(Brock Laue/CHSAANow.com)
FORT COLLINS — The first day of the Class 5A girls swimming and diving championships acted as a dress rehearsal.
With team scores and individual state champions still to be decided on Saturday, the preliminary rounds were about ensuring spots for finals. The top-8 competitors in each prelim advanced to championship finals, while the next eight sealed bids to the consolation finals.
In the state’s highest classification, reaching Saturday’s final rounds can put you in rarified air.
And yet, the results, while impressive, weren’t the only source of interest.
Colorado swimming’s grandest stage — just as the wrestlers take to the Pepsi Center and basketball players the Coors Events Center in the coming weeks — was a spectacle.
At the Edora Pool Ice Center in Fort Collins, different colored swim caps took to the waters, gliding and powering through the ripples. With team camps down below, spectators above, and a facility that has seen the likes of Missy Franklin and Bonnie Brandon, the 5A state championships are a cool culmination of another Colorado swim season.
In her first-ever state meet, Fossil Ridge freshman Coleen Gillilan, for a team looking like it has a legitimate chance at back-to-back crowns, placed first in prelims of the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 54.41. She was also second in the 50-yard freestyle in 23.88, within striking distance of Arapahoe junior Laurel Eiber (23.66).
“It was a new experience for me,” Gillilan said. “I didn’t really know what to expect. The 100 fly stood out more, because that’s my favorite event.”
Gillilan will not only compete in her two individual events on Saturday, but will also swim legs of Fossil Ridge’s 200 medley (first in prelims) and 400 freestyle relays (second). The Sabercats also touched the line before anyone in prelims of the 200 freestyle relay and Bailey Kovac, a junior, will be after her third consecutive state title in the 100 breaststroke after another first-place finish in prelims for Fossil.
Rock Canyon senior Abigail Kochevar, the two-time defending champion in the 100 backstroke, was first in prelims with a time of 54.95. Heritage sophomore Kylie Andrews was tops in the 100 freestyle (51.13) and Fairview junior Brittney Beetcher was first in both the 200 freestyle (1:52.09) and the 500 freestyle (4:58.06).
“Brittney really looked strong,” long-time Fairview coach Bob Smartt said. “It’ll be fun to watch her compete tomorrow. I think she’s ready to go.”
For a Fairview team with a mixture of experience with four D-I recruits in the senior class, along with a good amount of youth, including an impressive seven freshmen onto finals, the Knights figure to be among the top teams in the final standings on Saturday, along with the likes of Fossil Ridge, Cherry Creek, Regis Jesuit, Heritage, and Arapahoe.
Saturday’s competition at EPIC, deciding both individual and team champions, will begin at 9 a.m. with the diving prelims. Finals start at 2 p.m.