Fort Collins – For years the Menezes sisters, Natasha and Michelle, have shared just about everything. Each has rooted for the other and watched the other bring home everything from blue ribbons to gold trophies.
At the Class 5A swimming and diving championships today, the duo from Cherry Creek will be side by side in lanes 4 and 5, because they were the top qualifiers Thursday night in the 200- yard freestyle preliminaries at the Edora Pool Ice Center.
“Once you’re in the water, you’re competitive, but part of me is cheering for her,” said Natasha Menezes, a senior. “I still have to remember to concentrate on my own race.”
Said Michelle, a junior, who admitted to her sister she actually was scared to beat her: “We’ve always talked about going 1-2 ever since we got into high school. It’s always been a goal of ours, and it would be really fun.”
They’re not twins, but the sisters’ split times in the 200 freestyle were identical down to the hundredth of a second.
Michelle’s performance on Thursday was just a microcosm of Cherry Creek’s effort. Of the 14 Bruins who qualified for the state meet, 13 advanced to the finals, and the times, as coach Eric Craven noted, continued to get faster.
“I would have liked to have gotten that 14th swimmer in, but all in all, I’m really happy with how they performed,” Craven said. “They did what they had to do to come back for a second swim.”
Cherry Creek, in search of its 22nd team title, qualified first in two of the three relays, including a blistering 3 minutes, 30.73 seconds in the 400 freestyle relay. The Bruins’ time was nearly nine seconds better than second-place Grandview’s.
Hot on the heels of the Bruins will be Highlands Ranch. The trio of Lisa Caprioglio, Colleen Schweitzer and Samantha Dole lived up to expectations in the Falcons’ first real run at a state title since 1995.
Caprioglio, a two-time runner-up in 2005, paced all qualifiers in the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly. Her fly time of 56.10 came within .05 of a second of last year’s state champion, Kristen Lahey of Fairview.
“My goal was to get 56.04, and get that record,” Caprioglio said. “Last year Kristen got me, and I’ve kind of devoted this whole year to chasing that state record. I’d really like to go 55.5 and set it.”
Schweitzer, the defending 100 breaststroke champion, solidified her spot in the middle lane of the event and will be favored to win again. Dole qualified second to Caprioglio in the 50 freestyle and third in the 100. All three are on the favored 200 medley relay team as well.
Fort Collins’ Carley Beaudreau won the 200 individual medley in 2003 and 2004, but watched Cherry Creek’s Caitlin Iversen unseat her in 2005. The duo, separated by less than a second, will go head to head again tonight. Beaudreau also is the top qualifier in the 500 freestyle. Iversen has the top time in the 100 backstroke.
The finals will get underway at 5 p.m. The Class 4A meet will run through its preliminary round starting at 9 a.m. today, with both sets of divers in between.
Jon E. Yunt can be reached at 303-820-5446 or jyunt@denverpost.com.
