Returning champions rule pool at Colorado Class 5A girls swimming state meet

Bailey Nero knows the next chapter of her swimming career is right around the corner.

The Fossil Ridge (Fort Collins) senior, who is headed to Auburn University next fall, is eager to embrace the challenge that will come with competing in a new environment. Before that can happen though, Nero and her SaberCats teammates are headed back to a familiar environment – the Class 5A state swimming and diving championships at the Edora Pool Ice Center in Fort Collins.

Swimming preliminaries start at 4 p.m. Friday, with diving prelims at 9 a.m. Saturday. Finals get underway at 2 p.m. Saturday.

"I'm really excited. It's kind of hard to believe that I'm already a senior," Nero said. "There's more excitement than sadness, I guess. State is always really fun. It's kind of an intense meet, but I always look forward to it."

Nero returns to defend her title in the 100-yard butterfly, one of several returning champions as the 2014 state-winning field graduated only one senior.

ThunderRidge (Highlands Ranch) senior Annie Ochitwa (50 and 100 freestyle), Arapahoe (Centennial) senior Ella Moynihan (200 freestyle), Loveland senior Brooke Hansen (200 individual medley), Regis Jesuit (Aurora) junior Mckensi Austin (1-meter diving), Rock Canyon (Highlands Ranch) junior Abigail Kochevar (100 backstroke) and Fossil Ridge sophomore Bailey Kovac (100 breaststroke) are all back.

In addition, defending champion Regis Jesuit didn't graduate anyone from its three winning relay teams.

"I'm definitely excited to see how it comes out, because we do have some really fast girls coming back," Nero said. "I think there will be some great competition there. I'm pretty sure I know most of those girls personally also, so it will be fun to get to see them and enjoy their company and also compete with them."

The SaberCats are coming off a resounding victory in the Front Range League Championships last weekend. Nero won the 100 fly and the 200 IM, edging Hansen by .18 seconds in the latter event. Kovac (100 breaststroke), Zoe Bartel (50 free) and Hailey Nelson (diving) won league titles, and Fossil Ridge swept the relay events.

"It gets them excited for the next week. You have a good conference meet and you're swimming fast," SaberCats coach Tasha Marchant said. "It's the first day of an eight-day cycle of excitement and energy and enthusiasm."

Fossil Ridge captured its first team title in 2012, Nero's freshman year. Regis Jesuit has taken it the past two years, helped in large part by dominance in the relays. Marchant said the relays are huge for every team because so many points are at stake.

The individual events are also crucial though, and along with Nero, Kovac, Bartel and Hansen, the SaberCats also have two talented seniors in Riley Hoffman and Quinn Fawcett, along with freshman Bayley Stewert.

"I think that we've got some incredible talent on our team. Is it enough to win state? I don't know, but obviously we're going to be as competitive as we can be and put the girls where we think is best," Marchant said. "I think the girls have been swimming well and we have great team cohesion. I feel like as a team we're in a good spot."

Regis Jesuit captured the prestigious Coaches Invitational title earlier this season in Thornton, holding off Fairview (Boulder) and Fossil Ridge. Mountain Range (Westminster) senior Shelly Drozda won the 200 IM at the meet, edging Moynihan, while Nero won a pair of events and Kochevar was victorious in the 50 free and 100 backstroke.

Marchant said she's amazed to see how far the sport has come over the past decade.

"It's just fascinating to reflect back and see how fast the sport has gotten in such a short period of time and how fast that meet has gotten," she said. "It's going to be a fast meet, absolutely. There's a heck of a lot of talent in this state."

Senior class has Evergreen looking for 4A repeat

When the freshman class at Evergreen entered the school back in 2011, Cougars girls swim coach Jeanne Godaire didn't realize exactly what she had.

By the end of the season, Godaire knew she had something special.

That was evident last winter when Evergreen brought home the school's first state championship in the sport. The Cougars finally took down four-time defending state champion Thompson Valley (Loveland), led by individual titles from Lindsay Morrow in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke, along with the 200 medley relay team consisting of juniors Morrow, Josie Pearson, Bailey Smith and Kamryn Holland.

Now seniors, that same group that made such a splash three years ago is ready to go out on top.

"They are leaving a lasting legacy at our high school. I think it's one that is going to be hard to top," Godaire said. "I'm so proud of what they've been able to accomplish. I think I'm always going to remember them as a group of seniors that elevated our sport at the high school to a new level."

Morrow is headed to North Carolina State in the fall. Pearson has signed with Missouri State, Smith with West Point, Anna McDonald with Nebraska and Alissa Harms with UNLV.

Evergreen is coming off a Jeffco League title last weekend, holding off Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch) in the process. The Eagles figure to be among the Cougars' biggest competition this weekend at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton.

As in 5A, the swimming prelims start at 4 p.m. Friday, and the diving prelims are Saturday morning. The finals get going at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Valor Christian junior Brooke Stenstrom is the defending champion in the 50 and 100 free. Stenstrom won the 100 at the Coaches Invitational and was second in the 50, and the Eagles were second in the 200 medley relay.

Thompson Valley senior Eryn Eddy, headed to Virginia, has won four individual titles in her career, including the 200 and 500 free a year ago. Eddy is also the 4A state record holder in the 200, set back in 2013.

Windsor sophomore Morgan Friesen is the defending champion in the 100 breaststroke, an event she claimed at the Coaches Invite as well. Centaurus (Lafayette) senior Haley Rowley (Purdue) took the 500 freestyle at the Coaches Invite.

"There will definitely be some really strong competition at state for us," Godaire said. "I think the girls are going to have to swim their best to defend our title. I think our depth is an important factor."

Another interesting note from the 4A field: Holyoke's Danielle Brandt (50 free) became the school's first state qualifier in 14 years with her effort at the Tri-Valley League meet.