The Pagosa Springs High School Lady Pirate swim team competed in a pair of “very successful” meets last week.
The team competed in Durango’s Friday Night Invite on Friday, Jan. 30, and then had another dual against Durango again on Saturday, Jan. 31.
“We had very successful meets this weekend, with swimmers stepping up to compete in a mix of their strongest events as well as some challenging and less familiar ones,” wrote coach Heather Miller in an email to The SUN. “The results were outstanding, with numerous personal best and season best performances across both meets.”
The first event Friday was the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Marlowe Hedgecock, Leah Blackman, Grace Cram and Gianna Shaeffer finished second with a time of two minutes, 26.41 seconds. The team of Brooklyn Trujillo, Avery Book, Kaillen Taylor and Cheyenne Trujillo finished fifth with a time of 3:16.70. The team of Ruby Snell, Leilani Snell, Natalia Monterroso and Angela Gomez was disqualified.
Four swimmers competed in the 200-yard freestyle. Chloe Gantt swam a 2:25.57 and finished second. Asia Gorman swam a 2:31.58 and finished fourth. Gomez swam a 2:47.02 and finished sixth, cutting more than six seconds off her best time. Kailey Vincent swam a 3:11.42 and finished seventh, cutting more than a second off her previous best time.
Eight swimmers competed in the 200-yard individual medley relay. Shaeffer placed third, swimming a 3:10.54 and dropping more than four seconds from her previous best time. Cram swam a 3:17.71 and placed fourth, dropping 0.64 seconds from her previous best. Blackman swam a 3:18.87 and placed fifth, dropping almost three seconds from her previous best time. Ruby Snell swam a 3:20.88 and placed sixth, dropping more than 10 seconds off her previous best time. Monterroso swam a 3:21.39 and placed seventh. Brooklyn Trujillo swam a 3:38.58 and placed eighth. Taylor swam a 5:26.10 and placed ninth. Lucia Rivera was disqualified.
Six swimmers competed in the 50-yard freestyle. Hedgecock won the event with a time of 30.81 seconds. Leilani Snell finished fifth with a 33.14. Book finished ninth with a 36.60. Isabela Forster finished 10th with 36.75. Shantee Murphy finished 13th with a 37.61. Arya Patel finished 15th with a 44.50.
Three swimmers competed in the 100-yard butterfly. Monterroso placed fifth with a 1:35.15, Vincent placed sixth with a 1:51.81 and Taylor placed seventh with a 2:34.99.
All three swimmers were new to the event, Miller points out.
Three swimmers competed in the 100-yard freestyle. Gomez placed first with a time of 1:12.37, dropping more than five seconds off her previous personal best. Cheyenne Trujillo dropped more than six seconds, swimming a 1:22.22 and placed third. Angelique Buffum placed fifth with a 1:41.04.
Five Pirates swam the 500-yard freestyle. Gantt placed first with a 6:41.38. Gorman followed, placing second with a 6:57.41. Cram swam a 7:20.08 and placed fourth. Leilani Snell placed fifth and swam a 8:28.43, dropping more than eight seconds from her previous personal best. Forster swam a 9:51.51 and placed sixth, dropping more than 15 seconds from her previous personal best.
The Pirates had four teams compete in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team of Blackman, Gomez, Monterroso and Leilani Snell swam a 2:14.96 and placed third. The team of Brooklyn Trujillo, Book, Cheyenne Trujillo and Vincent swam a 2:30.69 and placed fifth. The team of Murphy, Taylor, Rivera and Patel swam a 3:03.57 and placed sixth. The team of Ruby Snell, Cram, Gorman and Gantt was disqualified.
Five swimmers competed in the 100-yard backstroke. Hedgecock swam a 1:20.16 and placed third, dropping almost two seconds off her previous personal best. Shaeffer swam a 1:35.99 and placed seventh, dropping more than 13 seconds from her previous personal best. Brooklyn Trujillo swam a 1:55.72 and placed eighth. Buffum swam a 2:12.55 and placed 10th. Murphy was disqualified.
Six swimmers competed in the 100-yard breaststroke, the final individual event of the meet. Blackman placed fourth after swimming a 1:29.12. Ruby Snell placed seventh after swimming a 1:42.11, knocking more than three seconds off her previous personal best. Book swam a 1:44.69 and placed 10th, knocking more than 12 seconds off her previous personal best. Rivera placed 11th after swimming a 1:45.15, knocking almost six seconds off her previous personal best. Cheyenne Trujillo placed 12th after swimming a 1:55.59, and Patel finished 13th after swimming a 2:14.84, knocking more than two seconds off her previous personal best.
