Basketball players may have had to wear masks on the court and wrestlers didn’t get nearly as many matches, tournaments or state qualifying places in 2021, but perhaps no high school sport has seen a stranger season than girls swimming.
Through it all, from virtual meets to quarantines, the Durango High School team will send two girls, Alexis Behn and Mackenzie Rion, to the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 4A Girls Swimming and Diving Championship on Friday at Thornton’s Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center.
And it won’t be a normal state championship meet, either. In an ordinary year, any swimmer who swims a state qualifying time or a diver who records a qualifying score would get the chance to compete in heats to reach the finals. This year, state is being run on a timed finals format where the fastest swimmer in any given heat will be crowned the state champion. It is possible the first- and second-place swimmers won’t even compete in the same race.
“After our meet on Friday, I was cautiously optimistic that we would at least have Lexi Behn in the CHSAA 4A State Championships as a dive qualifier. It wasn’t until 6 p.m. Monday that the process was completed by CHSAA and I found out that not only was Lexi a qualifier, but so was Mackenzie Rion in the 500-yard freestyle,” said DHS head coach Thomas Joyner. “This year’s meet is completely different than normal years because they will only be taking the top 20 and running a timed finals meet. Usually, any and everyone that has a qualifying time can go and swim for the chance to make it to the finals. So, we only get two in this year’s state meet, but we will come back next year stronger and ready for almost anything.”
Diving will open Friday’s tournament at 8 a.m. Rion is scheduled to swim her event at 3:45 p.m.
Behn is the younger sister of Kylie Behn, who claimed a 3A diving state championship at the same venue in Thornton in 2018. She didn’t get a chance to compete at last week’s league championship tournament because of a quarantine that claimed five Durango High swimmers in the days leading up to the meet. Both DHS divers and three swimmers who had hoped for a chance to qualify for state had to sit out.
The league championship meet also was split into two days because of COVID-19 guidelines with half of the teams swimming Friday and the other half Saturday.
“The competition was good, but there’s nothing like being pushed by every fast swimmer instead of just half of them,” Joyner said. “After merging Friday and Saturday’s results, we finished sixth overall, which I think is a fine showing for six weeks worth of practice in a seven-week season. Both assistant coach Jen McGrath and myself told the ladies more than once how proud we were with their grit and determination as well as their ability to rise to the challenge and go farther – and faster – with their swimming than they would have thought possible.”
Glenwood Springs won the league championship with 526.5 points. Fruita Monument was second with 393, and Grand Junction placed third with 302 points. There were 10 teams at the meet. Durango’s 155 points placed the Demons behind Gunnison (200) and in front of Summit (147.5).
Rion placed fifth in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:26.03. Aspen’s Lilly Huggard won in 2:13.65. She was then third in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:33.77. Glenwood Springs’ Amelie Ogilby won in 5:12.35, and Aspen’s Bennett Jones was second in 5:14.43. Durango’s Erin Knight took fifth in the event in 5:51.02.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Durango’s Rion, Knight, Abby Bowman and Maren Clay placed fourth in 4:06.99. Fruita Monument’s group won in 3:44.89.
“The league championship went fantastic. Every athlete had a personal best time in every event they swam. Most went somewhere between one and three seconds faster than they have ever gone,” Joyner said. “We had a collection of seniors who started their swim career with DHS as freshmen or sophomores cap the season off with textbook swims that any coach would be totally psyched over. Those seniors were Celia Chick, Natalie DeBelina, Ella Stevens, Elaina Short and Paige Stillwaugh.
“I am also excited by the freshmen who have decided to join the DHS Swim and Dive program. I see a great three more years ahead of them, especially if we can get back to some semblance of normalcy. Beyond that, we also had some impressive swims from our sophomore and junior veterans, all dropping up to three second on their personal bests, too.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
