The girls swim team at Durango High School took a longer-than-usual road trip up north over the weekend to compete in the Glenwood Springs Invitational and the Southwest Conference Girls Relay Meet at Colorado Mesa University’s El Pomar Natatorium.
The Demons took third place out of four teams at the Glenwood Springs meet Friday before winning the relay meet on Saturday against conference foes.
“The girls rose to the occasion all weekend and, most important, we’re having fun swimming,” Durango head coach Tom Joyner said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “There was a load of talent at Glenwood Springs meet, but we swam right up there with them. I feel like we’re definitely on the right track.”
The Demons’ 595 points were just six points behind second place Fruita Monument, and Durango had some standout performances in Friday’s action.
DHS had the top four finishers in the 50-meter dive as Ruby Epstein, Kylie Behn, Tess Burgwald and Olivia Mummery finished in that order to dominate the diving competition, while Sadie McAliney took sixth.
The Demons’ 200-yard freestyle relay team of Emily Doughty, Epstein, Mira Joyner and Witchel were the best in the field with a time of 1:50.38. Witchel was also a winner for Durango with a time of 27 seconds in the 50 freestyle. Witchel also came in second in the 100 freestyle, and Kaitlyn Doughty was fifth in the same race.
Katelyn Doughty was also fifth, and Joyner came in second in the 100 backstroke. Jocelyn Earl finished second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:11.01.
Emily Doughty was the top Demons finisher in the 100 butterfly with a sixth-place time of 1:16.09, while Lacey Hoselton took third and McAliney was fifth in the 100 breaststroke.
The 200 medley relay team of Emily Doughty, Katelyn Doughty, Earl and McAliney came in third (2:14.28), which is where the 400 freestyle relay team (Earl, Hoselton, Joyner, Witchel) finished as well in 4:14.83.
On Saturday, the diving duo of Burgwald and Epstein tied for first place with 171 points, while McAliney and Behn tied for third. The 100 free relay team (Kylie Behn, Leslie Lobato-Hall, Riley Mata, Olivia Mummery) and 200 back/breaststroke team (Emily Doughty, Hoselton, Joyner, Mina Willemin) both took first place.
Also jumping out of the pool with a win was the 200 breaststroke relay team (Earl, Joyner, McAliney, Willemin) and 100 medley relay of Behn, Epstein, McAliney and Mummery, which won by a whopping 6.3 seconds in 1:08.36.
The Demons got another podium finish with a third-place effort from the 500-yard free crescendo team of Katelyn Doughty, Earl, Claire Larson and Saylor Stottlemeyer.
“I won’t say I was surprised at the times we got, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise to see our girls swim so fast,” Joyner said. “And, our divers have been fantastic. This weekend was a good chance to challenge the girls, get some of them out of their comfort zones, and they definitely rose to the challenge.”
Durango will try to improve even more as the team will head to Cheyenne Mountain High School next weekend for a two-day meet.
jfries@durangoherald.com
