THORNTON >> Whether she’s in it for the long haul or flying through an event, Fairview’s Lexi Byrn certainly knows how to put on a show.

At Saturday’s massive Mustang Invite at the Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center, Byrn won the 100-yard butterfly, finishing with a time of 56.58 seconds, before placing third in a tightly contested 500-yard freestyle later in the day (5 minutes, 12.81 seconds). She beat out Broomfield’s Ellie Foulke by just 0.05 seconds in the latter event.

She’s hoping that at the Class 5A state meet in a few months, she’ll be able to make the championship final in both events. They provide the best of both worlds.

“I just like the fly because I normally do the 200 fly (in club), but there’s no 200 fly here,” she said. “I’ve been focusing a lot on my 100 and sprinting a lot more. I like the 500 because I can kind of just hold a pace. For my training, it’s just working more on my kick and underwaters, because underwaters are so helpful. I’m working on faster stuff to mimic the 100. I feel like it’s helped my 100 fly time get faster.”

Earlier in the day, Byrn helped pace the Knights to second in the 200 medley relay (1:51.69), then ended her meet with third in the 400 free relay (3:42.29).

Hitting their peak form

Just a few days after her Broomfield team beat Legacy for the first time in six years, Foulke continued to shine for the Eagles. The junior placed third in the 200 individual medley (2:11.86), fourth in the 500 free (5:12.86), sixth in the 400 free relay (3:46.53) and eighth in 200 medley relay (1:56.97) in a meet that was already a bit of a drag for her team.

A month earlier, the Eagles flexed their collective muscles at the Rex Abelein Memorial Coaches Invite, where they finished fifth out of 48 teams.

“We had a lot of fun at Coaches. I felt like our team did really well there,” Foulke said. “This meet was a bit of a train-through meet, kind of getting back into it, so we’re definitely not hitting all the best times, but pretty good. We’re definitely swimming-tired.”

The Eagles have their eyes on the final prize this year, and Foulke believes they have what it takes to be in contention for a team title at the 4A state meet. Last year, they finished runner-up.

“We got a lot of freshmen this year, which is really fun,” she said. “You always like that, when a new group of girls are coming in. Obviously Pine Creek, I think they moved up to 5A, so that definitely puts an opening, so we’re super excited.”

Not a sprint, but a marathon

Broomfield wasn’t the only team that entered the meet a bit worn. Monarch likes to tailor its training for the final few weeks of the season in preparation of the state meet.

Despite the Coyotes’ hard practices during peak season, junior Audrey Shambo stood out among local competitors with second in the 500 free (5:11.98), fifth in the 200 free relay (1:44.21), eighth in the 400 free relay (3:48.59) and ninth in the 200 medley relay (1:58.04).

She said the tight-knit team culture within the program helps her excel, and believes the pain the girls are experiencing now will only benefit them down the line.

“I had like six or seven girls over there by my lane cheering me on,” Shambo said.

“It’s all mental, and I think that’s a huge part of swimming — and a part of being a good swimmer — is just overcoming that mental pain and especially the physical pain.

“(Head coach Amber Austin) is really good at building us up for the end of the season and having us taper down for our championship meet, so leagues or state or whatever you do for the championship meet. I think we’re all just working super hard and they’re doing great at this point of the season.”

Free flying

Normally a backstroker by trade, Centaurus’ Virginia Walsh dipped her toes into two different events on Saturday.

She already qualified for state in the 200 IM, the 100 back, the 200 free, the 50 free, the 100 fly and the 100 free, and proved just how versatile she can be with a win in the 50 free (24.18) and second place in the 100 fly (57.75 seconds).

“This is my third or fourth meet,” Walsh said. “I haven’t done that many meets this season yet. I think it was just a good meet. I just wanted to go out there. I swim really fast in the middle of the season for some reason. I had some hard winter training that really kicked my butt, but then I just knew I could go out there and sprint and just see what I could do.”