Spartan swimmers set new school records at state swim finals
By Will Cornelius
The Surveyor
Last Friday and Saturday Berthoud High School’s (BHS) girls swim team headed to Thornton for the 3A state swim meet. The parking lot at Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center was packed Friday morning for the swim meet prelims with school buses from across Colorado squeezed in between piles of snow.
The Spartans had five swimmers across eight races qualify for the prelims at the state meet. They also had three relay teams make the cut, one for each relay event. To advance from the prelims on Friday swimmers needed to finish in the top-10 to make it to the finals on Saturday.
Swimming in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard breaststroke prelim races, sophomore Corinne Roberts qualified for the finals in both of her individual events. Amelia Hughes raced in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly prelim events and qualified in the latter. Audrey Gravestock, Olivia Gravestock and Jennifer Conlon also competed in the prelim races but failed to advance to the finals.
Two of the three relay teams made the finals, with only the 400-yard freestyle relay team missing the cut. With prelim racing done, swimmers left for the day and one more final night’s rest. The following evening swimmers, coaches, family, friends and fans returned to Thornton for the 3A state swim finals.
At the finals, the first event was the 200-yard medley relay. The Spartans team finished with a time of 1:55.18 the previous day, a few fractions of a second slower than the BHS school record of 1:55.00. But in the finals the Spartan relay team finished sixth with a time of 1:54.91.
Racing the anchor leg of the relay, freshman Audrey Gravestock improved her time by a half second in the final 50 yards to break the school record. “Audrey was so close, she cut it so close … she pulled through with her first 25.9 of the season,” said Roberts about Gravestock’s strong swimming in the last leg of the relay. “The medley relay, getting the school record, was pretty impressive,” said Matthew Goldsmith, the head swim coach for BHS, about the relay.
“They really came together as a team and really supported each other. It gives you chills,” said Krista Markell, the assistant swim coach for the BHS team, after the meet. “I think they did very well, considering our team size. They really went out there, swam with heart and got the results that they deserved. It was fantastic,” said Goldsmith. “Amelia’s fly today was pretty awesome,” he added.
Other school records were broken in Thornton too. Hughes broke the BHS record for the 100-yard butterfly that she had set last week at the Patriot League Conference swim meet. In the prelims she finished with a time of 1:02.92 and then defied expectations by finishing a second faster in the finals with a time of 1:01.90. “So yesterday we were thinking about my walls because it was a problem. Like I kept on getting stuck on the wall for too long. So that is what I was working on, that was my main focus. And it worked out really well because I dropped a whole second. So that was great,” said Hughes about improving her school record time in the 100-yard butterfly.
“Everyone is always so excited for finals, and it’s such a fun energy. Everyone’s supporting each other, everyone’s proud of each other. It’s such a great place to race,” said Roberts about the atmosphere at the state swim meet. Roberts finished third in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:08.18, and eighth in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:15.68.
With two more years of high school swimming and club swimming, Roberts is already setting her goals for next year. “I am just going to try and improve my butterfly … it’s a weak link in my 200 IM (individual medley),” she said after the meet. Hughes is also setting goals for what will be her final season. “I want to go sub-one minute in the 100 fly, I think I can,” she said.
“I mentioned to them — I have my summers off — I’d be willing to work with them if that’s something they wanted. They’re involved in other sports, they’re multi-sport athletes too. Competing at this level in swimming and then competing at the state level — some of them — in other sports is pretty amazing,” said Goldsmith about the offseason.
“All these girls, they work so hard. They work through all of their trials and tribulations and make sacrifices socially and with their sleep sometimes. And for them to come into this meet like this and perform the way they did — you know — they deserve every moment of this recognition and I’m incredibly proud of what they’ve been able to put together as a team,” Goldsmith said summing up his feelings on the season and how the team performed.
Asked about expectations for next year, Goldsmith and Markell said they were excited but unsure of what to expect. “I don’t think the expectations are higher, I think it’s just we’re excited about where we are and where we can go for next year,” said Markell about next season.
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