Members of the Durango Swim Club will head to Denver this weekend for the Colorado swimming short course 14-and-under silver state championships after many performed well Feb. 15-18 at the Phoenix Winter Invitational Swim meet.

DSC members had solid performances despite seeing rain on two days during competition at an outdoor pool with temperatures hovering around 50 degrees. Durango had 29 swimmers compete and finished in 14th out of 27 teams.

The club had two members who recently fared well at the Colorado High School Activities Association’s state swimming meet with Durango High School compete, as well. Quinn Schmidt finished in 20th in the 200-yard individual medley, 17th in the 200 backstroke and 14th in the 400 IM, Rachel Thilow also made her club debut and took 19th in the 100-butterfly and 18th in the 200 butterfly.

At the 14-and-under level, Aileen McManus, 10, finished eighth in the 50 breaststroke. Hugo Reese, 11, swam six events in total and took 14th in three events with the 50 breaststroke, 200 freestyle and 50 butterfly. He also took 18th in the 100 butterfly, ninth in the 100 breaststroke and fifth in the 50 free.

Evan Thillow, 12, had six top-10 finishes out of his eight races, including three sixth-place finishes.

Five swimmers broke personal bests, including Abby Bowman, 13, Addi Cowan, 12, Maren Clay, 13, Jaden Craig, 11, and Merin Schmidt, 11.

After the 14-and-under state championships, DSC will then travel to the Western Slope League Bronze Championships on March 9-10 in Grand Junction.

heraldsports@durangoherald.com