NHS girls take second in SVVSD swim meet

First-year coach Ella Thramann was pleased with the performance of her swimmers and diver Jan. 21 at the District Swimming and Diving Meet at Mountain View High School, but disappointed with a second-place finish.

The Cougars took second to cross-town rival Silver Creek, which took top honors among the six schools competing, outsourcing the Cougars 645 to 580.

Thramann said the Cougars didn't realize how deep the Silver Creek team was. "I think they have 47 girls to our 35," she said.

Thramann also cited diving as one area where the Raptors outscored Niwot, with Silver Creek taking first, third and fourth while Niwot's Elizabeth Fay took second, a 34-point differential in team scoring. Fay's dives had a 13.0 degree of difficulty, compared to 12.3 for Savannah Wolf, who won the event by posting higher scores from the judges. The first four divers have all qualified for state.

Niwot's 200 Medley Relay finished second, with a state qualifying time of 2:01.42, with Devi Burnett, Juliana Strope, Shefali Joshi and Catherine Knight swimming. The Cougars' "B" medley relay team of Ava Altenborg, Cielle Burnett, Mya Blair, and Emmy Hostelley took seventh.

Charlotte Huer won the 200 Freestyle with an impressive time of 2:00.00, almost five seconds ahead of the second-place swimmer. Joshi took sixth and Altenborg ninth. Lila Repshet also scored in the event for the Cougars, coming in 13th. Four swimmers are allowed to score for each team in each individual event, with points awarded for the top 16 swimmers.

Rowan Lavigne took first in the 200 Individual Medley for the Cougars with a time of 2:18.71, four seconds better than the second-place swimmer. Strope took sixth, while Reese Lavigne was eighth, and Burnett was tenth.

Steph Mow finished second in the 50 Freestyle, easily the longest event of the day with 14 heats involving 99 swimmers. Knight (8), Burnett (10) and Hostelley also placed for the Cougars.

Jamieson Legh won the 100 Butterfly with a time of 56.10, almost four seconds faster than the second-place finisher. Hannah Hooven (6) and Blair (7) also earned points for Niwot.

Charlotte Heuer placed first in the 100 Freestyle, with a time of 55:16, more than a full second ahead of Ema Dostal of Silver Creek. Hostelleyl (13), Knight (15) and Ella Olden (20) entered the scoring column as Silver Creek had more than four swimmers in the top 20.

The distance event, the 500 Freestyle, saw Niwot's Joshi place third overall, with Repsher (7) and Robin Loupee (15) also scoring for the Cougars.

Niwot's 200 Freestyle Relay of Huer, Rowan Lavigne, Mow and Legh easily took first with a time of 1:40.67, six seconds faster than the second-place relay team. Niwot's "B" squad of Knight, Burnett, Altenborg and Reese Lavigne took fourth, and the Cougar "C" squad of Strope, Daisey Bui, Olden and Mila Barninek took seventh, but only two relay teams from each school were allowed to score points.

Legh took first in the 100 Backstroke with a time of 57.34,Brnet five seconds faster than Mow, who finished second. The Cougars dominated the event with Reese Lavigne placing third and Burnett taking fifth. Blair finished seventh, but did not score as Niwot had four swimmers ahead of her.

Rowan Lavigne took first in the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 1:09.79, just ahead of teammate Strope, who posted a second-place time of 1:10.87. Bui (9) and Burnett (11) also scored in the event, while Barinek finished 15th but did not score as the fifth-place finisher among Niwot swimmers.

Niwot won the final event of the day, the 400 Freestyle Relay, behind the efforts of Heuer, Rowan Lavigne, Mow and Legh at 3:42.63, 12 seconds ahead of Silver Creek's team. Joshi, Burnett, Blair and Reese Lavigne took fourth in the event to round out the scoring.

Overall, Cougar swimmers won eight of the 12 events, all with state qualifying times. "They did amazing."

The Cougars did not have any new state qualifiers, but there are two meets remaining before state. "Reese [Lavigne] was two seconds off and Devi [Burnett] was three seconds off from qualifying for state in the Backstroke," Thramann said. "Both of them had PR's [personal records]."

The meet was held at Mountain View High School's Aquatic Center as the new St. Vrain facility at Silver Creek High School, except for the diving event. For larger meets, "They don't have enough areas for parents and officials at Silver Creek," Thramann said. The conference meet next week will also be held at Mountain View.