AURORA | One streak had to be broken and another continued when the Cherokee Trail and Smoky Hill girls swim teams — both of which were undefeated in dual meets in the first portion of the season — faced each other Tuesday.
Without much training over winter break, the Cougars came out with a 123-60 Centennial League dual meet win over Smoky Hill in their home pool, pushing coach Kevin Chatham’s team to 5-0 on the season.
Cherokee Trail won the 200 yard medley and 400 yard freestyle relays to bookend a meet in which it captured nine of the 12 events with wins from five different individuals in addition to the relay teams. Senior Sarah Woren swept the sprint freestyle events and junior Ella Drakulich prevailed in the 100 butterfly and 100 yard backstroke for the Cougars.
Freshman Felicity Meijer (200 freestyle), sophomore Aria Clouse (500 freestyle) and junior Ava Zadigan (100 breaststroke) also topped events for Cherokee Trail.
Both of the times for Woren (25.37 seconds in the 50 freestyle and 55.69 seconds in the 100 freestyle) achieved the Class 5A state meet qualifying standard, as did Drakulich’s 1:01.4 in the 100 butterfly and 1:02.10 in the backstroke. Zadigan’s winning time in the 100 breaststroke did not qualify for state, but her 1:01.48 as 100 butterfly runner-up did, while Clouse’s 5:34.90 also got her in. The Cougars had four relay teams post qualifying times, including two of their three entries in the 400 freestyle.
Coach Scott Cohen’s Smoky Hill team dropped to 3-1 on the season with individual victories from sophomore Cameryn Walkup in the 200 individual medley and senior Christianna Duthie in diving. Walkup would have had another win in the 500 freestyle, but she and both other Buffaloes in the race were disqualified when a counter fell into the pool.
The Buffaloes’ team of freshman Caroline Kaiser, junior Vanessa Obot, sophomore Greta Smolenski and junior Morgan Goodrich also ended up victorious in the 200 freestyle relay when Cherokee Trail’s top team was disqualified after winning the race by more than four seconds.
Walkup bettered the 5A state qualifying mark in the 200 IM with her 2:15, while sophomore Mya Noffsinger achieved the standard with her runner-up finish in the 100 backstroke of 1:02.45, while all three Smoky Hill relay teams also had qualifying times.
The teams will see each other again Jan. 12-13 during the Smoky Hill Invitational, while Cherokee Trail’s next dual meet comes at home Jan. 11 against Mullen, the same day Smoky Hill plays host to Overland.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
CHEROKEE TRAIL 123, SMOKY HILL 60
200 yard medley relay — 1. Cherokee Trail A (Ava Zadigan, Ella Drakulich, Bella Lane, Emir Saliger), 1 minute, 53.92 seconds (5ASQT); 2. Smoky Hill A (Mya Noffsinger, Eve Niemann, Cameryn Walkup, Caroline Kaiser), 1:57.68 (5ASQT); 200 yard freestyle — 1. Felicity Meijer (Cherokee Trail), 2 minutes, 6.47 seconds; 200 yard individual medley— 1. Cameryn Walkup (Smoky Hill), 2 minutes, 15 seconds (5ASQT); 50 yard freestyle— 1. Sarah Woren (Cherokee Trail), 25.37 seconds (5ASQT); 1-meter diving — 1. Christianna Duthie (Smoky Hill), 203.85 points; 100 yard butterfly — 1. Ella Drakulich (Cherokee Trail), 1 minute, 1.04 seconds (5ASQT); 2. Ava Zadigan (Cherokee Trail), 1:01.48 (5ASQT); 100 yard freestyle — 1. Sarah Woren (Cherokee Trail), 55.69 seconds (5ASQT); 500 yard freestyle — 1. Aria Clouse (Cherokee Trail), 5 minutes, 34.90 seconds (5ASQT); 200 yard freestyle relay — 1. Smoky Hill A (Caroline Kaiser, Vanessa Obot, Greta Smolenski, Morgan Goodrich), 1 minute, 47.72 seconds (5ASQT); 2. Cherokee Trail B (Olivia Jisa, Grace Peterson, Meagan Walker, Rachel Williams), 1:49.49 (5ASQT); 100 yard backstroke — 1. Ella Drakulich (Cherokee Trail), 1 minute, 2.10 seconds (5ASQT); 2. Mya Noffsinger (Smoky Hill), 1:02.45 (5ASQT); 100 yard breaststroke — 1. Ava Zadigan (Cherokee Trail), 1 minute, 13.45 seconds; 400 yard freestyle relay — 1. Cherokee Trail A (Sarah Woren, Emir Saliger, Felicity Meijer, Olivia Jisa), 3 minutes, 53.31 seconds (5ASQT); 2. Smoky Hill A (Cameryn Walkup, Mya Noffsinger, Morgan Goodrich, Greta Smolenski), 3:58.03 (5ASQT); 3. Cherokee Trail B (Aria Clouse, Sage Trusler, Ava Zadigan, Rachel Williams), 3:59.65 (5ASQT)
