AURORA | The cream rose at Saturday’s Smoky Hill Invitational girls swim meet and two city programs finished right near the top.
Neither host Smoky Hill nor Cherokee Trail could catch Heritage once the Eagles surged in front midway through the meet, however they finished second and third in a quality 15-team field.
Coach Scott Cohen’s Buffaloes had a pair of event winners in junior Natalie Rotondo and freshman Maggie Robben and had six swimmers make at least one championship final on their way to 427 points, a second behind Heritage’s 528.
Coach Kevin Chatham’s Cougars posted their best finish last season in fifth and bettered that by two places. Cherokee Trail didn’t have any champions, but capped the meet with a second place finish in the 400 yard freestyle relay, got a runner-up finish from sophomore Caitlyn Agee-Keys and two top-four finishes from senior Elma Spahic.
Eaglecrest finished 13th.
Rotondo touched the wall in the championship final of the 200 yard freestyle in 1 minute 56.64 seconds, just .30 in front of Heritage’s Katherine Harston. Rotondo won the event for the second straight season, but Harston and her Eagles teammate Kylie Andrews denied Rotondo a title sweep by finishing in front of her in the 100 butterfly.
Robben opened her first Smoky Hill Invitational by swimming the anchor leg on the Buffaloes’ second place 200 medley relay, then shortly later cruised to victory in the 200 individual medley. Robben pulled away from her closest challenger, Agee-Keys, and won by more than four seconds with a time of 2:13.33. She later finished as the runner-up in the 100 breaststroke, with senior Jordyn Richey joining her in the championship finals and placing sixth.
Freshman Blythe Iverson posted a pair of top-five finishes for the Buffaloes, highlighted by a second place in the 500 freestyle, while seniors Richey, Carlie Andrie and Jianna Walker and sophomore Kelly Saindon all made championship final for Smoky Hill.
Cherokee Trail finished the meet in style as the team of Maddie Wilson, Maddie Chapman, Agee-Keys and Spahic finished second in the 400 yard freestyle relay, topping the Buffaloes by just 0.11 of a second.
Heritage set three Smoky Hill Invitational records on the day, starting with the 200 yard medley relay, as the Eagles clocked a time of 1:48.04 to shave 0.22 of a second off a mark set just last season by Chaparral. Junior Kylie Andrews also bettered her 2016 meet records in both the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
2017 SMOKY HILL GIRLS SWIMMING INVITATIONAL
Jan. 14 at Smoky Hill High School
Team scores: 1. Heritage 528 points; 2. SMOKY HILL 427; 3. CHEROKEE TRAIL 311; 4. Douglas County 266; 5. Chaparral 251; 6. Chatfield 216; 7. Legend 212; 8. Liberty 198; 9. Mullen 197; 10. George Washington 155; 11. Ponderosa 121; 12. SMOKY HILL GREEN 74; 13. EAGLECREST 65; 14. Denver South 47; 15. SMOKY HILL RED 24
Full individual event finals results, here.
AURORA TOP 12 PLACERS BY EVENT
200 yard medley relay — 2. Smoky Hill (Jianna Walker, Jordyn Richey, Natalie Rotondo, Maggie Robben), 1 minute, 52.09 seconds (5ASQT); 4. Cherokee Trail (Meghan Mai, Caitlyn Agee-Keys, Amanda Feilmeier, Elma Spahic), 1:55.98 (5ASQT); 8. Smoky Hill Green (Lauren Zurcher, Katie Anthony, Ciera Munns, Brieyana Walton), 1:58.18 (5ASQT)
200 yard freestyle — 1. Natalie Rotondo (Smoky Hill), 1 minute, 56.64 seconds (5ASQT); 5. Blythe Iverson (Smoky Hill), 2:03.81; 7. Maddie Wilson (Cherokee Trail), 2:04.87; 9. Vickie Liu (Smoky Hill), 2:05.43; 10. Carlie Andrie (Smoky Hill) 2:05.47
200 yard indiv. medley — 1. Maggie Robben (Smoky Hill), 2 minutes, 13.33 seconds (5ASQT); 2. Caitlyn Agee-Keys (Cherokee Trail), 2:17.94 (5ASQT); 6. Kelly Saindon (Smoky Hill), 2:23.33
50 yard freestyle — 4. Elma Spahic (Cherokee Trail), 25.39 seconds (5ASQT); 8. Jianna Walker (Smoky Hill), 25.73 (5ASQT); 12. Kim Nguyen (Eaglecrest), 26.27
1-meter diving — 3. Christie Yee (Cherokee Trail), 411.25 points; 7. Jaclyn Santiago (Smoky Hill), 332.15; 11. Annabelle Overstreet (Eaglecrest), 301.25; 16. Grace Tandus (Eaglecrest), 267.10
100 yard butterfly — 3. Natalie Rotondo (Smoky Hill), 59.64 seconds (5ASQT); 11. Amanda Feilmeier (Cherokee Trail), 1:06.24; 12. Ciera Munns (Smoky Hill), 1:06.97
100 yard freestyle — 3. Elma Spahic (Cherokee Trail), 55.67 seconds (5ASQT); 11. Lauren Zurcher (Smoky Hill), 57.76; 12. Meghan Mai (Cherokee Trail), 58.50
500 yard freestyle — 2. Blythe Iverson (Smoky Hill), 5 minutes, 29.06 seconds (5ASQT); 4. Carlie Andrie (Smoky Hill), 5:37.90; 6. Maddie Wilson (Cherokee Trail), 5:42.60
200 yard freestyle relay — 6. Smoky Hill (Brieyana Walton, Maggie Robben, Blythe Iverson, Vickie Liu), 1:45.42 (5ASQT); 8. Cherokee Trail (Ella Steckler, Kaity Brookes, Maddie Chapman, Maddie Wilson), 1:48.57; 12. Eaglecrest (Otter Erwin, Gwen Benskin, Grace Benskin, Kim Nguyen), 1:53.00
100 yard backstroke — 4. Jianna Walker (Smoky Hill), 1 minute, 2.50 seconds; 5. Meghan Mai (Cherokee Trail), 1:03.07; 9. Lauren Zurcher (Smoky Hill), 1:04.11
100 yard breaststroke — 2. Maggie Robben (Smoky Hill), 1 minute, 9.42 seconds (5ASQT); 6. Jordyn Richey (Smoky Hill), 1:17.50
400 yard freestyle relay — 2. Cherokee Trail (Maddie Wilson, Maddie Chapman, Caitlyn Agee-Keys, Elma Spahic), 3 minutes, 47.31 seconds (5ASQT); 3. Smoky Hill (Natalie Rotondo, Jianna Walker, Blythe Iverson, Lauren Zurcher), 3:47.42 (5ASQT); 9. Smoky Hill Green (Carlie Andrie, Kelly Saindon, Sarah Power, Vickie Liu), 4:00.05
