Durango High School resurrected its diving team a couple of years ago with a group of young girls committed to improving and restoring the program. Friday night, the Demons crowned a state champion diver.
Kylie Behn, a Durango High School junior, sat in second place by only half of a point behind Discovery Canyon sophomore Rachel Alexander after Thursday’s preliminaries and semifinals of the 1-meter dive. But Behn stole the show from any and all competition in Friday’s finals at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton, as she scored 381.35 points to claim the Colorado High School Activities Association Girls 3A State Championships.
“I was kind of watching the other divers’ scores the last round, and I knew my biggest competitor was really close, so I was trying not to get excited too early,” Behn said. “After the last diver went, I noticed there were no scores higher than 381. My teammates and I got really excited.”
Behn bested Retta Smith, a St. Mary’s senior, in the finals. Smith scored 380.70, and Kent Denver sophomore Campbell Patteson was third at 373.30.
“I felt a lot of pressure, because my goal going into state was to get sixth place or higher because last year I took sixth,” Behn said. “I set the bar last year and had to beat it. When I was second in prelims, I was really excited because I wasn’t expecting to get second or even third, let alone first, so it was really surprising. I wanted to hold onto that podium spot until finals were over.”
Behn executed three dives in the finals. She started with a reverse pike, a dive she said she is confident with and finds a bit easier. She then went to a back double, which she is a bit new to learning. When she nailed the back double, she had all the confidence to attempt her final dive, a forward double twist.
“It is kind of risky with strict judges because they look at if you’re twisting as you go into the water,” she said. “I had to make sure I did it my best I could.
“I knew I did the best I could, and I was pretty sure it was good enough to beat the highest score. I just had to wait for the score to come out.”
Durango senior Ruby Epstein also placed fourth in the 1-meter dive, as she scored 372.05. Alexander, the semifinal leader, finished fifth in 370.05. Durango senior Sadie McAliney also placed 14th with a score of 315.50. The results showed the hard work of the team and diving coach Mark Fleming.
“Mark kind of recruited me into diving,” Behn said. “The whole journey with him has been really awesome. My teammates, some were gymnasts and some were divers. It was cool to see gymnasts morph into divers and to see our divers get better.”
Durango senior Mira Joyner placed fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke final. She swam in 1:10.71. The race was won by Pueblo County junior Amanda Blickensderfer, who touched the wall in 1:05.69 to narrowly edge Manitou Springs junior Sydney Dolloff-Holt (1:05.96).
Earlier Friday night, Joyner placed eighth in the 100-yard butterfly finals in 1:02.82. That race again was won by Blickensderfer, who finished in 56.72 seconds.
Durango sophomore Mina Willemin also had a big meet, as she finished seventh in the 100-yard freestyle in 56.98 seconds. Colorado Academy junior Aly Gallagher won the race in 53.12.
Willemin also finished 10th in the state in the 200-yard freestyle. She finished in 2:03.68, the second-best time in the B final. Abbey Selin, a senior from D’Evelyn, won the race in 1:53.04, and St. Mary’s junior Lillianna Brooks was second in 1:53.93.
Durango sophomore Saylor Stottlemyer placed 15th in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:48.33. Abbey Selin of D’Evelyn was first in 5:04.87.
Durango closed out the meet in the A final of the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Demons placed eighth with the team of Jocelyn Earl, Joyner, Stottlemyer and Willemin. The winning time went to St. Mary’s, which finished in 3:41.11 to edge Longmont (3:41.50).
As a team, the Demons placed 12th out of 26 teams in the Class 3A state meet. Durango scored 106 points. Longmont High School won the state title with 203 points, and Pueblo County was second with 183 points. Kent Denver placed third with 180 points.
“I was really impressed with the whole team,” Behn said. “None of us were expecting to do as well as we did. It really worked out.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
