THORNTON | Not since way back in 2007 had the Grandview girls swim team finished as high at the Class 5A state meet as it did during this season’s meet, which concluded Friday evening at the Veterans’ Memorial Aquatic Center.
Boosted by the performances of an outstanding senior class and the yeoman’s work of junior standout Amelia Brown, the Wolves racked up 233 points to finish behind only champion Cherry Creek, Regis Jesuit, Heritage and Fairview in the fast season conclusion to two days of competition to finish the season.
Coach Karen Ammon’s Grandview team had all three of its relay teams make it to championship finals heats and nine of its 13 individual swimming and diving qualifiers earned at least one top-20 place to produce the program’s highest finish in 16 seasons.
Brown came in off a Centennial “A” League Championship meet in which she won both the 50 and 100 yard freestyles and she earned big points in both of those as well at state. She touched the wall in third place in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.30 seconds, while she had a fifth-place result in the 100 free as well.
Additionally, Brown swam the anchor leg of the eighth-place 200 freestyle relay team (which also included seniors Megan Doubrava, Rebecca Hildebrand and Kya Guikema) as well as the 10th-place 400 freestyle relay group rounded out by Doubrava, Guikema and junior Keira Vail.
The highest individual finish of the meet for Grandview went to senior Paige Dailey, who got touched out for the championship of the 100 yard breaststroke. The Cal-Davis signee put her hand on the wall in 1:02.46, which was an eyelash (0.06 of a second) behind Regis Jesuit’s Charlotte Burnham, who swam in the lane next to her.
Three other Grandview swimmers made one championship final in junior Kaitlyn Hafer — who was eighth in the 100 breaststroke as the Wolves thrived in the event — plus Guikema and Vail, who were 10th in the 200 and 100 freestyles, respectively. Guikema moved up from the 15th seed coming into the meet, while Vail rose from 13th.
Guikema, Vail and Doubrava scored in two events apiece individually and senior Brynn Koehler earned a second swim in the 500 freestyle and finished 18th after she came into the meet seeded 33rd.
Bailey, Hildebrand, Vail and senior Caroline Payne combined to open the swim finals with a ninth-place finish in the 200 yard medley relay with a time that was just slightly slower than prelims.
The Wolves came into the swim finals with a nice total of 26 points to their credit thanks to the diving competition, which took place two days earlier. Sophomore Addison Campbell — the Centennial “A” League champion in the event — racked up 438.55 points to finish in fourth place, while junior Hailey-Cate Bull captured 14th place.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
