Evergreen leaves its mark at state swimming

THORNTON — Jeanne Godaire didn't know exactly what she was getting this season, but the Evergreen High School girls swimming coach quickly found out. Now, the entire state knows.

Photo By Gabriel Christus / Evergreen Newspapers Photo Editor

The Evergreen High School swim team, from left, Kamryn Holland, Bailey Smith, Lexie Malazdrewicz, Josie Pearson, Lindsay Morrow and Holly Fortik celebrate after hearing they won second place at state.

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Behind two more state titles from Lexie Malazdrewicz, a state championship from Lindsay Morrow and a record-setting 400 freestyle relay team, the Lady Cougars capped the best season in school history with a second-place finish at the 4A state girls swimming championships Feb. 11 at Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center.

Evergreen finished with 255 points. Only perennial power Thompson Valley finished higher with 304 points. Cheyenne Mountain came in third with 226.

"We knew that Thompson Valley would be too tough to beat, but we were hoping that we could get second or third," Godaire said.

The Lady Cougars not only did that, they did it in impressive fashion.

Before last weekend, Evergreen had won only four individual state championships — three of those by Malazdrewicz the past two seasons. But this year, the Lady Cougars won four titles all together. No other school won more than two.

Malazdrewicz had a hand in three of those victories, including repeat performances in the 200 and 500 freestyle. The defending 4A state champion in each of those events not only won them again, giving her five individual titles in three years, but she did so in record-shattering fashion.

The Evergreen junior won the 200 in 1 minute, 49.31 seconds to beat out Thompson Valley freshman Eryn Eddy by more than a second and break Brianna Locher's mark of 1:50.73 set in 2000. She later won the 500 by more than five seconds in 4:54.65, topping Locher's nearly 14-year-old record by more than four seconds. In each event, Malazdrewicz set All-America qualifying marks.

"That was the main goal. That was pretty much the main reason I decided to do those two races because I wanted to set records in both of them," Malazdrewicz said.

She also swam the anchor leg of the 400 freestyle relay team's state-record-winning time of 3:33.24. Along with Kamryn Holland, Lindsay Morrow and Bailey Smith, Evergreen broke the previous state mark of 3:33.98 set by Rock Canyon in 2009.

The difference this year for Evergreen, besides having Malazdrewicz back, was the performance of its freshman class, led by Morrow, Holland, Josie Pearson and Smith.

"I knew what their times were, but in terms of their potential I didn't necessarily know. I think they surprised us with how fast they swam," Godaire said.

Coming off nine league championships a week earlier, Evergreen left an undeniable impression on 4A.

Morrow, like Malazdrewicz did two years ago, won the 200 individual medley. The freshman, along with Pearson, led a one-two Evergreen finish, winning the race in 2:08.30. Pearson finished less than a second back in 2:09.22.

"It was so much fun. We have a really good team this year, with a lot of freshmen. So hopefully the next three years will be really strong too," said Morrow, who also placed second in the 100 backstroke to three-time state champion Mary Saiz of Pueblo South.

Not too bad for a team that had just seven swimmers.

"Our goal was to get in the top five. We didn’t know we'd get top two. We just kept saying, ‘Top five.’ We were very surprised we got second place," Pearson said.

And, who knows: Maybe Evergreen can end Thompson Valley's reign in 2013.

"Yeah, maybe. We're hoping," Pearson said.