AURORA | With new water in the pool, the Cherokee Trail and Smoky Hill girls swim teams rose the occasion Saturday in the finals of the annual Smoky Hill Invitational.
The host Buffaloes — whose pool had been repaired and refilled prior to the new year — earned 624 points (39 more than the previous season) and moved up a place in front of the Cougars, who were unable to defend their title from 2025, but still finished a strong second place with 728 behind winner Cherry Creek (807.5).
Smoky Hill senior Cameryn Walkup extended her reign in the distance freestyle events with championships in the 200 and 500 yard freestyle for a third straight season, while senior Mya Noffsinger claimed the 100 backstroke title for coach Scott Cohen’s Buffaloes, while junior Natalie Daum (100 yard butterfly) won the lone event crown for coach Kipp Meeks’ Cougars.
Eaglecrest concluded in eighth place in the 14th-team field for the third straight season, as coach Jillian Fehringer’s Raptors accrued 227 this time.
Walkup — a University of Wyoming signee — missed the Smoky Hill Invitational during her freshman year, but triumphed in every distance freestyle race at the event in the final three seasons. As a senior, she dropped a time of 1 minute, 54.26 seconds, for a sizeable win over Denver East’s Malin Wolfson, while the margin was even greater in the 500.
Walkup touched the wall in 5:10.28 for a nearly 20-second win over Cherokee Trail senior Aria Clouse. Noffsinger, meanwhile, finished in the top five in the 100 backstroke for the fourth time in as many seasons and came away with her first championship this time, as the Minnesota State University, Mankato, signee posted a winning time of 58.65 seconds.
Cherokee Trail won the championship of the event in 2025, but was unable to repeat with the performance of Cherry Creek, which set a multitude of meet records on its way to victory.
Coach Kipp Meeks’ Cougars were very competitive with their depth, while they were led at the top by Daum, who is in her first season with the program after she began her prep career at Regis Jesuit.
Daum posted the top time in the prelims of the 200 individual medley, only to come in second in the finals to Cherry Creek’s Jenna Fernstrom. She bounced back with a championship in the 100 butterfly, which came in 57.90 seconds. Daum also combined with seniors Lily Rosh and Giavelle Salsig and fell junior Emir Saliger on a second-place 200 medley relay as well.
Eaglecrest did not have any championship finalists, but had a consistent presence in the consolation heats.
The Raptors were paced by the performance of the 200 yard relay team of seniors Cailyn Baldermann and Sadie Halladay and juniors Mila Huseby and Xuan-Nguyen Do, which finished in 1:50.18 to place second in the B Final of the event.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2026 Smoky Hill Invitational Girls Swimming
Jan. 9-10 at Smoky Hill H.S.
Team scores: 1. Cherry Creek 807.5 points; 2. CHEROKEE TRAIL 728; 3. SMOKY HILL 624; 4. Heritage 536.5; 5. Denver East 533; 6. Legend 527.5; 7. Chatfield 314; 8. EAGLECREST 227; 9. D’Evelyn 183; 10. Columbine 182; 11. Kent Denver 171.5; 12. Mullen 164; 13. Smoky Hill Red 126; 14. Smoky Hill Green 86
Event champions: 200 yard medley relay — 1. Cherry Creek, 1 minute, 48.59 seconds (5ASQT); 200 yard freestyle — 1. CAMERYN WALKUP (SMOKY HILL), 1 minute, 54.26 seconds (5ASQT); 200 yard individual medley — 1. Jenna Fernstrom (Cherry Creek), 2 minutes, 5.41 seconds (5ASQT) (Meet record, previous Anna Trinidad 2:06.03 in 2001/pool record, previous 2:04.64 in 2011 by Bonnie Brandon; 50 yard freestyle — 1. Sydney Fernstrom (Cherry Creek), 24.10 seconds (5ASQT); 1-meter diving — 1. Lyra Moran (Chatfield), 465.15 points (5ASQT); 100 yard butterfly — 1. NATALIE DAUM (CHEROKEE TRAIL), 57.90 seconds (5ASQT); 100 yard freestyle — 1. Jenna Fernstrom (Cherry Creek), 50.88 seconds (5ASQT) (pool record, previous 51.14 by Lyndsey Wehr in 2021); 500 yard freestyle — 1. CAMERYN WALKUP (SMOKY HILL), 5 minutes, 10.28 seconds; 200 yard freestyle relay — 1. Cherry Creek, 1 minute, 36.54 seconds (Meet record, previous 1:38.11 by Cherry Creek in 2024); 100 yard backstroke — 1. MYA NOFFSINGER (SMOKY HILL), 58.65 seconds (5ASQT); 100 yard breaststroke — 1. Sydney Fernstrom (Cherry Creek), 1 minutes, 4.95 seconds (5ASQT); 400 yard freestyle relay — 1. Cherry Creek, 3 minutes, 33.72 seconds (5ASQT) (Meet record, previous 3:33.80 by Chatfield in 2019)
— Full 2026 Smoky Hill Invitational girls swim meet results, here