2019 Colorado High School Girls’ State Championship – 3A
- February 8th-9th, 2019
- 25y, prelims/finals format
- EPIC, Fort Collins, Colorado
- Meet Results
In the 3rd year of a separate 3A championship for Colorado’s smallest high schools, Evergreen High School came away with their 3rd State Championship and first since winning a back-to-back 4A titles in 2014 and 2015. The defending champions Longmont promoted to 4A this season, leaving a wide-open race for the 3A title.
Evergreen, which is in its first season in 3A, was led by junior Remi Guker, who took titles in both the 200 free (1:55.30) and 500 free (5:10.84) in the meet. Hers were Evergreen’s only two individual titles, but bringing their depth down from the 4A level was more-than-enough to secure a 100+ point win in the meet.
Also starring for Evergreen was senior Christina Crane. She placed 2nd in both of her individual events: the 100 free (53.97) and the 100 breaststroke (1:06.17). Gucker (54.94 leadoff) and Crane (53.28 anchor) combined with Maggie McDonald (56.25) and Hope Atkins (54.84) to clinch a huge 3-second margin of victory in the closing 400 free relay, with the meet already secured.
Individually, the 3A championships were a meet of redemption for Davy Brown and Aspen High. After winning the 100 back as a sophomore in 2017, part of her school’s first-ever team title, Brown was just 2nd in the event last season, and Aspen slid to 8th place as a team. This year, however, the team climbed back up to 4th, and Brown finished her high school career with golds. 3 of them to be exact. She won her best event, the 100 backstroke, in 57.58; and added a victory in the 200 IM, but almost 2 seconds, in 2:08.65.
The topper came in the 200 free relay, where Brown passed the torch to her younger teammates. Leading the squad off with a 24.53, she combined with sophomore Emily Kinney (25.73), freshman Laila Khan-Farooqi (25.34), and freshman Kayla Tehrani (24.86) to win the 200 free relay in 1:40.46.
Editor’s note: the official meet results list Evergreen’s 200 free relay as a state record; however, Pueblo County swam a 1:39.84 last year that should be the mark.
Other Event Winners:
- Meet runners-up Pueblo County won the opening 200 medley relay in 1:49.14. They beat 2nd place Evergreen by a second-and-a-half, largely thanks to their backstroker Amanda Blickensderfer (29.44) and freestyler Alexa Musso (24.66). They were the only swimmers in the field under 30 seconds and under 25 seconds, respectively, in that race. They were joined by backstroker Kandi Liberato (27.92) and breaststroker Anna Maurello (27.12) in that relay.
- In spite of that opening butterfly split, and being the defending champion, Blickensderfer was just 3rd in the individual 100 fly in 57.87. That put her behind Erie junior Payten Irwin in that race. Blickensderfer also came up short in defending her 100 breaststroke title, where she’s the 3A state record holder. Emily Moreland won this year’s title in 1:06.05.
- Payten Irwin also won the 50 free, swimming a 24.32 to beat out Caitlin Cairns (24.43).
- Discovery Canyon’s Rachel Alexander won the 1-meter diving event with a score of 424.90.
- Elise Mishmash of Salida High School won the girls’ 100 free in 53.57. Her time was a touch slower than last year’s state championship meet, but was one spot better than the runner-up finish she had in 2018. The defending champion Aly Gallagher took 3rd.
Top 5 Team Scores:
- Evergreen High SSchool
- Pueblo County High School
- Kent Denver High School
- Aspen High School
- Glenwood Springs High School