have competitors in the B finals, as they had two freshmen reach, as well as a relay team.
Sophomore Quinn Schmidt had two top-10 performances in her first appearance at a state championship and led DHS in the preliminary events. Schmidt took fifth in the 500-yard freestyle race with a time of 5 minutes, 26.11 seconds, which was 15 seconds off of the pace, set by Evergreen’s Remi Gucker, who swam 5:11.68. Schmidt took eighth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:17.35.
Durango also had strong performances from its four freshmen, who were each competing at their first state meet. In the 200 freestyle, Angela McManus took 22nd with a time of 2:11.24, while Erin Knight was right behind in 23rd (2:14.47). Also competing in the 200 IM were Rachel Thilow, who was 22nd (2:28.17) and Mckenzie Rion, who took 28th (2:30.21). Thilow grabbed the final spot in the B final thanks to a swim-off.
Mina Willemin, a junior, had another strong finish in the 100 freestyle, as she finished in fifth with a time of 55.82, 1.4 seconds behind Aly Gallagher of Colorado Academy who sits in first place. In last year’s 100-free, she took eighth in the prelims with a time of 56.97. Willemin will be competing in the A final on Saturday.
DHS had two competitors in the 100-yard breaststroke, as McManus was the Demons’ highest finisher in 16th (1:16.73), and Saylor Stottlemeyer was 24th (1:17.98). McManus advanced to the B final on Saturday.
The Demons fared well in each of the three relay races they competed in and advanced to the A finals in two of them.
In the 200 medley relay, the first event of the afternoon, Durango finished in eighth, as a team consisting of Willemin, McManus, Thilow and Acacia Coffman, who competed for the diving team much of the season, swam to a time of 2:00.57. Aspen had the top time (1:51.59).
The Demons also will be competing in the A final of the 200 free relay event after they took sixth in the prelims. It was the same quad that competed in the 200 medley relay, and they finished with a time of 1:46.43, which was 1.4 seconds faster than their seed time of 1:47.73.
In the final event of the day, the 400 free relay, DHS took 20th and will compete in the B final, swimming to a time of 4:10.09. Knight was the lead-off swimmer, followed by Rion, Stottlemeyer and Schmidt. The Demons grabbed the final spot in the B final, as they edged Pueblo South, which finished with a time of 4:13.72.
The diving prelims will begin Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m., when defending 3A state champion senior Kylie Behn will lead the Demons once again. Also competing for DHS is Behn’s younger sister, Alexis, a freshman who will be making her state championship debut, alongside junior Olivia Mummery.
The state swimming finals will begin at 3 p.m. Saturday at Chatfield in Littleton.
bploen@ durangoherald.com
