Much like the beginning of the season, the Durango High School girls swimming team will begin its post-holiday break schedule with a home meet.
At least it will be the first meet for most of the team.
DHS competed Saturday in Delta with 13 swimmers, so Friday’s 4 p.m. meet at the Fort Lewis College pool represents a return to full-squad competition for the Demons.
“It always takes a little bit of planning,” DHS head coach Kathryn Ross said of setting up a home meet. Meet organizers replaced a battery for the horn on the starting system that went dead in the team’s first meet on Dec. 5. They replaced it with a bullhorn then but shouldn’t run into any issues this time.
“We’re trying to make everything run smoothly,” Ross said.
Originally, only Grand Junction Central and Farmington were going to attend the meet, but Montezuma-Cortez, Palisade and Piedra Vista have since joined.
The meet marks the beginning of a more serious portion of the season for DHS. The Demons only have four meets left until districts, which are followed one week later by the state meet.
“I think that this meet will be really telling to find out where the swimmers are and what kind of times they’re hitting,” Ross said. “We base future relay teams and future events off of times this Friday. As we head into the district meet, we narrow down who should be in what events and what relays. Earlier in the season, there was more of a chance to try out different events, different strokes.”
Friday’s meet also will be the final time the Demons’ two senior swimmers and three senior divers compete at home. Swimmers Bryn Joyner and Haley Warren will be recognized with divers Caroline and Elise Tidwell and Sarah Lawton.
“They’re all captains that have done a terrific job leading the team,” Ross said. “It’s crazy to think when I started coaching they were all sophomores, and they’re all graduating this year.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
Durango Swim Club does A-OK in Oklahoma
Two of Durango High School’s swimmers also make their mark on the Durango Swim Club.
Haley Benjamin and Anne Mummery notched top-15 finishes at the 23rd annual Pro-Am Elite Meet from Dec. 18-21 in Edmond, Oklahoma.
There were 375 swimmers that qualified for the meet, organized by three-time Olympic gold medalist Josh Davis to bring professionals training for the Olympic trials with top amateur talent.
“This was a very important meet for these girls for several reasons,” DSC head coach Suzanne Schieltz said in an email to The Durango Herald. “First, they got to see elite swimmers at their best, which is a valuable experience for high school swimmers. Then they were able to feel the pressure of making it back to finals with top athletes in the country in their heats, which made my girls swim even faster than normal. Also, those pro athletes are incredible – physically – and the girls got to see that it takes a lot of discipline, hard work and patience to get to that level.”
Benjamin took fourth in the 1,650-yard freestyle, finishing in 17 minutes, 26 seconds. She also finished fifth in the 1,000-yard freestyle, sixth in the 500-yard freestyle, sixth in the 200-yard butterfly and eighth in the 400-yard individual medley.
Those performances earned her the high point award for amateur athletes competing at the meet.
“Haley’s ability in the water is limited only by her inexperience right now. I’m not sure she has a clear picture of just how fast she can swim,” Schieltz said. “By the time she’s in college, look out.”
Mummery finished 13th in the 100-yard backstroke in 59.16. She also took 11th in the 200-yard backstroke in 2:10.32, 19th in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:58.28, 22nd in the 100-yard freestyle in 55.44 and 22nd in the 50-yard freestyle in 25.38.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
