NHS girls swim trending upward heading into Longs Peak League championships

Admittedly, Niwot High School girls swim head coach Ella Thramann has been pushing her team harder in recent practices. With two major meets on deck, Thramann wants the Cougars to be both prepared and swimming at their best.

So far, the tougher practices have yielded some encouraging results. Multiple swimmers have set new personal-record times, including senior co-captain Daisey Bui in two different events, and others simply appear smoother in the pool.

"I've seen tons of PRs," Thramann said. "I can just see how much better they're swimming, honestly. Their strokes look better, they look more aggressive in the water, and they just look stronger overall. I'm very happy with that."

In Niwot's two final dual meets before the Longs Peak League championships, the Cougars hosted Windsor High School on Tuesday, Jan. 23 before swimming against Mountain View High School and Colorado Academy the following day in Loveland.

The Cougars fell to the Wizards, 180-128, but managed four first-place finishes. Senior Charlotte Heuer won both the 200-yard freestyle and the 100 butterfly, sophomore Ava Altenborg led the 50 free, and junior Elizabeth (Izzy) Fay took first in the 1-meter dive. The meet was held at the St. Vrain Aquatic Center in Longmont, located on the campus of Silver Creek High School.

It was also an emotional afternoon for Niwot as Bui, Heuer, Reese Lavigne, and Evelyn Hess were honored on senior day.

"​​It's definitely sad, every senior night for me, because they're going to be gone," Thramann said. "They're going to be missed and the girls are going to miss them. But it was a great meet. I couldn't complain. We all just had a fun time. We took it easy on them and wanted them all to just enjoy their senior night."

The following day, Niwot was at Mountain View High School in Loveland for a triangular meet against MVHS and Colorado Academy. While Thramann admitted her girls were exhausted from the previous day, Niwot still scored a meet-best 193 points.

"Honestly, my girls were so tired and it was a hard day for all of us, doing back-to-back meets," Thramann said. "It was good having each team be small enough for our team to compete against, but we still got that win, so that was nice for them. They needed it for sure after losing to Windsor."

Altenborg was once again impressive for Niwot, winning the 50 free and 100 backstroke. She also joined Shefali Joshi, Devi Burnett, and Thalia Milam on Niwot's first-place 400 freestyle relay team. According to Thramann, Altenborg is state-qualified in the 100 back.

"She has definitely worked super hard these past few weeks," Thramann said of Altenborg. "I was really proud to see how hard she was pushing herself and taking it seriously. She absolutely dominated the water and keeps impressing me every single day. I'm stoked to see all that she does at state and especially (at) conference coming up this week."

The Longs Peak League championships are scheduled for Feb. 1-2 at MVHS.

"Our focus is getting those state quals (qualifications) if we can and getting the girls tapered and ready and rested up to take on all those teams," Thramann said. "Hopefully, we can win it in the end."