The Pagosa Springs High School Lady Pirate swim team secured another state qualification last week in Durango — the team’s second of the season.
The team took part in a pair of meets in Durango last week with the Friday Nite Invite on Jan. 24 and the Saturday Invite on Jan. 25.
The state qualification came in the 200-yard freestyle relay Friday evening, when the squad of Asia Gorman, Grace Cram, Marlowe Hedgecock and Chloe Gantt logged a time of 2 minutes, 0.41 seconds to best the qualification time of 2:02.00.
The finish also landed the relay in third place at the meet and earned 24 points for the Lady Pirates.
Coach Heather Miller notes in an email to The SUN the team “worked a bit on sprinting this week to better prepare so they could get the time.”
Miller indicates the week’s meets were good, but showed room for improvement.
“Overall the meets were good with an amazing number of best times, but we had way too many relay false starts,” she wrote. “We will work on relay starts again this week as well as working on starts in general.”
The Lady Pirates took fourth behind Sargent, Durango and Gunnison in the Friday meet.
The meet kicked off with the squad of Hedgecock, Leah Blackman, Gantt and Gorman taking fourth in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 2:20.66. That gave the team 22 points.
The squad of Cram, Gianna Shaeffer, Ruby Snell and Aubrey Gerdel took eighth and earned 10 points with a time of 2:43.55.
Brooklyn Trujillo took seventh and earned seven points in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 3:29.87.
Hedgecock led the Lady Pirates in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 30.72, with Hedgecock finishing fourth overall and earning 11 points. Shaeffer followed in eighth to earn five points with a time of 33.61. Blackman finished in 11th and earned two points with a time of 35.18 seconds. Gemma Slingerland followed in 12th with a time of 36.10, earning one point. Lucia Rivera took 15th with a time of 40.75 seconds.
Gantt took second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:14.72, earning 13 points for the Lady Pirates. Gorman finished fourth with a time of 1:36.72, earning 11 points. Cram earned 10 points with her fifth-place finish, swimming a time of 1:51.23.
Trujillo finished 15th and earned one point in the 100-yard freestyle. She logged a time of 1:31.61.
Three Lady Pirates took part in the 500-yard freestyle. Shaeffer finished seventh and earned seven points with a time of 8:08.91 — more than 38 seconds faster than her previous time. Gerdel finished eighth and earned five points with a time of 8:25.50. Kaiya Lyons finished ninth and earned four points with a time of 8:31.60 — more than 44 seconds quicker than her previous time.
The Lady Pirates’ state-qualifying squad was one of three to compete in the 200 free.
The crew of Katelyn Fricke, Blackman, Lyons and Gerdel followed in fourth place and earned 22 points with a time of 2:17.56.
The squad of Snell, Trujillo, Slingerland and Shaeffer finished seventh with a time of 2:29.28.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, Snell finished 10th with a time of 1:45.71, earning three points. Rivera followed in 11th with a time of 1:54.97 to earn two points.
Three Lady Pirate squads took part in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
The team of Hedgecock, Cram, Gorman and Gantt finished third with a time of 4:43.28, earning 24 points.
The team of Lyons, Blackman, Slingerland and Gerdel took seventh with a time of 5:38.47 to earn 14 points.
The team of Bella Gutierrez, Trujillo, Rivera and Fricke finished eighth with a time of 6:06.26.
The Lady Pirates finished third behind Durango and Gunnison at Saturday’s meet.
Six Lady Pirates competed in the 200 free at the Saturday meet, with Hedgecock leading the team with a sixth-place finish. She swam a time of 2:37.64 — more than 13 seconds faster than her previous time — and earned nine points. Cram followed in seventh with a time of 2:39.64 to earn seven points. Gorman took eighth and earned five points with a time of 2:41.22. Shaeffer finished ninth and earned four points with a time of 2:56.99. Slingerland followed in 10th with a time of 3:02.08, and Fricke took 11th with a time of 3:04.67.
Gantt took third in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:50.92, earning 12 points. Gutierrez logged a time of 4:27.03 to finish sixth and earn nine points.
Five Lady Pirates took to the water for the 50 free, with Gerdel taking fourth and earning 11 points with a time of 31.57 seconds. Lyons finished 10th and earned five points with a time of 35.70. Blackman followed in 11th with a time of 35.84 seconds to earn four points. Trujillo finished 12th and earned three points with a time of 39.65 seconds. Rivera finished 13th with a time of 39.97 seconds.
Gutierrez finished the 100 free with a time of 1:41.79 to take second and earn 13 points.
Gantt led the Lady Pirates in the 500 free on the day with a time of 6:38.10, which landed her fourth and earned 11 points in addition to being almost 12 seconds quicker than her previous time. Cram finished sixth and earned nine points with a time of 7:10.40. Hedgecock took seventh and earned seven points with a time of 7:17.16, which was 59.95 seconds quicker than her previous time. Gorman followed in eighth and earned five points with a time of 7:21.23.
The Lady Pirate squad of Hedgecock, Cram, Gorman and Gantt took second in the 200 free relay with a time of 2:05.38, earning 26 points.
Slingerland logged a time of 1:41.80 to take fifth in the 100-yard backstroke, earning 10 points.
Shaeffer garnered third place in the 100 breaststroke, earning 12 points with a time of 1:33.67. Gerdel took seventh and earned seven points with a time of 1:46.04. Fricke took eighth with a time of 1:46.35, earning five points. Rivera swam a time of 1:53.34 to finish ninth and earn four points.
In the 400 free relay, the team of Lyons, Fricke, Blackman and Gerdel finished third with a time of 5:35.06, earning 24 points.
Miller comments that the “tenacity” of the team’s swimmers stood out to her at the meets.
“You could see how determined they were to do their best and really get after each race,” she wrote. “Especially Gianna Shaeffer in the 50 free on Friday she cut over 2 seconds which is super impressive for a short race and cut nearly 40 seconds on her 500 free. Marlowe Hedgecock had amazing races in the 200 and 500 free, cutting lots of time and nearly a minute off the 500 free. Kaiya Lyons also cut just over 44 seconds on her 500 free. I could go on and on but the whole team really swam well and we are looking forward to more great swims this weekend.”
The Lady Pirates will cap off the regular season at the Western Slope conference meet on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction.
Action is set to begin at 6 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday.
“Our goal this weekend is to have some fun and drop more time,” Miller wrote. “We are really starting to rest this week and work on specific race strategies and speed. This should bring us even more best times and earn us second swims, getting to swim again in consolations or finals on Saturday.”
randi@pagosasun.com
