The Pagosa Springs High School Lady Pirate swim team capped off its season Monday at the 3A Girls Swim and Dive Championship in Thornton.
The Lady Pirates qualified in two events, the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay.
The squad of Marlowe Hedgecock, Leah Blackman, Chloe Gantt and Asia Gorman finished with a time of 2:15.83, placing them 23rd in the preliminaries.
“The 200 medley relay did great,” coach Heather Miller wrote in an email to The SUN, adding, “they cut another 33 [hundredths] off of their time. Unfortunately they fell just a little short of their goal of making it back for finals.”
The top 20 teams advanced to the finals, with the top team, Discovery Canyon, swimming a time of 1:50.11.
In the 200 freestyle, the Lady Pirate squad of Gorman, Grace Cram, Hedgecock and Gantt took 28th in the prelims with a time of 2:00.78.
“The 200 free relay had another great swim but added .37 seconds,” Miller wrote.
The top team in the event, Kent Denver, tied the 3A record in the finals with a time of 1:39.40.
“Overall,” Miller wrote of the state meet, “it has been a great experience and learning opportunity to be better prepared for this meet next year.”
The trip to the season’s final meet was one of the top three highlights of the season, according to Miller.
Beyond the state qualifications, Miller also highlights the team’s “constant strive for improvement through the entire season which resulted in all of the conference swimmers making it back to finals.”
The most important highlight from the season, however, is the team’s sportsmanship, according to the coach.
“I feel the most important is the sportsmanship our team has, from cheering on our own teammates to supporting other teams as well,” she wrote. “I have had many coaches, parents and other swimmers commend our team for their character and kindness.”
Miller indicated she is also hopeful the team will see more individual qualifications next season.
“The big goals for next season are some individual qualifications for state. I think everyone who came to state this year stands a great chance of qualifying individually. It will not be easy but if they put the work in it is a good possibility,” she wrote.
The team will work toward those goals after saying goodbye to this year’s seniors: Gemma Slingerland, Aubrey Gerdel, Bella Gutierrez and assistant Charlie Gutierrez.
“It is really hard to imagine not having this year’s seniors next year,” Miller wrote, adding, “Our long bus trips to meets will be much less entertaining and very quiet. On the pool deck we will miss their enthusiasm, leadership and I will especially miss Charlie’s assistance with anything and everything I needed help with especially with highlighting programs, splits and arranging counters for the 500’s . In the pool we will miss Gemma’s effort and willingness to do the distance events, Bree’s spectacular speed and constant drive to improve and Bella’s desire and drive to always give 110% and try challenging events such as the 100 Fly. They are truly a special group.”
randi@pagosasun.com
