The momentum continues to build for the Cherokee Trail girls swim team, which ended the season with the program’s highest finish at the Class 5A state meet, which ended Friday at the Veterans’ Memorial Aquatic Center.
Coach Kevin Chatham’s Cougars — coming off a positive third place finish at the Centennial “A” League Championship meet — scored a whopping 58.5 points more than at the 2023 state meet and it was good for a rise of four places to a program-best ninth.
Cherokee Trail finished just 1.5 points behind fellow Centennial League program Arapahoe for eighth as four league teams (winner Cherry Creek, plus sixth-place Grandview) made the top 10.
The Cougars made the championship finals in two of three relays, the consolation final in the other and had five individuals — seniors Sarah Woren and Emme Metzmaker, juniors Ella Drakulich and Ava Zadigan and sophomore Aria Clouse — scored in two individual events on their way to a total of 155.5.
FULL LIST OF AURORA’S TOP-20 PLACERS AT THE 5A GIRLS STATE MEET, HERE
COMPLETE 5A GIRLS STATE SWIM MEET TEAMS SCORES & RESULTS, HERE
Cherokee Trail went in equipped with a total of 12 state qualifiers and only two of them were seniors in Woren and Metzmaker, who did their part to help the team.
Woren — a signee to swim and play water polo at San Jose State — ended up as a championship finalist in both of the sprint freestyle events, as she swam a season-best time of 24.03 seconds in the prelims to get into the finals, while she was 11th in the prelims of the 100 freestyle. She moved up a spot into the championship finals (top 10) when Lewis-Palmer’s Abigail Perry was scratched and the swam a season-best 52.31 to place ninth.
Metzmaker (a Marist College signee) fell agonizingly short of earning consolation finals swims in the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly as a junior, but she made it back in both as a senior. She swam her fastest time of the season in the prelims of the 200 with a 1:57.36, then finished 16th with a 1:58.62 in the consolation finals. Metzmaker did not match or better her season-best time of 58.72 in the butterfly and finished in 20th place.
Zadigan, who missed last season’s state meet after she transferred from Grandview, made a big impact for the Cougars as she had the team’s highest individual finish. Zadigan came into the meet seeded eighth in the 100 backstroke and she had the fourth-fastest time in prelims with a season-best 56.67. She went slightly slower in the finals (57.11), but it landed her fourth place. Zadigan came into state seeded No. 12 in the 200 individual medley and she finished in 13th.
Drakulich turned in a championship final swim in the 200 individual medley in which she placed 10th, while her season-best time in the event of 2:09.56 came in the prelims. In a 100 breaststroke competition that saw a slew of competitors drop time, Drakulich got edged for a championship finals spot and ended up tied for 15th place.
Clouse was seeded to score in the 100 breaststroke and she did with a 20th-place result (which came after she earned a second swim in the event with a season-best time of 1:07.90 in prelims), while she moved up four spots from her pre-meet position in the 500 freestyle to collect 19th place. Clouse’s prelims time of 5:17.39 in the prelims was more than six seconds faster than her previous best and she swam 5:21.70 in the finals.
Woren, Drakulich, Zadigan and sophomore Bella Lane teamed on the 200 medley that had the highest finish of the three relays in seventh place, though the finals time of 1:47.43 was a small bit off its best of 1:47.05. The 400 freestyle team moved up from the No. 10 seed before the meet with a ninth place finish as Woren, Metzmaker, Lane and junior Olivia Jisa swam the program’s fastest time in the final of 3:34.67.
Metzmaker, Drakulich, Jisa and freshman Felicity Meijer turned in the program’s fastest time of the season in the 200 freestyle relay (1:40.85), which put the Cougars 14th.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