The final event of the meet was the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Gorman, Shaeffer, Hedgecock and Gantt placed first after swimming a 4:33.28. The team of Murphy, Buffum, Forster and Rivera placed fourth after swimming 6:18.80.
Gorman, Shaeffer, Hedgecock and Gantt broke a 6-year-old school record with their time in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
In her email, Miller calls it the biggest highlight of the weekend.
Then, on Saturday, Jan. 31, the Lady Pirates swam against Durango again.
As a team, the girls swam the same 11 events, but each girl switched up her individual events for the meet.
The first event was once again the 200 medley relay. The team of Hedgecock, Blackman, Gantt and Gorman placed second with a 2:18.67. The team of Cram, Shaeffer, Monterroso and Gomez placed fourth with a 2:30.84. The team of Taylor, Forster, Brooklyn Trujillo and Buffum finished sixth and swam a 3:43.06.
Three swimmers swam the 200 freestyle. Murphy came in first, swimming a 3:05.04. Rivera came in fourth, swimming a 3:24.56. Patel came in seventh, swimming a 3:42.52. Rivera swam her personal best by more than six seconds and Patel swam her personal best by almost 11 seconds.
Gorman was the only Lady Pirate to swim the 200 individual medley. She swam a 2:59.06 and placed second.
The 50 freestyle saw nine Lady Pirates compete. Gantt was the top finisher for Pagosa Springs, swimming a time of 28.99 seconds and placing fourth. Gantt dropped 0.14 seconds from her previous personal best. Hedgecock swam a 30.45 and placed fifth. Gomez swam a 31.87 and placed seventh, dropping more than two seconds from her previous personal best. Monterroso swam a 33.25 and placed 10th, dropping just over a second from her previous best time. Vincent swam a 34.55 and placed 12th. Cheyenne Trujillo swam a 35.59 and placed 13th. Brooklyn Trujillo swam a 35.59 and placed 15th. Buffum swam a 42.06 and placed 16th. Taylor swam a 57.89 and placed 18th.
Gorman was the only Lady Pirate in the 100 butterfly. She placed first with a time of 1:26.12.
Hedgecock took first place in the 100 freestyle after she swam a 1:09.81. Shaeffer swam a 1:10.59 and placed second, dropping more than a second off her previous best time. Cram swam a 1:16.17 and placed third. Murphy swam a 1:23.65 and placed fourth. Forster swam a 1:26.23 and placed fifth, dropping more than three seconds from her previous best time.
Five swimmers competed in the 500 freestyle. Monterroso placed 13th after swimming an 8:23.66. Vincent placed 14th after swimming an 8:54.11. Blackman placed 15th after swimming a 9:01.03. Rivera placed 16th after swimming a 9:06.35. Rivera dropped more than 18 seconds from her previous best time. Buffum placed 18th after swimming an 11:03.98.
The next event was the 200 freestyle relay. The team of Gorman, Shaeffer, Hedgecock and Gantt placed first, swimming a 1:59.55. The team of Brooklyn Trujillo, Patel, Murphy and Cheyenne Trujillo placed third, swimming a 2:37.33.
Seven swimmers competed in the 100-yard backstroke. Gantt placed first overall after swimming a 1:15.46. Gantt dropped more than one second from her previous personal best. Cram placed second, swimming a 1:30.19. Gomez placed fourth, swimming a 1:38.46. Gomez dropped more than a second from her previous personal best time. Cheyenne Trujillo swam a 1:40.08 and placed fifth, dropping more than a second from her previous best time. Blackman swam a 1:40.50 and placed sixth, dropping more than seven seconds from her previous personal best. Patel swam a 2:19.80 and placed eighth. Taylor placed ninth and swam a 2:38.12, dropping more than two seconds from her personal best.
Three swimmers competed in the 100 breaststroke, the final individual event of the weekend. Shaeffer placed second with a 1:26.63. Brooklyn Trujillo placed fifth after swimming a 1:51.80. She dropped 0.96 seconds from her previous personal best. Forster swam a 2:03.77, dropping more than 27 seconds from her previous best time and finishing sixth.
The final event of the weekend was the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Gomez, Murphy, Monterroso and Cram placed third after swimming a 5:15.09. The team of Vincent, Rivera, Cheyenne Trujillo and Blackman placed fourth after swimming a 5:48.75.
The Lady Pirates will head to Grand Junction this weekend for the conference meet, which will take place on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 6 and 7.
“As we head into conference meet week, our focus will be on fine-tuning stroke technique, sharpening starts and turns, and dialing in speed and racing strategy to be fully prepared to race fast when it counts,” wrote Miller.
jsellner@orourkemediagroup.com
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