On Friday, February 8th, the Rocky Mountain High School girls’ swim team traveled to the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center to compete in the annual CHSAA 5A State meet.

All of the hours in the pool, the hard sets, and the early morning practices were in preparation for this elite competition.

Head coach Rob Huey was very confident for the success the team would have. “We have trained so well this year and based on the results from conference, I think we are going to take that momentum and swim extra fast today at state,” he said.

Nothing has changed in terms of training this year to improve the team, but the effort and positive mindsets from the girls encouraged a victorious outlook for the end of the season.

Assistant Coach Karin Roh was also certain of the team’s potential at state. “We have a state finalist contender in the 50 free and the 100 breaststroke, and the relays are on the cusp of making finals,” he said.

“State is completely different than any other meet. The energy is electrifying and you are swimming against the best of the best,” senior Alex Englehart said.

Allie Zapp added that the 5A competition is better than anywhere else in the state, especially since Colorado is ranked number two in the nation for swimming.

Out of 43 girls, 12 qualified to compete at state. However, only Meredith Smithbaker and Quinlan Hinerfeld, the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay made it back to swim at finals.

Sophomore Meredith Smithbaker placed second in the 50 free, just 0.95 seconds behind the first and 0.01 seconds ahead of the third. She got the school record and an Automatic All American time, which is the top 100 in the country. She also placed 9th in the breast.

Freshman Quinlan Hinerfeld placed twentieth in the IM and added just 0.02 seconds in finals from her prelims time.

With just five swims at finals, the team placed 16th overall. Both of the relays won the B finals, and the medley relay beat the school record by 1.5 seconds.

Although they are losing five of their state qualifiers at graduation, Rocky is confident that there will many more state meets for the team in the future. Congratulations to the lady ‘Bos.