Standing up against the odds

A game of inches

Longmont’s Bindseil sure has a flair for the dramatic.

When her 50 free performance fell just 0.09 seconds short of state glory — with a distance separated by an indiscernible length from the cheap seats — she knew she had one more shot to achieve the title “champion.”

She didn’t have to wait long.

In yet another competitive sprint freestyle, she asserted her lead early in the 100 and never looked back. Not until her hands touched the wall and her head bobbed out of the water for the last time.

“It’s crazy. I’m just really, really happy with how that swim went so good,” she said. “I’ve dropped like over a second this year in this event and it’s good to feel that the work I put in paid off. I’m just really happy with how that turned out.”

Broomfield’s Myra Wherry faced two of the toughest races of the night, but she still made a name for herself among the other nine girls in the pool.

In both of her races — the 200 free and the 500 free — no one could touch Pine Creek’s Madison Mintenko, who won the first by about nine seconds and the second by a little over eight. Wherry found a way to claim the silver in the 200 free, clocking in at 1:54.84, and bronze in the 500 free (5:10.30).

She recorded her best high school times in both events, even though her cap was falling off, to help propel her Eagles to third place with a team score of 298 points.

“It means a lot to me. I love Maddie with all my heart, so just being able to race her makes me happy, but I’m doing great,” Wherry said. “I think it really means that Broomfield can step it up and that we can really pull through on a lot of things. I just think we’re a great team altogether.”