The Cherokee Trail girls swim team enjoys swimming in the Smoky Hill pool and also enjoyed taking home some hardware from a favorite meet Jan. 14.
The Cougars accrued 690.5 points over two days of competition to finish as the runner-up behind runaway winner Columbine at the top of the 12-team field in the annual Smoky Hill Invitational, a result that sent them home with a trophy.
Freshman Bella Lane finished in a tie for the championship of the 50 yard freestyle and later came in third in the 100 freestyle as the top individual results for coach Kevin Chatham’s Cherokee Trail team, which had all three relay teams finish in the top four.
Senior Morgan Walker and junior Emme Metzmaker made two individual event finals apiece as well and sophomores Ella Drakulich and Olivia Jisa one apiece for the Cougars.
Lane claimed a share of the 50 crown as she touched the wall in 24.70 seconds, exactly the same as Legend’s Katie Ketter, while Ketter later won the 100 in which Lane finished in third place. Walker finished fifth in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke and Metzmaker took fifth in the 200 freestyle and sixth in the 100 for the Cougars.
Host Smoky Hill picked 405 points to finished in sixth place in the team standings as freshman Mya Noffsinger led the way. In her first Smoky Hill Invitational, Noffsinger turned in runner-up finishes in both the 500 yard freestyle and 100 backstroke.
Coach Susan Stone’s Buffaloes also qualified for the championship finals in two relay events (the 200 yard medley and 400 yard freestyle), both of which included Noffsinger. Eve Niemann and Alana Behrens Fassrainer also swam on both relays, which each finished in sixth place.
Eaglecrest rounded out the Aurora area representation in the field and came in 11th place with a total of 160 points. The top result for coach Jillian Fehringer’s Raptors came with the ninth-place finish of the 200 yard freestyle relay team of senior Nalani Fierro, junior Shannon Beaulieu and sophomores Alex Jones and Lauren Menefee.
Only one Smoky Hill Invitational meet record was established and that came in the opening event of the championship finals when Columbine’s 200 yard freestyle relay team touched the wall in 1 minute, 47.55 seconds, which topped the 1:47.81 recorded by Heritage in 2018.
Sophie Porter and Rachel Ballard won twice for individually for the Rebels, who won seven events in all, while the 100 yard breaststroke was won by Cherry Creek senior Katie Cohen, daughter of former Smoky Hill girls swim coach Scott Cohen.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2023 SMOKY HILL INVITATIONAL GIRLS SWIM MEET
Jan. 13-14 at Smoky Hill High School
Team scores: 1. Columbine 786 points; 2. CHEROKEE TRAIL 690.5; 3. Cherry Creek 650; 4. Legend 648.5; 5. Cherry Creek Blue 614; 6. SMOKY HILL 405; 7. Denver East 390; 8. D’Evelyn Jaguars 211; 9. Chatfield 199; 10. Kent Denver 184; 11. EAGLECREST 160; 12. SMOKY HILL GREEN 109
Event champions — 200 yard medley relay: 1. Columbine, 1 minute, 47.55 seconds (meet record, previous 1:47.81 in 2018 by Heritage) (5ASQT); 200 yard freestyle: 1. Sophie Porter (Columbine), 1 minute, 58.78 seconds (5ASQT); 200 yard individual medley: 1. Rachel Ballard (Columbine), 2 minutes, 9.69 seconds (5ASQT); 50 yard freestyle: T1. BELLA LANE (CHEROKEE TRAIL), 24.70 seconds (5ASQT); T1. Katie Ketter (Legend), 24.70 (5ASQT); 1-meter diving: 1. Ruth Spiegel (Cherry Creek), 408.05 points; 100 yard butterfly: 1. Emma Forbes (Columbine), 58.19 seconds (5ASQT); 100 yard freestyle: 1. Katie Ketter (Legend), 53.63 seconds (5ASQT); 500 yard freestyle: 1. Sophie Porter (Columbine), 5 minutes, 17.32 seconds (5ASQT); 200 yard freestyle relay: 1. Cherry Creek Blue, 1 minute, 41.36 seconds (5ASQT); 100 yard backstroke: 1. Rachel Ballard (Columbine), 57.94 seconds (5ASQT); 100 yard breaststroke: 1. Katie Cohen (Cherry Creek), 1 minute, 4.42 seconds (5ASQT); 400 yard freestyle relay: 1. Columbine, 3 minutes, 37.03 seconds (5ASQT)
— Full Smoky Hill Invitational girls meet results, here
