Three’s company at 5A state
Zallen, Simecek, Rachjaibun all win individual titles
THORNTON >> The top of the podium was occupied by three different locals at the Class 5A state swim championships Friday night at Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center.
Well, four if you include Boulder athletic director Ryan Bishop.
Senior Zara Zallen won the 200-yard freestyle for the Panthers in her first high school state finals event after being exclusively a club swimmer before this winter. She then lifted a cutout of Bishop’s head high above hers on the stand.
Fairview’s Edith Simecek and Legacy’s Sabrina Rachjaibun followed her to top of the platform a short while later, winning the 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle, respectively.
In all, it was a banner day for the Broomfield and Boulder areas — and it was perhaps the first time, at least in recent memory, it had three individual swim champs in the 5A girls classification in the same year.
“It was pure joy, it was exhilaration,” said Simecek, who is going to swim at Princeton next season.
Zallen kicked it off, leading from near start to finish in her title race, besting Lewis-palmer’s Abigail Perry by almost a full second in 1 minute, 48.58 seconds.
When asked about the giant face cutout she so proudly pumped into the air, she laughed. Bishop has been a big supporter of the program, she explained. And besides, Legacy is known to carry around a good-luck gnome, she added, so why not?
Bishop himself tweeted a picture of her with the cutout on the stand, saying “Heck ya. STATE
CHAMP.” It was the Panthers’ first individual girls swim champ since Amanda Richey won the 500 freestyle in 2014.
“I’m super glad I did” the high school season, said Zallen, who also took second to two-time champ Lawson Ficken of Cherry Creek in the 100 freestyle.
Hoping for better times, and perhaps another title, the Missouri commit added, “I don’t think I quite got the results out of this meet that I wanted. But I’m really glad for the whole experience.”
Simecek followed with a win in the fly, finishing in 53.57 seconds.
A season ago, the senior had placed second in the event while former teammates Karolina Bank and Morgan Lukinac won gold elsewhere.
“It didn’t really hit until I was cooling down right afterwards that this goal of mine that’s been sometimes out of mind, sometimes in the forefront of my mind, finally came true,” she said.
Two events after that, Rachjaibun won Legacy’s second individual title in three years in the 500. In 2021, Sydney Bales won the 100 backstroke.
Rachjaibun, finishing runner-up in the event last year, looked up at the timing board following her late push to victory. She pounded her fists into the pool in celebration.
“I just thought I really needed it,” the University of Denver commit said. “It gave me peace.”
Cherry Creek won the team title for a third straight season and the 29th time in its history. Fairview finished fourth behind seven top-five finishes with 298 points. Legacy was seventh (203) and Boulder eighth (181.50).