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Lizzy Butts

Danielle Ortonward (12) has a head to head race against Fountain Valley's swimmer, Meghan Guy, in the 100 breaststroke. Ortonward placed 2nd, and also swam breaststroke in the 200 Medley relay A.

The first swim and dive meet took place on Thursday, December 1, and even though it was a close meet, Fountain Valley won with a final score of 96-90. There were many highlights in the competition, including when Cordingley Stevens (9) swam a 50 freestyle with a time of 27:57. This time is only .07 seconds away from the state time.

Along with Stevens, there were many other exciting aspects of the meet. Lilly Patterson (11) swam a state-qualifying 100 fly and won first place in the event, with the time of 1:08.68. Sydney Dolloff-Holt (10) and Kaitlyn Cashdollar (10) both won first place in all of their events. Dolloff-Holt also got state-qualifying times in all of her events except for the 200 free relay. The 200 medley relay, consisting of Dolloff-Holt, Danielle Ortonward (12), Cashdollar and Patterson, also qualified for state, swimming a 2:03.36.

This was the first meet for many new Mustangs. Cree Monk (9) swam her first event at a meet, the 100 backstroke. This was a first time high school meet for Ava Keller (9) as well, a year round swimmer for the Colorado Torpedoes, also coached by Roy Chaney. Keller swam in four events, the 100 free, 200 free (2:41.63), and two relays. Clare Pribila (9) is another year round swimmer, and for her first meet she swam the 200 IM (3:00.78) and the 100 free (1:09.28) along with two relays.

Only two divers were able to compete: Maddie Butts (11) and Brooke Hackelberg (12). This is Butts’ third year diving, and Hackelberg’s first with the Mustangs. Hackelberg dove with her old high school team last year, however. Butts’ dives consisted of the front tuck, front flip, back dive, back flip, back twist half, and inwards. Hackelburg’s were the front tuck, front flip, back straight, back flip, back twist full, and inwards. There is a mandatory dive at every meet and for Fountain Valley, it was any front dive, like the front flip or tuck.

Butts’ back dive is her favorite dive, and was her best dive at the meet. For her front flip, didn’t get up high enough and kick out of it and she ended up laying halfway untucked. The maximum amount of points a judge can give in that circumstance is 2. There are three judges at each meet, and they each give a diver a score from 0 to 10, 0 being a failed dive and 10 being the best. Those points are then added up and multiplied by the degree of difficulty. The degree of difficulty is determined on the position the dive is in, and the actual dive itself. When divers do a dive with a higher degree of difficulty, they typically still end up scoring higher, even if their points are lower, because they are multiplied by a higher DD. Whichever diver has the most points at the end of the dives, win 6 points for their team, following with 4 for second place, and 2 for third. Hackelberg was 2nd with a final score of 125.50, and Butts was 5th with a final score of 89.25.

“It was really good considering neither me or Brooke had dived in a year. I think we can only get better from here,” Butts said about the diving portion of the meet. “I can’t wait to see where it goes.”

Coach Chaney overall thought the girls did very well at their first meet of the season. “Now that I have some better times for our new swimmers, I think we could’ve beat them. Oh well, can’t win them all. I’m proud of (the team) though and thought (they) fought well,” said Chaney.

The girls have two other meets this week, and their first invite on the 16th. Overall, this is looking like a very good seasons for the Lady Mustangs.