Niwot takes first at Longs Peak League girls swim and dive championships

While Niwot's ultimate focus is on making some noise at state this week, the Cougars took great pride in winning the Longs Peak League (LPL) girls swim and dive championships team title on Friday, Feb. 2.

Niwot High School's young team took first in seven of the 12 events, including diving, at the Mountain View Aquatic Center in Loveland. Led by Charlotte Heuer and Ava Altenborg, each of whom won a pair of individual races, the Cougars' 356 total points surpassed runner-up Mountain View High School (222) and third-place Thompson Valley High School (218).

Following a less-than-stellar showing at preliminaries, the Cougars regrouped and set multiple personal record times.

"I am so proud of them," said NHS head coach Ella Thramann, who secured her second LPL team crown in as many years at the helm. "A lot of people PR'd (achieved personal records) here today. We had a rough day yesterday and I think the girls are exhausted from training so hard. It was also just the positive vibes today, which was keeping everyone rolling and everyone doing their best. That was super cool to see."

Heuer's two individual first-place wins came in the 100-yard butterfly (1 minute, 1.96 seconds) and the 200 individual medley (2:15.26). Already qualified for state, she entered the Mountain View Aquatic Center looking for a "feel-good type of meet."

The senior got exactly that.

"It's obviously a nice ego boost to win these things," Heuer said. "At a meet like this, it's a lot different from state because these are all 3A schools. It's definitely a lot different going into 4A state with much more competition. There are a lot of really fast girls here that are amazing to race against, but you definitely have to have a little bit of a mindset shift going into next week."

Altenborg was just as impressive as Heuer. In the penultimate meet of her sophomore season, Altenborg took the 50 freestyle (26.52) and 100 freestyle (57.39) crowns. Her 50 free time fell just .02 seconds short of the 4A state-qualifying mark, however.

"She has amazing perseverance, amazing grit, and she's just such an amazing person to be at practice with," Heuer said of Altenborg. "She knows what she wants to get done and she gets it done. It's really refreshing to have her around."

In the 200 free relay race, Altenborg, Heuer, Emmy Hostelley, and Devi Burnett combined for a first-place time of 1:47.35. Later, Altenborg, Heuer, Burnett, and Thalia Milam won the 400 free relay (3:53.29). Both of those teams will next compete at the state championships.

Thramann also shared that during the prior day's preliminaries, Milam qualified for state in the 100 backstroke.

For the second consecutive year, Niwot junior Elizabeth Fay took first in the 1-meter dive with 449.85 points. Milam followed in fourth place at 364.25 points.

The Class 4A state championships will be held in Thornton at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center from Tuesday, Feb. 6 through Thursday, Feb. 8. Niwot took fourth last year and fifth the season prior.

"We lost a lot of seniors last year, so it's trying to get a lot of new girls hyped up and excited about state," Heuer said. "It's something that a lot of them haven't really experienced before."