The Durango Swim Club fought to the very end of the three-day Western Slope League Championships in Grand Junction this past weekend. In the end, Durango won the league meet by 80 points, defending its title from last year by beating out 12 other league teams.
Durango’s 32 swimmers posted 2,982 points while the second-place Mavericks, which had 40 swimmers, scored 2,901.5 and Team Sopris took third with 1,695.5.
The end of the meet, however, was a nail-biter. The Mavericks were in first place before the final event, the 400 freestyle, with 2,870.5 points, 38.5 more than Durango. The Durango swimmers, however, rallied to pull ahead to win the meet.
Durango had 12 swimmers compete in the 400 freestyle, with Raina Dixon and Linzie Bidart placing first and second in the 13-14 girls’ race, Victoria Duran placing third in the 15-and-over girls competition and Grant Wright touching second in the boys’ 13-14 race.
Brinley Duran, meanwhile, won all of her individual events to score the high-point award for the 10-and-under girls with 160 points. She won the 400 freestyle, 200 Individual Medley, 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 50 butterfly, 200 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 50 backstroke.
The team had strong performances in the relay events as well, with multiple relays winning championships. In one exciting matchup, the Durango girls’ open 400 freestyle relay bested Team Sopris by over 5 seconds with a winning time of 4:19.64, beating their seed time by 6 seconds. The relay included Olivia Becher, Joellie Rohde, Elin Mischler and Victoria Duran.
The girls’ 14-and-under 200 freestyle relay (Dixon, Bidart, Ava McKown and Riley Simplot) also placed first in 2:07.64.
On Sunday, the boys’ open 200 medley relay of Denny Woods, Paxton Paxton-Horn, Cole LeRoux and Wright won a tight race against the Avon Swim Club. Following LeRoux’s 28.78-second 50 freestyle leg, the team out-touched Avon by less than a second to place first in 2:04.36.
In the individual events on Friday, Becher placed first in the 400 IM while teammate Mischler placed second. Dixon placed third in the girls’ 13-14 200 freestyle. Wright placed second in the 13-14 boys’ 200 freestyle. Brinley Duran won the girls’ 10-and-under 400 freestyle and the 200 IM.
McKown won the 11-12 girls’ 100 breast stroke. Bidart placed second in the 13-14 girls’ 100 breast stroke. Denny Woods placed second in the boys’ 15-and-over 100 breast stroke. Eddie Harrington placed second in the boys’ 11-12 200 backstroke.
Victoria Duran placed third in the 15-and-over girls’ 200 backstroke, as did Dixon in the 13-14 girls’ race.
On Saturday, McKown won the 11-12 girls’ 50 breast stroke and 9-year-old George Harrington placed third in the boys’ 10-and-under 100 freestyle.
McKown placed third in the 11-12 girls’ 100 freestyle. George Harrington placed third in the boys’ 10-and-under 100 backstroke. In the 11-12 boys’ 100 backstroke, Eddie Harrington won and Bodie Fischer placed second.
Brinley Duran won the girls’ 10-and-under 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke and 50 butterfly.
In the girls’ 13-14 100 freestyle, Bidart placed third and Dixon touched fourth. In the 15-and-over girls race, Mischler placed second. In the 100 backstrokes, Victoria Duran placed third in the girls’ 15-and-over race and Woods placed third in the 15-and-over boys’ race.
In the 1,500 freestyle, Bidart placed second in the 13-14 girls, Victoria Duran placed third for 15-and-over girls while Paxton-Horn placed fourth for 15-and-over boys.
In an exciting, down-to-the-end race on Sunday, George Harrington won the 200 freestyle for 10-and-under boys. Fischer placed third in the 11-12 boys’ 50 backstroke, and Avery Barnett placed third in the 11-12 girls’ 100 butterfly.
Brinley Duran won the 200 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 50 backstroke.
McKown won the 200 breast stroke and placed third in the 50 freestyle. Bidart placed second in the girls’ 13-14 50-freestyle and Mischler placed third in the 15-and-over girls’ 50 freestyle.
Victoria Duran placed third in the 15-and-over 200 breast stroke and Woods placed third in the boys’ race. Paxton-Horn also placed third in the boys’ 15-and-over 100 butterfly.
Other swimmers who had a strong showing and contributed to the team win included Bear and Henry Allport, Rhett Brown, Hadley Bumpers, Heidi Clay, Wyatt Hawley, Ada Krueger, Grayson and Katie LeRoux, Elise and Ivy Nakamoto, Shelby Powell, Ryann Smith, Wylie Woods and Kinlea Wright.
Nineteen swimmers from the Durango Swim Club have now qualified for the state championships, which will take place at the end of July.
