The Durango High School swimming team is heading back to state after it took fourth at the Southwest Conference League Championships on Friday and Saturday at Colorado Mesa University’s El Pomar Natatorium in Grand Junction. DHS will have a full roster, 11 girls plus an alternate who will be competing next week at the state championship meet.
Glenwood Springs won the meet with 428 points, Grand Junction finished second with 359, and Fruita Monument edged DHS by just 10 points as the Wildcats finished with 319, while the Demons ended with 309.
DHS head coach Tom Joyner said he was very impressed with his team’s performance.
“Districts went great, it really did,” Joyner said. “The ladies turned themselves inside and out to do the best that they could; every time I turned around to check the board, it seemed like they were all coming out of the pool with a new personal best or close to it. I wish we could’ve gotten a top-three team finish, but we still had some phenomenally good swims.”
Mina Willemin had one of the best performances for DHS of the weekend as she took third in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 56.06 seconds, and also finished in third in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:03.96. Also performing well were freshmen Rachel Thillow and Angela McManus, who both had top-five finishes in their respective events. Thillow finished in fourth in the 100-yard butterfly (1:04.32) and the 200 individual medley (2:24.48). McManus was fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:14.88) and was sixth in the 100 freestyle (2:05.83).
The Behn sisters, Kylie and Alexis, shined once again in the diving board as they took first and third, respectively. Kylie won with a score of 344.20, while Alexis was third with a score of 313.65.
“The club swimmers performed really well and same with our four freshmen, they stepped up as well,” Joyner said. “To have 11 girls plus an alternate really says a lot. We already had a lot who had state qualifying times coming into this meet, but we still wanted to swim at a high level, and I thought we did that.”
The Colorado High School Activities Association Class 3A state meet will be held with the preliminaries on Friday while the finals will be on Saturday, Feb. 8-9 in Fort Collins.
Durango High School’s Samantha Vasquez is heading back to state for the wrestling team. She swept the Colorado High School Girls Region 2 147-pound weight class with four pins and went 4-0 on Saturday at Eaglecrest High School.
Vasquez pinned Jules Pope from Far Northeast at the two minute, 38 second point of the championship match.
“I was so happy for Sam when I heard the news,” said DHS head coach Leo Garand. “She worked hard all year to get back to state, and I know she can get on the podium again, and hopefully will place higher than last year.”
Vasquez finished in fifth last year at the girls state tournament.
The girls state tournament will be held Saturday, Feb. 9 at Thornton High School.
On the boys side, the Demons finished 12th out of 22 teams at the 2019 Valley Classic held at Center High School. DHS took six and wrestled well despite a smaller team.
“I thought it went pretty well, all things considered,” Garand said. “We ran into a lot of top seeds, and it was good competition once again. It always is this time of year no matter where you are in the state. Austin Albrecht fought hard and battled all day, and same with Alex (Finneseth). We want to keep improving from here and I think we are on the right track.”
Piedra Vista won the tournament with 181 points, Hotchkiss was second with 169 and Centauri was third with 159.5.
Finneseth (152) finished in fourth after he ran out of matches and was unable to wrestle the third-place match. He won in the consolation semifinals by pinning Kobie Greenhaus of Piedra Vista with 29 seconds remaining in the second period. Tyler Woodworth (145) finished in fourth as he was pinned by Jared Bauer of Crowley County in the third-place match.
DHS will have its final tri meet of the season against Grand Junction and Fruita Monument on Saturday at Grand Junction High School with the time to be announced.
bploen@durangoherald.com
