The “just happy to be here” feeling about the state meet has faded for the Durango High School girls swim team.
Ten swimmers will represent the Demons at the Class 4A state championships Friday and Saturday in Thornton across four individual events and all three relays.
They don’t have delusions of winning the meet with such a small squad compared to the Front Range teams they’ll be facing, but they want to make it to Saturday’s finals and put points on the board.
“All the Front Range teams, they’re so huge that they get to go to state and they’re trying to win state like we’re trying to win districts,” said DHS junior Anne Mummery, daughter of John and Mary Mummery. “For us, with so few people, our points won’t add up anywhere close to them, but definitely as relay teams we tend to place highly.
“At districts you focus on the team; at state you want to make it back to finals.”
The Demons will enter the state meet as two-time defending Western Slope league champions.
They won the title last weekend in Grand Junction to build a wave of momentum leading into practice this week.
“I feel like we’re in a really good spot right now,” DHS head coach Kathryn Ross said. “I think it’s pretty impressive having 10 girls competing at state, including divers.”
Elli Earl will compete in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard freestyle, and Mira Joyner is swimming the 100-yard backstroke.
Mummery will be the No. 3 seed in the 100-yard backstroke and No. 8 seed in the 100-yard freestyle with a laser focus on Saturday’s finals.
She broke the school record in both events last weekend, which completed a season-long goal.
“Now that I’ve broke them, I can go into state and try to place as high as I can,” Mummery said. “I’m not really worried about a time. I’m not worried about trying to break the record. I just want to try to place as high as I can.”
The Demons also qualified their 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays to bring the larger squad.
“In the past it’s always been districts were where we worked really hard to get first there, but then we got to state and the girls were happy to be there,” Ross said. “This year, it’s a different mentality going into it that we have a chance of doing well as a team.”
The three divers DHS will bring will make their own impact on the scoring.
Sarah Lawton, Caroline Tidwell and Elise Tidwell all qualified for state for the first time as seniors.
“It’s a phenomenal way to end a high school diving career for three phenomenal divers that earned the right to go to state for how much time and effort they put into it,” DHS diving coach Mark Fleming said. “I’m not going in expecting to win state by any means, but just the fact that we’re going in to compete against the divers that are the top class of Colorado in itself is an honor in a way.”
The “happy to be here” feeling still is in full effect for the Demons’ divers.
DHS hasn’t produced a state qualifier on the board in the six years that Fleming has coached the team.
“It’s a lot of pressure going to the state meet since it’s been a long time since Durango has had divers up there,” said Lawton, daughter of Rich and Sue Lawton. “What we try to focus on is making each of our dives the best we can do it. We’ll see how the scores roll out and whether or not we make it past the prelims. We hope to make it past the prelims and into the finals.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
