THORNTON >> When Audrey Shambo touched the wall first during the 100-yard breaststroke at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center on Saturday night, she all but sealed Monarch girls swimming’s Class 4A runner-up honor.

Her performance in the 400 freestyle relay — the last event of the night — as well as a blisteringly fast anchor swim from senior Eliza Lennox, tied the team award up with a bow. Lennox’s performance pushed the Coyotes from sixth to third in the span of 51.38 seconds.

The pair began the state championship meet with gold in the 200 medley relay, as Shambo took home two golds and Lennox claimed three with individual wins in the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle. Gwyneth Christensen and Sophia Banjo shared the 200 medley relay spotlight.

Cheyenne Mountain won the team crown with 350 points, while Monarch (304), Broomfield (291) and Centaurus (267) all trailed behind at second, third and a tie for fourth.

“It brings tears to my eyes thinking about it,” Lennox said. “I love this team so much, and being able to work so hard and come out and just see results, while you’re having so much fun, is so cool. Honestly, to me, it’s the team that matters, not the times, not the podium. It’s about our community. Sometimes, you get so sucked into the pool, that you just forget that everyone else is there.”

All of it was a culmination of years of culture building. Last year, the Coyotes placed fourth as a team. This year, they set the school record in the 200 medley relay that eventually propelled them to success.

“It was really amazing, just being able to start out super strong and carry that momentum through the end of the meet,” Shambo said. “It was a great end to my junior season and that’s all I could ask for.

“Natalie (Bradac of Mullen) is such an amazing swimmer and it was so fun to race her (in breaststroke). I’ll be able to race her again next year. She’s a wonderful sophomore. It was just totally surreal and I fought so hard for it and it paid off.”

Shambo won the 100 breast with a time of 1 minute, 3.60 seconds to beat out Bradac by .04 seconds. Lennox created more separation in her 50 free victory, racing through in 23.21 seconds, before mastering the 100 free in 50.64 seconds.

The Coyotes reined in third place in the 400 free relay with a 3:36.57, trailing just behind Broomfield, who secured silver with a 3:35.05.

Still the queen

The expectations for Niwot’s Izzy Fay were about as high as anyone could get coming into the 4A competition. A week before, she won the diving competition at the Granite Peaks League meet with a school record of 543.60 points and had a state title already in hand. One last, near-perfect dive on Saturday sent her over the top and back to gold.

“My last dive pretty much made me win, just because Reagan (Annable) is a very, very good diver and she was very consistent,” Fay said. “My last dive, I got great scores on it — the best dive I did all season — so that really pushed me to win.”

Windsor’s Annable claimed the runner-up spot with a score of 525.35, while Fay shone bright with a 529.50.

“Before I did it in the season, I was short,” Fay explained. “I didn’t fully kick out, if that makes sense, but it was kind of like the cherry on top. There are a bunch of different things for each dive, but having a solid approach really helps. It’s the fundamentals that are super, super important, that can branch you out to all these different dives.”

Her mindset circulated more around having fun than letting the pressure of expectation get to her. She said it was the perfect way to end her high school career, albeit bittersweet, before she heads off to California State University, Bakersfield.

Three’s company

Broomfield continued what was a banner day for the teams in Boulder and Broomfield counties, as only 13 points separated it from the campaign that the Coyotes laid out in the water. Spectators needed to look no further than the 500-yard freestyle championship final to know why.

The Eagles boasted an aptitude for the marathon event, as Ridley Hagerman sped to second (4:57.79), Ellie Foulke raced to fourth (5:06.73) and Marbury Wherry tied it off at seventh (5:16.01).

Last season, the Eagles finished a distant runner-up to Pine Creek, who moved up to 5A this year.

“It’s super exciting to know that a lot of our fast swimmers are right here,” Hagerman said. “It just means a lot more competition for leagues and (Boulder County), and it’s exciting for next year to see if we can go one, two, three or anything. All of us went a lot faster tonight, too, so it’s super exciting to see a lot of the talent right in our backyard.”

Hagerman swam the first leg in the 400 free relay, then ended her night with third in the 200 free (1:51.62) and third in the 200 medley relay (1:50.67).

Flying high

Dropping an event for a year and picking it back up just before the state meet may seem like a tall task for most, but for a swimmer as versatile as Centaurus’ Virginia Walsh, it was almost as if she never stopped training at all.

During Saturday’s finals, Walsh raced to third in the 100 butterfly, knocking out a time of 56.78, then claimed the silver in the 100 backstroke (55.36) to help push the Warriors into that team tie for fourth.

She beamed in the hallway outside of the pool deck as she awaited her teammates’ final performance in the 400 free relay, and shared her excitement for the growth the team has displayed over the past few seasons.

“I went two best times, and I’m just really happy about it. I think our team’s doing really well, and I think it was a great last meet for all of us,” Walsh said. “I went a best time by a whole second in my 100 fly, which I’m really happy about because I stopped swimming fly last year and I didn’t practice it. At the end of December, I decided I wanted to swim fly again, and so I started practicing it.

“I definitely did have to get back into form, but I have an amazing training partner, (Boulder’s) Hazel Huilman, who’s one of the best flyers I’ve ever met in my life. Having her by my side every day at practice just really pushed me to become like the best flyer I could.”