THORNTON — When the water settled Friday night at the conclusion of the Class 4A state swim meet at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center, the Loveland girls swim team found itself in the same final position it was in a year ago.
The Red Wolves finished seventh with 197 points, 12 more than they did in a seventh-place finish last year. Mountain View finished 14th with 95 points, a dramatic improvement from last year’s 21st place finish.
Whether in relays or individual swims, every member of the Loveland team that swam in Thursday’s prelims swam in the finals Friday, including a senior class swimming its last state meet and a group of promising freshmen getting their first taste of swimming on the state’s biggest stage.
“I think it went well,” Loveland head coach Martin Jasken said. “I think we had a little bit of a bumpy first day, some swims that were in the moment, the stress of it all and all of that. But we came back and I think we actually swam a super, super gutsy second day. All of our relays got faster. We dropped time across the board in almost everything.”
The Red Wolves were led by senior Lexi Musslewhite, who missed a good portion of the season with an illness. She dropped one of her signature events, the 200-yard individual medley, and swam the 100 freestyle instead. She finished seventh in 54.50 seconds.
She also swam the 100 backstroke and finished seventh in that race as well, touching the wall in 59.78. Additionally, she swam the opening leg of the 200 medley relay that finished seventh and anchored the 400 freestyle relay that finished fifth.
“It was really emotional,” Musslewhite said. “But, for me personally, and the cards I was given this season, I felt like I swam the best I could with what I was given.”
Most of the Red Wolves’ points came from their relays and swimmers in the consolation finals.
Gracie Greer finished 10th in the 50 freestyle in 25.96. Later, she was third in the consolation final of the 100 freestyle. Ella Gervais was fifth in the consolation final of both the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly. Brooklyn Miller won the consolation final of the 100 butterfly.
Hadley Rogers was fifth in the consolation final of the 500 freestyle and second in the consolation final of the 100 backstroke. Jordan Ruder was seventh in the consolation final of the 100 butterfly.
Lainey Wadlington was sixth and Kate Irby 10th in the consolation final of the 500 freestyle. Loveland finished ninth in the 200 freestyle relay.
Seniors Musslewhite, Miller and Wadlington helped the Red Wolves become respectable again. The year before they joined the team, the Red Wolves finished 28th at the state meet. For Musslewhite, however, the ending is bittersweet.
“We built something so good here the last four years,” she said. “All the freshmen who came in this year just brought a great energy and just knowing I’m having to leave something like that is really upsetting.”
Meanwhile, Mountain View’s day got off to an ominous start. The Mountain Lions finished 10th in the 200 medley relay, but a block malfunction allowed them to swim the race alone at the end of the meet.
With the crowd and other teams cheering them on, the Mountain Lions broke their school record when Harper Pecosky touched the wall in 1:54.98.
“It feels so good,” said Kelsey Lapp, who swam the opening backstroke leg of the relay. “We were trying to get it all season, and we missed it by .03 yesterday. The block broke on us, which is why we got a re-swim. We missed it by .05 with the block breaking, so we knew we could get it. We just had one more shot.”
Individually for the Mountain Lions, Lapp finished ninth in the 100 freestyle (55.37) and eighth in the 100 backstroke (59.87). Parker Clark was 10th in the 200 individual medley (2:18.86) and fifth in the consolation final of the 100 breaststroke.
Brooklyn Wright was sixth in the consolation final of the 100 butterfly and Pecosky was 10th in the consolation final of the 100 backstroke.
The Mountain Lions were 10th in the consolation final of the 400 freestyle relay.
“It was a great meet, great results,” Mountain View head coach Wietse Wullink said. “I’m really happy with it. Going into the state meet, we ended up with a lot of swimmers in two events. Our relays were a lot stronger compared to last year. This year, we were just a much deeper field with a small team.”
Mountain View picked up its first points of the meet Thursday morning when senior Madeline Clark finished 10th in the diving event.
The two-time Reporter-Herald diver of the year scored a 432.25 and made the state podium for the second time in four trips to the state meet. She finished 10th as a sophomore and was 11th last year.
Thursday, she surged into the top 10 during her final three dives to secure a spot on the podium.
