Aspen Speedos open season at challenge meet

The Aspen Speedos jumped into the new long-course season last weekend at the unique Sopris Challenge swim meet in Glenwood Springs.

“We had a great turnout. We had 46 kids at the meet,” said Gordon Gerson, head coach of the Aspen Speedos swim team. “In this meet, there are different challenges. And they add up the points from the events (for individual totals).”

No team scores are calculated at the kickoff swim meet, held at the Glenwood Springs Recreation Center.

The challenges are different combinations of events and distances, Gerson said.

“The bottom line is we had a lot of kids out, a lot of enthusiasm,” he said. “It was the first meet ever for some kids. And it was the first meet of the season for most kids.”

Hannah Freeman tied for first place in her challenge events, which included the 50-meter distances in most strokes with a pair of longer, bonus events.

“She made a state-qualifying time in the mile, her first state-qualifying time,” Gerson said.

In the most ambitious challenge division, Emily Driscoll of the Speedos stepped up and finished third in the 13 and older division, he said.

Gavin Boggs of the Speedos won the 8-and-under challenge; sister Lily also won a challenge for 9-10s.

Derek Brown of the Speedos had a win in an 11-12 challenge group.

Other top performances included Micah Sanders-Silva second in the 9-10 boys challenge in a very close competition and Kayla Tehrani third (girls 11-12).

Kennidy Quist was the top challenger in the 13 and up. Teammate Maddie Mechling was second in the same division.

Other results included Haver Muss-Nichols in third, Everett Olson in second and Nathan Cherry in third in their respective challenges.

Maia Ettlinger had a second in her challenge events, Gerson said.

“Everybody did a great job. We had a lot of outstanding performances,” he said, adding that the Speedos also sent a group of 19 swimmers to a Front Range swim meet in Denver last weekend.

The Aspen Speedos will head back to Denver for another swim meet in early June before hosting their annual meet at the Aspen Recreation Center in mid-June.

dstrode@aspentimes.com