It was another solid weekend for the Durango High School girls swimming and diving team as the Demons split the squads up.
Eleven Demon swimmers travelled to the Cheyenne Mountain Invitational in Colorado Springs and finished eighth out of 16 teams in a mixed classification invite. The rest of the team went up to Montrose to compete in the Montrose Invite. Both squads came away with a number of positive performances and some impressive times.
“It went really well for us at Cheyenne Mountain,” said Durango head swim coach Tom Joyner in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “It was a long drive there and we had to compete as soon as we got there so I was proud with the effort they gave.”
Jocelyn Earl’s swim in the 500-yard freestyle event was the highlight of the weekend for Durango. Earl trimmed almost half a minute off her personal best time and posted a state qualifying time of 5 minutes and 37.7 seconds in the process.
The coach was also pleased with the efforts of Mira Joyner and Anne Mummery in the 100 backstroke and feels that his 400 free relay team of Catherine Dellinger, Emily Doughty, Earl and Claire Larson is honing in on a state qualifying time.
“It was a really good meet for a bunch of our girls and the competition was very good (at Cheyenne Mountain),” said Joyner. “With three relay teams in the finals and our girls in every final except for two, I think we did great and the times continue to get better.”
In Montrose, Durango dominated the diving portion of the meet with four of the top five divers coming from the Demons’ team. Kylie Behn led the way again with a first place total of 213.80 points. Sadie McAliney finished third (182.00); Lia Henriksen came in fourth (181.75); Tess Burgwald was fifth with a total of 117.25 and Robin Bumgarner finished ninth with 80.20.
McAliney’s 18th place finish in the 100 breaststroke was the best finish for the Demons’ swimmers in Montrose.
“As always, I’m proud of the hard work the girls have put in and the results that come with it,” Joyner said.
jfries@durangoherald.com
