The GHS swim and dive team soared to the top of its home leaderboard at the Cowboy Invite on Dec. 14. The girls hosted six rival high schools at the Gunnison Rec Center, and beat Grand Junction by 16 points to finish first with a final tally of 218. Seniors Sam Jones, Jemma Petrie and Kathryn Frey, alongside freshman Audrey Meeuwsen, were key to the Cowboys’ success.
“We’re the smallest team out there and we still won,” said Head Coach Tami Maciejko. "It's early on, but my kids are getting really close to their top times. I’m excited to see their progress once we get some yardage under them.”
The rec center parking lot swelled with out-of-town traffic on Saturday, as almost 150 athletes stormed in for the Cowboys’ only home meet of the winter season. Right off the bat, the GHS girls defended their home pool with a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Sam, Frey, Meeuwsen and Maya Petrie touched the wall in 2:05.29 to beat Sargent High School by 2 seconds.
The momentum continued when junior Aiden Tomlin added a third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle, and Jemma took third in the 200-yard IM. Meeuwsen’s first season continued in flying form. The freshman placed second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:44.99, only 6 seconds away from first place.
Sam returned to the pool in the burly, 500-yard freestyle and again finished on the podium. The senior led by example, this time with a third-place time of 6:06.41. Another GHS relay team finished atop the podium in the ninth event of the day. The 200-freestyle team of Catalina Schwab, Jemma, Maya and Frey motored to a first-place finish with a time of 1:51.36.
With barely any break between events, Frey returned to the pool and bagged third-place in the 100-backstroke. Then, senior frogkickers Sam and Jemma lit up the aquatic center with a first- and second-place finish in the 100-breaststroke.
Two Cowboy relay teams polished off the home meet with impressive results. The “A” team of Schwab, Sam, Jemma and Tomlin took third in the 400-yard freestyle. But crucially, the “B” team of Elora Jones, Moriah Greenhalgh, Avery Crean and Meeuwsen finished fifth, just two spots behind the “A” team. The results proved that the GHS team has a bright future with its talented group of underclassmen.
“Every girl on our team is having an impact,” Maciejko said. “We only have 11 swimmers, and every one of those girls placed well and is improving.”
The Cowboys will return to the pool for a two-day meet in Montrose on Dec. 20 and 21.
(Alex McCrindle can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or alex@gunnisontimes.com.)
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