Girls Swimming & Diving: Cherry Creek Cruises to Yet Another State Championship
By Courtney Oakes
Photo: Courtney Oakes
THORNTON — Just about the only thing that went wrong for the Cherry Creek girls swim team Wednesday night still ended up with a perfect result.
The Bruins were absolutely crushing the first half of the Class 5A state meet at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center when sophomore Sydney Wasylenky got on the blocks for the championship final of the 100-yard backstroke and had her focus thrown off by a torn swim cap.
Wasylenky overcame the equipment malfunction to pick up the win and Cherry Creek took the final two events as well to finish off a commanding state championship victory. The Bruins won eight of the 12 events — including two by super sophomore Kate McKinnon — and finished with a 144-point victory over Fairview for their sixth consecutive state title and 32nd overall.
“The 100 back was so exciting and I was hoping to win, but before my cap ripped, so I was scared,” Wasylenky said. “I just had to manage my emotions and whatever was going to happen was going to happen. It turned out OK.”
Wasylenky rode the overwhelming momentum of her team to a victory by 0.02 of a second over Brighton’s Quinn Sungy — the No. 1 seed after prelims — and then turned around and teamed with McKinnon, senior Madison Williams and junior Jenna Fernstrom to win the meet-closing 400 yard freestyle relay.
McKinnon’s victories in the 100 and 200 yard freestyles combined with her wins in the 400 freestyle relay and 200 freestyle relay (with senior Elizabeth Earley, sophomore Clara Paterson and freshman Campbell Waiter) made her 8-for-8 in individual and relay events in her two varsity seasons for the Bruins, who have also won the team title both times.
Not a bad start to a prep career.
“I was really stressed this year, but getting those wins felt so much more rewarding,” said McKinnon, who won the 200 by three seconds and the 100 by half a second over Fossil Ridge’s Ella Gaca Thiele. “I just love this team and I love CHSAA high school swimming. It’s so much fun and I can’t wait for the next few years.”
Also in the winners circle for Cherry Creek were juniors Jenna Fernstrom (50 freestyle) and Sydney Fernstrom (100 breaststroke), who also teamed with Wasylenky and Paterson to take the 200 medley relay.
Cherry Creek coach Karin Olmstead — still dripping after getting out of the pool from the team’s celebratory dip — was as proud of the support of those that weren’t in the water as she was of those who swam on a memorable night.
“This was a special team and I’m really proud of them as a whole,” Olmstead said. “They really rose to the occasion. We call it our FI tonight — we had a lot of drivers in our swimmers — but we also had a great pit crew with the swimmers that cheered. Everybody was all in and this was a really fun night.”
Though left in the distance, Fairview managed to end a three-year run of Regis Jesuit as the runner-up.
The Knights accrued 331 points to outdistance the Raiders (294) and got some help from a championship in the 100 butterfly — the only event in which Cherry Creek did not have a championship finalist — from junior Lexi Byrn, who held off defending champiion Hazel Huilman of Boulder for the title.
Ellie Wiesen of Valor Christian won a sizable victory in the 200 individual medley and Annabeth Town of ThunderRidge cruised in the 500 freestyle to round out the non-Cherry Creek swimming winners.
Earlier in the day, Arvada West senior Layla Petz took the diving championship.
Fairview also had its coaches Stacey Tobey and Francoise Bentley share 5A Coach of the Year honors, while Gaca Thiele (runner-up in the 50 and 100 freestyles) was voted 5A Swimmer of the Year.
