2022 CHSAA Girls 5A State Championships
- February 15 – February 17, 2022
- Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center
- Thorton, Colorado
- Short Course Yards (SCY)
- Results
Fossil Ridge’s Lucy Bell broke a historic record by one of the biggest names in Colorado swimming history, and Cherry Creek repeated as team champions this week at the Colorado 5A High School State Championship meet.
Cherry Creek now has 28 team titles in the 48 seasons of Colordao Girls High School Swimming & Diving, winning by 105 points over the Fairview Knights.
While her team finished 5th in the team race, Fossil Ridge swimmer Lucy Bell had a big swim when she won the 200 IM and took out Missy Franklin‘s Colorado 5A high school state record. Franklin’s record stood at a 1:56.85 from back in 2013 (a year after she won 4 gold medals at the London 2012 Olympics).
Bell swam under Franklin’s record with a 1:56.41, which was more than 6 seconds faster than the second-place time of 2:02.81 from Charlotte Wilson. Wilson also picked up a silver medal in the 100 backstroke at the meet, finishing just 0.06 seconds after Cherry Creek teammate Alexis Greenhawt.
Bell also won the 100 freestyle at the meet, delivering a time of 49.09 to defeat silver medalist Lawson Ficken who swam a 50.16.
For her efforts, Bell was named the 5A Swimmer of the Year.
Bell is in her senior year of high school this year and will join the Stanford Cardinals women’s team next season.
In the 50 freestyle Morgan Lukinac of Fairview High School narrowly out-swam Ficken with a 22.74 to Ficken’s 22.89. Indigo Armon of Legacy High School got under the podium with her swim of 23.36.
Renne Gillilan asserted herself in the 100 butterfly final with a 53.24 for Fossil Ridge, which was the quickest time in the field by nearly a second as Edith Simececk followed up in 54.21. In the 100 breaststroke, it was Regis Jesuit’s Emma Weber who got to the wall first in a 1:01.65.
To bookend the finals session, teams competed in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays, which Cherry Creek and Fossil Ridge won, respectively.
In the 200 medley, Charlotte Wilson started off for Cherry Creek with a 25.18 backstroke split, followed by a 28.80 breaststroke leg from Katie Cohen. Alexis Greenhawt was next in a 24.20 on butterfly and Lawson Ficken anchored with a 22.17. That gave Cherry Creek a time of 1:40.35 to get in just ahead of Fairview’s 1:41.02.
In the final event, Fossil Ridge had Renne Gillian dip under 51 seconds with a 50.99 as the first leg of their victorious 400 freestyle relay. Sydnee O’Neil and Kenadie Glasgow were next in a 51.89 and 51.75, respectively, before 100 free champ Lucy Bell closed in a 48.23.
Legacy High School coach Leigh Dodd was voted as the 5A Coach of the Year after leading her team to a 4th place finish.
Final Team Scores – Top 10
- Cherry Creek High School – 502 points
- Fairview High School – 397 points
- Regis Jesuit High School – 349 points
- Legacy High School – 303 points
- Fossil Ridge High School – 196 points
- Grandview High School – 166 points
- Arapahoe High School – 152.5 points
- Rock Canyon High School – 142.5 points
- Fort Collins High School – 142 points
- Lewis-Palmer High School – 124 points
Her club is literally the first image you see. FAST on the cap.
“Same team different cap” when it comes to HS.
The club works hard to support kids in HS swimming and vise versa. That’s a daily challenge I don’t envy. Not upsetting the apple cart and keeping all the different parties communicating (which doesn’t always happen) is a feat that most places in the country and in Colorado can’t manage.
It took over a decade of hard work by the clubs and coaches to move towards 5 healthy HS swim teams in the city that support the partnership of club and HS.
No mention of her club team or coach.
Yeah and I’m sure her club team shouts out her high school team and coach all the time, right?
Just checked. Team site doesn’t acknowledge her state title anywhere. They did do something for conference’s last year, but didn’t mention her high school at all – referred to her as a FAST swimmer.
https://www.teamunify.com/team/csfcast/page/team-info/news/320323/front-range-conference-championship-recap
I wish club coaches would stop trying to go to war with high school swimming. Y’all get your way 95% of the time, let the high schools have this one.
To be fair, from what I’ve read the HS and Club work very well together in FoCo. But agree, no reason to talk about her club, this was a HS meet.
Her high school coach is also a coach at her club.
I know because I hired him when I had my first summer league head coaching job 🙂
Great swim by a great young lady!
To be the best in NCAA is more about recruiting than anything else. Most of the top programs will have similar training but the starting point will be different. Recruiting and the healthy team culture are two the most important factors IMHO. Past success attracts better recruits therefore recent Virginia success give me hope the fight for the first will not be limited to Stanford and Berkeley within next decade