The Frederick Girls Swim team has once again made it to the swim Colorado State Championships. The seven athletes the team sent to state were juniors Avery Corliss and Addi Murray for individual events and senior Kate Griener, senior Tommie Buell, junior Lila Marsolek, junior Jessica Ellinger, senior Allie Mahan, and senior Yadhira Carrazco for relay events.
While this was an amazing accomplishment, it didn’t come without its challenges. This year, the Frederick Swim Team had a new head coach along with a new division: the girls were placed in 4A for the first time in school history. The season was going to be a fight, but the girls were ready to prove themselves to Coach Crystie McGrail and one another.
The season started with morning practices starting at 5:30 a.m. before school. The girls agreed that it was hard to get going that early but, committed to their goals, they pushed through the early mornings.
Throughout the season, the team had 11 swim meets leading up to state, including leagues, which Addi Murray said was one of the best meets of the season.
“It was filled with a lot of best times, team records, and some event wins—I won the 100 breaststroke,” Addi said. “That is what the whole season felt like: every girl was united with the excitement and passion of swimming.”
Senior Tommie Buell said that “the season was tough since we moved up to 4A, and we had to swim faster to qualify for state. Even the teams were tougher, but I continued to PR and even swam the butterfly in relay and made it to state for the first time!”
Touching more on the move into the 4A division, Assistant Coach Julia Smith discussed how the extra challenge made making State feel more special than last year.
“It’s always awesome to take a team to state, but especially this year when we moved up a division and the qualifying times got faster,” she said. “I am so proud of the girls showing that no matter what the bar is, they can meet it.”
By the end of the season, multiple relays and individuals had qualified for the state swim competition on February 7, 2025.
In relays, the team qualified a 200-yard Medley relay with Allie Mahan swimming back, Addi Murray swimming breast, Tommie Buell swimming butterfly, and Avery Corliss anchoring with freestyle. This relay finished with a time of 2:08.14.
“It was my first time going to state, and it was pretty awesome! It was different from our usual meets, but it was really fun. There were definitely a lot more people there and it felt a little crazy because of all the people and how incredible everybody swam, but it was really fun” said Allie Mahan a senior on a State relay team.
Another relay qualified was the 200-yard freestyle. Buell also swam this avent along with Jessica Ellinger, Lila Marsolek, and Yadhira Carrazco; they finished with 1:59.44. The last relay that qualified was the 400-yard freestyle relay. The relay was headed by Corliss, followed by Ellinger and Carrazco, and anchored by Murray; they finished with a time of 4:10.81.
Yadhira said that “it felt great going to State for the fourth year in a row, and I am so grateful to be able to say I’ve gone all four years.”
While all the relays had good results, Tommie noted how it was still a little nerve-racking going for the first time. “I was so nervous for state and didn’t want to let the team down. I was a mess! I forgot to bring a chair to sit in, but more importantly, I forgot my swimsuit! Luckily, Coach Crystie had extras.”
In addition to their relays, Addi and Avery qualified individually for State and competed on February 8, 2025.
Addi swam the 500 freestyle with a preliminary time of 5:22.13, coming in 11th out of 35 athletes. In finals, she swam it in 5:20.24, shaving about two seconds off her initial time. In addition to this, she swam the 100-yard breaststroke with a preliminary time of 1:10.88 and a final time of 1:11.09.
Avery swam the 200-yard freestyle (2:05.67 in Prelims) and the 500 freestyle, which she also swam in finals. In Prelims, she swam the 500 with a time of 5:34.44 and then swam a 5:39.76 in finals.
Overall, Frederick placed 31st out of 33 teams that were present for the 4A State Swim Championships. While this may not seem like a top result, after the changes that were made at the beginning of the season, the team is proud of what they were able to accomplish.
