Student Athlete of the Week Jamieson Legh

After falling just short the past two years, Jamieson Legh finally got over the hump of winning an individual state championship in her final run.

The fourth-year Niwot High School swimmer finished runner-up in the 100-meter butterfly as both a sophomore and junior, plus she took second in the 100 backstroke last year and placed third the season prior. But given one last opportunity as a senior, Legh took advantage and won both events by a combined 6.73 seconds at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton on Feb. 9.

Swimming a personal-record time in each event - 54.29 seconds in the 100 fly and 54.69 in the 100 back - was an added splash of triumph.

"I knew that it was going to be close because it was a really competitive field, so I was really hoping to come away with the wins," Legh said. "(Swimming my) best times in both - they were my overall best times - was just a bonus. I was really surprised."

Both of her times were also only fractions of a second away from the Class 4A state meet records of 54.21 (100 fly) and 54.22 (100 back).

Legh helped Niwot, which finished fourth overall as a team, place in a couple of relay events, too. In the 200 free relay, Legh, junior Charlotte Heuer and seniors Steph Mow and Rowan Lavigne took third place, and in the 400 free relay, that same quartet placed second behind 4A team champion Pine Creek High School's squad.

"As I got under the blocks for the last leg, all the girls had just swam so well and they put me in the perfect position," Legh said regarding the 400 free relay. "I knew I had to race (with) everything that I had left. It was super awesome that we were able to get second."

With all of Legh's races coming in the second half of the meet, she said it was difficult managing the emotions of knowing her Niwot career would soon be complete.

"After the 100 fly, I was so excited, and I was trying to hold back all the emotions because I knew that I still had three more really important races," she said. "I had to keep pushing through all my events and then once I touched the wall of the last event, it was tears from everyone - happy and sad tears."

There was an added bit of emotion for Legh as she spent her senior year swimming under her father, a former professional triathlete who accepted an assistant coaching position at Niwot.

"It was really, really special for him to be my sixth-grade track and cross country coach, and then my senior year swim coach," Legh said. "It was something really, really special having him on the pool deck and being able to look up and see him after finishing all my races... He has always been so supportive of everything that I've wanted to do. He really always wanted me to be a runner, and I always leaned towards swimming a lot more. He was always very supportive of that."

In the fall, Legh will begin her college swim career at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. She said she has been following her future team from afar this year and is excited to join the Big Green.