Pine Creek Repeats As 4A Girls Swimming and Diving State Champions
THORNTON – When the heat sheets for the Class 4A swim and dive state championships were released earlier this week, Madison Mintenko could proudly see her name atop several events as the reigning classification state meet record holder.
On Thursday evening, the Pine Creek junior showed up to Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center ready to chase her own milestone times. And she caught both, breaking her own records in both the 200 and 500 freestyles.
Mintenko wasn’t the only Pine Creek swimmer to rewrite her own history either. In fact, they all did, combining to defend the 4A team title after winning the program’s first-ever championship last season.
“Really, just trying to improve year after year after year is the goal,” Mintenko said. “And being able to do that also with my team is amazing. ”
In the 500 freestyle, Mintenko won gold with a time of 4:44.75 to break her own 4A state meet record of 4:47.70, which she set last year. The Colorado state record is 4:41.72 and belongs to Missy Franklin, who set the statewide mark in 2013.
In the 200 freestyle, Mintenko took first with a record-setting time of 1:44.35, again breaking her own previous 4A state meet record (1:45.93) and Mintenko will be chasing another Missy Franklin record (1:43.15) as a senior next season.
“It’s definitely in the back of my mind. I’m thinking about it 100 percent,” Mintenko said. “I’ve just got to put the work in and just get better and better and I’m so happy that I will be able to have one more year and be here with my team no matter what.”
Winning seven of 11 events, Pine Creek ran away with the team title to the tune of 567 team points. Broomfield was second with 265 points.
“The girls worked really hard all season and they knew it going in,” Pine Creek head coach Kent Nelson said. “We’re a large team and they all season long have stuck together. As you can see just by their interaction as a team, we really promoted that. So, it’s fun to go back to back like that. A lot (of teams) don’t get to do that, so we’re excited.”
Pine Creek – Isabella Burton, Elizabeth Gray, Kamdyn Swanson and Mintenko – won the 200 medley relay with a tie of 1:45.69. The 200 freestyle relay, the gold also went to the Eagles, with relay squad Evelyn Morris, August Ricca, Lily Kemmerer and Jacquelyn Erickson winning with a time of 1:40.54. And in the final event of the night, Pine Creek – Kemmerer, Burton, Kamdyn Swanson and Mintenko – won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:27.72.
The Eagles also took home the gold in the 100 butterfly when Swanson won the race in 50.89 seconds, and again when Burton won the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.12 seconds.
Cheyenne Mountain’s Samantha Synsvoll won the 200 IM with a time of 2:05.03. Monarch’s Eliza Lennox’s time of 51.16seconds was plenty fast enough to win the 100 freestyle and her time of 23.41 was fastest in the 50 freestyle as well. . Also for Monarch, Audrey Shambo won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:04.34.
Determined by a vote by the coaches, Longmont’s Jordan Birdseil was named 4A’s CHSCA Swimmer of the Year and Centaurus’ Cort Sharp was named 4A’s CHSCA Swim Coach of the Year.
On Tuesday, Niwot’s Elizabeth Fay won the diving competition with a score of 538.30.
