The Pagosa Springs High School Lady Pirate swim team recorded a number of personal bests at a pair of meets last week.
The team competed in Delta on Friday, Jan. 17, and in Grand Junction on Saturday, Jan. 18.
“Both meets were great,” coach Heather Miller wrote in an email to The SUN, highlighting that a number of Lady Pirates dropped times during their “great” swims.
The Lady Pirates placed sixth out of seven teams in Delta, with the final team results for Grand Junction not available by press time Wednesday.
In Delta, two Lady Pirate teams competed in the 200-yard medley relay in Delta. The team of Marlowe Hedgecock, Leah Blackman, Chloe Gantt and Asia Gorman placed sixth and scored 18 points with a time of two minutes, 21.32 seconds. The team of Ruby Snell, Gianna Shaeffer, Grace Cram and Aubrey Gerdel finished 10th and scored six points with a time of 2:40.23.
Shaeffer took 20th in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 3:01.45, with Kaiya Lyons following in 21st with a time of 3:06.11 and Gemma Slingerland following in 22nd with a time of 3:07.68.
Gantt earned 11 points with her fourth-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley. She swam a time of 2:53.43. Gerdel took 14th in the event with a time of 3:25.38. Snell followed in 15th with a time of 3:31.28. Lucia Rivera finished 16th with a time of 4:10.17.
Cram took ninth and earned four points in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 31.36 seconds. Hedgecock finished 11th and garnered two points with a time of 31.40 seconds. Katelyn Fricke finished 26th with a time of 35.72 seconds. Blackman took 28th with a time of 36.35 seconds. Bella Gutierrez finished 34th with a time of 39.07 seconds, and Brooklyn Trujillo followed in 35th with a time of 39.43 seconds.
Gorman garnered four points in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:33.72, which landed her in ninth.
Hedgecock took eighth and earned five points in the 100-yard freestyle, swimming a time of 1:09.04. Lyons took 19th with a time of 1:20.14. Gerdel finished 20th with a time of 1:20.58.
“Marlowe Hedgecock, Bree Gerdel and Kaiya Lyons all had big drops in the 100 free in Delta,” Miller wrote, “and Bree dropped even more time in Grand Junction.”
Cram took ninth in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 7:01.39, earning four points.
Miller highlights Cram dropped another 12 seconds in the event after a big drop last week.
Three Lady Pirate squads took part in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team of Gorman, Cram, Hedgecock and Gantt took eighth and earned 10 points with a time of 2:02.26 — .26 seconds short of qualifying for state.
Miller notes, “they swam great especially with at least one member of the really swimming the 500 free in the event prior. I am sure they will get it this weekend or next.”
Fricke, Slingerland, Blackman and Gerdel took 15th with a time of 2:24.44. The team of Lyons, Snell, Gutierrez and Shaeffer finished 16th with a time of 2:28.05.
Gorman took 12th in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:24.14, earning one point. Snell took 16th with a time of 1:32.31. Gutierrez finished 20th with a time of 1:57.12. Rivera finished 22nd with a time of 2:11.95.
Blackman led the Lady Pirates in the 100-yard breaststroke with a sixth-place finish and a time of 1:30.46, which earned nine points. Shaeffer finished 11th and earned two points with a time of 1:34.98. Gantt finished 16th with a time of 1:38.82. Trujillo finished 22nd with a time of 1:56.62.
Miller notes Slingerland, Trujillo, Blackman and Shaeffer all had “amazing” swims in the event, with all cutting two seconds or more at the Delta meet.
The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Slingerland, Trujillo, Rivera and Fricke took fifth and earned 20 points with a time of 6:00.30.
The next day, the Lady Pirates were in action at the Grand Junction Invite.
Two Lady Pirate squads hit the water for the 200 medley relay at the meet, with the team of Hedgecock, Blackman, Gantt and Gorman taking ninth and earning 18 points with a time of 2:21.03.
The team of Gerdel, Shaeffer, Cram and Fricke took 19th and garnered four points with a time of 2:41.73.
Gorman led the Lady Pirates in the 200 free, finishing 14th overall and earning three points with a time of 2:35.09. Cram finished 18th with a time of 2:41.86, and Rivera finished 31st with a time of 3:35.93.
Blackman scored one point with an 18th-place finish in the 200 individual medley with a time of 3:30.83, and Shaeffer followed in 19th with a time of 3:31.73.
Seven Lady Pirates took to the water for the 50 free: Gantt finished 20th with a time of 29.20 seconds, Gerdel finished 37th in 32.34 seconds, Lyons finished 46th with a time of 35.10 seconds, Fricke finished 49th in 35.68 seconds, Slingerland followed in 50th with a time of 36.29 seconds, Gutierrez took 61st with a time of 39.92 seconds and Trujillo finished 62nd in 40.20 seconds.
Gantt took ninth and earned nine points in the 100 fly with a time of 1:18.25.
Gerdel finished 31st in the 100 free with a time of 1:17.81. Gutierrez took 47th with a time of 1:20.77. Trujillo finished 48th with a time of 1:35.36.
Gorman took 15th in the 500 free and earned two points with a time of 6:55.77.
The 200 free relay team of Gorman, Cram, Hedgecock and Gantt finished 11th and earned 12 points with a time of 2:02.53. The team of Fricke, Shaeffer, Lyons and Gerdel finished 19th and earned two points with a time of 2:19.61. The team of Slingerland, Rivera, Trujillo and Blackman took 23rd with a time of 2:32.12.
With a time of 1:22.19, Hedgecock led the Lady Pirates with a 21st-place finish in the 100 back. Cram took 26th with a time of 1:25.50. Slingerland finished 36th with a time of 1:39.84. Lyons finished 42nd with a time of 1:44.81.
Blackman earned three points with her 16th-place finish in the 100 breaststroke. She swam a time of 1:32.85. Shaeffer finished 22nd with a time of 1:36.62. Rivera finished with a time of 1:56.31 to take 29th.
“Asia Gorman had great swims at both meets getting best times in all individual events and cut nearly 20 seconds from her 500 free time from last week,” Miller wrote, adding Hedgecock, Gerdel and Lyon also had all individual best times at both meets.
She adds, “Overall the majority of the swims were best times by significant amounts and those that weren’t best times were very close.”
The coach also notes the team saw progress in the areas it focused on in practice.
“We definitely saw progress in turns this week but will continue to work on them and focus more on starts this week. We will also work on bring back in more speed work as we get closer to the end of the season,” she wrote.
This week, the Lady Pirates will take part in a pair of meets in Durango.
The first will begin at 3 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 24, and the second will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25.
“I hope with the work on starts and speed we will [see] more improvement in the relays and shorter events,” Miller wrote.
randi@pagosasun.com
