AURORA | The Rangeview girls swim team has turned the page to youth this season, but hasn’t skipped a beat in terms of competitiveness.
Seniors that combined to win 10 of a 12-event event sweep at last season’s Aurora Public Schools Championship/Jim Fernald Memorial meet graduated, but coach Robin Allen’s team barely registered the difference Saturday at this season’s meet.
Junior Chela Gonzalez and sophomore Anna Arana captured two events apiece as did Daveah Archibeque — part of the Raiders’ contingent of just four seniors — in a 642-point performance that secured the program’s 22nd consecutive victory at the meet that also includes district programs Hinkley, Aurora Central and Gateway.
“We had a big number graduate from last year and it’s really exciting to have a lot of freshmen come in to help build the team again,” Allen said.
Coach Beth Himes’ Thunder accrued 354 points to finish second, followed by coach Jess Collins’ Trojans with 333 — which included an event championship from senior Berenice Guerrero Cuarenta — and finally coach McKenna Laferriere’s Olys, who also had a winner in junior diver Makenna Dossey.
Full results from the 2026 APS Championship/Jim Fernald Memorial meet, here
Rangeview had swept the meet for each of the past two seasons and had won 35 consecutive events dating back to the first event of the 2023 competition, but had the streak snapped in the opening event of the day when Dossey won the 1-meter diving competition.
Four-time city diving champion Hailey McDonald graduated and Dossey became the successor on the board as she earned a narrow victory over Rangeview junior Kathy Nguyen (outpointing her 177.30 to 170.70) to give the Olys a victory at the meet for the first time since Jenny Lorie won the 100 yard breaststroke in 2022.
The Raiders then ripped off eight victories before Guerrero Cuarenta won the closest race of the day with a touch out of Rangeview freshman Chloe Avison in final heat of the 100 yard breaststroke. Guerrero Cuarenta became the Trojans’ first winner at the meet since 2023 when the 200 yard medley relay won after two teams were disqualified.
Archibeque finished second in two individual events at the APS meet as a freshman in 2023, but ended her career with 10 consecutive wins. She won the 200 yard freestyle for the third straight season with a time of 2 minutes, 32.11 seconds, which got her to the wall more than 12 seconds ahead of freshman teammate Marson Yemane.
Archibeque also had a two-year winning streak in the 500 freeestyle, but swam the 100 freestyle instead this season and dominated the event, which saw the Raiders sweep the top four spots on the medal podium.
Gonzalez finished fourth in the 200 yard individual medley and third in the 100 butterfly last season and moved up to win championships in both with decisive victories. Her time of 2:50.94 in the IM gave her a nearly 14-second edge over freshman teammate Olivia Le, while she had a margin of nine-plus seconds over Le in the butterfly.
Arana clocked a time of 29.76 seconds to win the 50 freestyle in a huge time jump from the 32.29 from 2025 that left her fourth, while she was the 500 freestyle runner-up last season to Archibeque, but posted a win by more than a minute over freshman teammate Lara Genel in the event this time.
Archibeque teamed with Arana, Gonzalez and freshman Faith Utt on the winning 400 yard freestyle relay, while she was also part of the victorious 200 freestyle relay squad along with a trio of freshmen in Utt, Le and Avison.
“There’s only four seniors this year, so as a team captain on a young team, it was my responsibility to push people and be able to be there for them,” Archibeque said. “We were able to keep a positive mindset and I’m really happy with how it ended.”
Gonzalez, Arana, Le and junior Scarlett Tambunan — who won a championship of her own individually in the 100 yard backstroke — combined to take the meet-opening 200 yard medley relay.
Hinkley had no champions, but had a consistent presence on the podium with help from sophomore Lilly Carter (who took third in the 100 breaststroke and fifth in the 200 freestyle) and senior Leessy Diaz (third in 100 butterfly and fifth in 200 individual medley), while both combined with juniors Tanya Lopez-Baldenegro and Asher Scares Hawk on the runner-up 400 yard freestyle relay team.
Aurora Central’s top performance came from Guerrero Cuarenta (who dropped nearly three seconds from her seed time in her win in the 100 breaststroke and was also fourth in the 200 IM), while Siobhan James finished fourth in the 50 freestyle and fifth in the 100 freestyle. James, Taylor Paul, Adrianna Chatman and Maya De Haro had the Trojans’ best relay performance as well with runner-up result in the 200 freestyle relay.
Gateway got a strong day from Dossey, who also finished third in the 100 backstroke.
Next up for all of the APS programs is the City League Championship “B”and “A” League meets, scheduled for Jan. 31 and Feb. 6-7, respectively, at Manual High School.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
Aurora Public Schools Championship/Jim Fernald Memorial
Jan. 24 at Rangeview H.S.
Team scores: 1. Rangeview 642 points; 2. Hinkley 354; 3. Aurora Central 333; 4. Gateway 155
Event champions: 200 yard medley relay — 1. Rangeview A (Scarlett Tambunan, Olivia Le, Chela Gonzalez, Anna Arana), 2 minutes, 25.39 seconds; 200 yard freestyle — 1. Daveah Archibeque (Rangeview), 2 minutes, 32.11 seconds; 200 yard individual medley — 1. Chela Gonzalez (Rangeview), 2 minutes, 50.94 seconds; 50 yard freestyle — 1. Anna Arana (Rangeview), 29.76 seconds; 1-meter diving — 1. Makenna Dossey (Gateway), 177.30 points; 100 yard butterfly — 1. Chela Gonzalez (Rangeview), 1 minute, 17.02 seconds; 100 yard freestyle — 1. Daveah Archibeque (Rangeview), 1 minute, 7.24 seconds; 500 yard freestyle — 1. Anna Arana (Rangeview), 6 minutes, 45.67 seconds; 200 yard freestyle relay — 1. Rangeview A (Faith Utt, Chloe Avison, Daveah Archibeque, Olivia Le), 2 minutes, 4.24 seconds; 100 yard backstroke — 1. Scarlett Tambunan (Rangeview), 1 minute, 29.51 seconds; 100 yard breaststroke — 1. Berenice Guerrero Cuarenta (Aurora Central), 1 minute, 33.15 seconds; 400 yard freestyle relay — 1. Rangeview A (Anna Arana, Daveah Archibeque, Faith Utt, Chela Gonzalez), 4 minutes, 39.50 seconds
