The Pagosa Springs High School Lady Pirate swim team traveled to Grand Junction on Saturday, Jan. 10, to take part in their first meet back after the winter break.
“The meet went really well,” wrote coach Heather Miller in an email to The SUN. “I hoped for a few best times but we had seventeen best times with a few being really big time drops.”
The Lady Pirates placed seventh as a team, scoring 111 points across 10 events.
The first event of the meet was the 200-yard medley relay.
The team of Grace Cram, Gianna Schaeffer, Natalia Monterroso and Katelyn Fricke placed 13th with a time of two minutes, 34.18 seconds. The team of Brooklyn Trujillo, Angela Gomez, Kailey Vincent and Cheyenne Trujillo placed 18th with a time of 3:02.25. The team of Avery Book, Lucia Rivera, Kaillen Taylor and Angelique Buffum placed 20th with a time of 3:24.85. The team of Marlowe Hedgecock, Leah Blackman, Chloe Gantt and Asia Gorman was disqualified.
The 200-yard freestyle was the second event. Brooklyn Trujillo was the top finisher for the Lady Pirates, swimming a 3:16.60 to take 24th. She also dropped 13.27 seconds from her previous fastest time. Rivera swam a 3:34.80, placing her 25th.
Gorman placed ninth in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:56.03, and Shaeffer placed 14th with a time of 3:14.89.
Both girls dropped over seven seconds off their previous fastest times, with Gorman dropping 7.13 seconds and Shaeffer dropping 16.84 seconds.
In the fourth event, the 50-yard freestyle, six of the 10 swimmers swam their best times.
Gantt swam a personal best 29.13 seconds and placed 13th. Fricke swam a personal best 32.16 and placed 26th. Gomez swam a personal best 34.34 and placed 32nd. Monterroso swam a 34.96 and placed 34th, Cheyenne Trujillo swam a 36.76 and placed 42nd, and Vincent swam a 37.63 and placed 45th. Book swam a personal best 37.64 and placed 46th. Buffum swam a 38.48 and placed 51st. Isabela Forster swam a personal best 39.71 and placed 55th. Arya Patel swam a personal best 45.71 and placed 59th.
The 100-yard butterfly was the sixth event. Gantt placed sixth for the Lady Pirates, swimming a 1:14.52. Cram placed 13th after swimming a 1:51.24. Taylor was disqualified.
Three Lady Pirates competed in the 100-yard freestyle. Hedgecock placed 17th after swimming a 1:09.20. Blackman posted a personal best time of 1:22.80, dropping 1.89 seconds, and placed 41st. Forster posted a personal best time of 1:29.63, dropping 14.64 seconds, and placed 49th.
The eighth event was the 500-yard freestyle. Gorman placed ninth for the Lady Pirates with her personal best time of 6:45.59, dropping 8.07 seconds. Gomez placed 13th with a time of 8:00.09, Rivera placed 15th with a time of 9:24.55, and Vincent placed 16th with a time of 9:41.89.
The ninth event was the 200-yard freestyle relay.
The team of Gantt, Cram, Hedgecock and Gorman placed ninth with a time of 2:03.81. The team of Fricke, Monterroso, Blackman and Shaeffer placed 17th with a time of 2:15.25. The team of Cheyenne Trujillo, Brooklyn Trujillo, Vincent and Gomez placed 20th with a time of 2:28.43. The team of Book, Forster, Patel and Buffum placed 23rd with a time of 2:52.73.
Though the team of Gantt, Cram, Hedgecock and Gorman did not reach the time of 2:02.00 to qualify for the state meet, Miller notes she believes they can get it at their next meet.
The 100-yard backstroke was the 10th event.
The Lady Pirates had eight swimmers competing in the event, three of whom swam personal bests. Hedgecock was the top Lady Pirate finisher, placing 22nd after swimming a 1:25.88. Cram swam a 1:34.14 and placed 31st. Monterroso swam a personal best time of 1:37.72 and placed 35th. Cheyenne Trujillo swam a 1:41.47 and placed 38th, Book swam a 1:46.48 and placed 41st, and Brooklyn Trujillo swam a 1:48.74 and placed 42nd. Both Buffum and Taylor swam personal best times. Buffum dropped 2.75 seconds and swam a 2:11.06, placing 45th. Taylor dropped 17.43 seconds and swam a 2:40.47, placing 46th.
The last event of the meet for the Lady Pirates was the 100-yard breaststroke.
Shaeffer placed 11th after swimming a 1:27.19. Blackman finished 15th after swimming a 1:31.30. Fricke and Patel each swam personal best times. Fricke dropped 9.54 seconds and swam a 1:36.18, placing 21st. Patel dropped 8.76 seconds and swam a 2:17.41, placing 31st.
The Lady Pirates will be in the pool again this Friday, Jan. 16, in Montrose, with action set to begin at 5 p.m.
“We are continuing some endurance work this week and adding in a little speed work as well,” wrote Miller when talking about their preparation this week.
jsellner@orourkemediagroup.com
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