AURORA | The outstanding season for the Cherokee Trail girls swim team continued Saturday with a runner-up finish in a strong field at the Smoky Hill Invitational.
Coach Kevin Chatham’s Cougars had no event event champions, but quality depth produced a point total of 766 points that put them only behind Heritage (899) in the final standings and ahead of third place Cherry Creek (667).
Seniors Emme Metzmaker and Sarah Woren and junior Ava Zadigan qualified for two championship finals apiece and the 200 yard medley and 400 freestyle relay teams both finished in second place to help boost Cherokee Trail, which finished second at the meet for a second consecutive season.
This season, the Cougars have won the championships of the Legacy Lighting Invitational and Blizzard Invitational, while they placed fifth among Class 5A teams at The REX Coaches Invitational prior to winter break. Cherokee Trail remains unbeaten in Centennial League dual meets with Overland (Jan. 18) and Cherry Creek (Jan. 23) left on the schedule.
Closest to Smoky Hill Invite event championships were Woren and sophomore Aria Clouse, who finished as runner-up in the 100 freestyle and 500 freestyles, respectively.
Woren swam a second and a half faster in the finals of the 100 freestyle than she had in the prelims and her time of 52.48 seconds brought her in only behind only Katie Ketter of Legend, who clocked a 51.38. Woren’s time was a season-best, as was the 24.15 she swam to finish third in the 50 freestyle.
In the 500, Clouse clocked a season-best time of 5:23.94 — which was six-plus seconds faster than her prelim time — to be second to the finish behind Smoky Hill sophomore Cameryn Walkup, who swam a 5:10.40. Clouse added a seventh in the 200 individual medley and swam a leg of the runner-up 200 medley relay team along with Metzmaker, Woren and Zadigan.
Zadigan finished third in both the 200 IM and 100 backstroke — clocking season-best times in both of them — and sophomore Bella Lane finished fifth in the 200 freestyle. Metzmaker’s best individual finish came in the 100 butterfly when she placed fourth, while she was one spot behind Lane in sixth in the 200 free as well.
Sophomore Izzy Becker also grabbed points for Cherokee Trail with a seventh-place finish in the diving competition, which happened on Friday.
Supporting the championship finalists were 10 different swimmers that made it into consolation finals, including junior Olivia Jisa, sophomore Lily Rosh and freshman Janjao Siah, who made two apiece.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2024 SMOKY HILL INVITATIONAL GIRLS SWIM MEET
Jan. 12-13, 2024, at Smoky Hill High School
Team scores: 1. Heritage 899 points; 2. CHEROKEE TRAIL 766; 3. Cherry Creek 667; 4. Legend 541; 5. SMOKY HILL 532; 6. Columbine 466; 7. Denver East 347; 8. EAGLECREST 201; 9. D’Evelyn 170; 10. Chatfield 165; 11. Kent Denver 153; 12. Mullen 145; 13. SMOKY HILL RED 106; 14. SMOKY HILL GREEN 56
Full championship and consolation finals results, here
