A special swim meet for seniors couldn’t be derailed by sickness.
Competing for the last time this season at their home pool at Fort Lewis College, the Durango High School girls swimming team earned a team victory in a four-team meet. The Demons scored 672 points to blow away the competition. Montezuma-Cortez was second with 338.5 points, Gunnison was third with 333.5, and Delta came in fourth with 246 points.
The win was the second in as many days against the same competition for the Demons, who won the Cortez meet Friday with 566 points. Gunnison was second in that meet with 370, Delta was third with 369 and Cortez came in fourth with 358.
DHS had a limited roster Friday was back to full strength Saturday. Illness still kept a few girls out of a few events.
“With a good plan and our strong swimming, we were able to still perform well,” DHS head coach Thomas Joyner said.
Durango seniors Tess Burgwald, Emily Doughty, Katelyn Doughty, Leslie Hall-Lobato and Claire Larson were all honored for senior day.
DHS opened the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay in 2 minutes, 7.12 seconds to finish more than 5 seconds ahead of Cortez.
Larson started off her senior-day meet with a first-place finish in the 200-yard free in 2:18.81.
Mira Joyner and Mina Willemin took first and second, respectively in the 200-yard individual medley. Joyner won in 2:27.90, and Willemin touched the wall in 2:31.47.
It was a big weekend for Willemin, a freshman who went under 6 minutes in the 500-yard freestyle Friday in Cortez to qualify for the 3A state meet. She also qualified in the 200-yard freestyle.
Durango’s Acacia Cofman nabbed second place in the 50-yard freestyle Saturday in 28.89 seconds. It was an impressive performance from Cofman, who switched roles from diver to swimmer Saturday. The race was narrowly won by Ellie Penney of Gunnision in 28.86.
Durango continued its dominance in diving, as Kylie Behn claimed first with a score of 213.60. Ruby Epstein was second in 205.40, Tess Burgwald took third with 205.05 points, and Said McAliney claimed fourth with 190.80 points.
Emily Doughty took third in the 100-yard fly in 1:12.24, narrowly off a state qualifying time. Steevie Delio of DHS was right behind her in fourth. That race was won by Gunnison’s Emma Dominguez.
Larson won her second event Saturday in the 500-yard free in 6:09.50. The DHS 200-yard freestyle relay team followed up that performance with a victory in 1:52.28. Another Durango team came in third in that event in 1:57.22.
Joyner’s strong meet continued in the 100-yard backstroke, which she won in 1:07.02. Lacey Hoselton was fourth for DHS in the event in 1:14.73.
Saylor Stottlemeyer claimed first in the 1900-yard breastroke in 1:23.71 to edge teammate Sadie McAliney’s second-place time of 1:27.16.
Saturday’s swim wrapped up with the 400-yard free relay, which Durango won in 4:21.04 to sweep the relays. Another Durango team took third in 5:08.00.
DHS is now qualified for the 3A state meet in all 12 events.
Boys Basketball
Boys BasketballHead coach Jeff Lehnus may not have been on the bench for the first two league games, but his Wolverines accomplished his two fundamental goals by holding their opponents under 50 points and scoring more than 70 of their own.
A night after strolling past Centauri in the Class 3A Intermountain League opener at home, the Bayfield varsity boys basketball team (6-5, 2-0 IML) hit the road to take on Monte Vista (4-6, 0-2 IML) and came home with a 73-40 victory.
Ryan Phelps had another strong performance with 21 points and six rebounds. The BHS team of three assistant coaches were pleased with the effort from Dax Snooks, who had nine points and six rebounds of his own.
Brian Mashak poured in 11 points, and Hayden Farmer had 10 for the Wolverines. Keyon Prior also had nine points.
Lehnus missed the last two games because of illness.
BHS will have a few days to prepare for a home league game at 7 p.m. Friday against Pagosa Springs before traveling next Saturday for a key matchup with Alamosa.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
