Danes Fall to One of the Strongest Teams in the State

There are two ways to look at swimming a team like Cheyenne Mountain for the Danes' first meet (the Indians were fourth at 4A states last year).

"The positive one, and the one we are taking, is that we have now faced the toughest team we will swim all season, and our girls did not flinch at all when they got up and swam some very talented girls," head coach Rob Gustke said.

This score is very respectable, and FVS had some fine swims, highlighted by senior co-captain Alanna Erickson’s school record setting time of 1:13.47 in the 100 yard breaststroke. She was joined by diving captain Maia Presti, who set a new six-dive score of 213.78 which nipped Cheyenne’s best girl by less than a point.

The main thing the Danes got out of last night’s meet was a chance for many of the newer girls to compete and begin seeing where they are on the time spectrum of their events. The Danes have a new problem (a nice one!) this year in that they have the most girls on the swim and dive team ever (31). This means there are more girls than slots allowed for almost all events, which is a nice problem for a coach to have: competition for meet time! All of the girls will get to swim at least one or two events in all the meets, but the first priority is to always field the strongest team possibe while still giving as many girls as possible a chance to swim.

Last night’s meet also was a reality check for where the swimmers are in the “pyramid of fitness” that must be built in training in order to go fast at the end of the season.

"We did not have enough girls train some during vacation, and we will face the same struggle during the winter break," Gustke said. "In order for us to realize our team potential, as many girls as possible will need to maintain as much of their fitness as possible over break.

"We have a great group of young ladies on our team; they have a comfortable and fun chemistry together when they are in the pool training. Our captains deserve special mention in setting a great tone right off, and they are: seniors Lindsey Maher, Morgan McCurdy and Alanna Erickson, and our diving captain Maia Presti."

Senior Sarah Bir has been named by the coaches to be the “morning practice captain” and she is taking that job quite seriously.

There are three meets next week: a home meet against Fountain Fort Carson (4 p.m.) that will be webcast live on ihigh.com/fountainvalley, and then trips to Denver to swim Kent Denver (Thursday) and St. Mary’s Academy (Saturday).