BROOMFIELD >> After missing out on the Boulder County Invite last year, Fairview senior Amelia Mason made sure her presence was felt at the Broomfield Community Center on Saturday morning.

In sharp contrast to the snow falling outside, the Knights’ standout brought the heat through her 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 50.26 seconds), her 100 freestyle (50.70 seconds) and the 400 free relay (3:34.83), all of which she won.

“It’s just exciting to see what I can do kind of after the last couple hard weeks of training, just to see where I’m at before state in two weeks and trying to decide what I’m going to be swimming there,” Mason said. “We’ve been training really hard, so it’s kind of a good meet to see where I’m at right now, especially being tired and a little sore.”

The Knights will spend the next two weeks leading up to state tapering down, to ensure they’ll be at peak fitness when everyone converges on the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center. Mason, a jack of all trades, will maintain the suspicion on her participation up until the last minute.

Last year, she finished runner-up in the 100 fly and third in the 50 free in the Class 5A competition.

“Right now, I think my strongest events are the 200 free, the 100 free, and I’m still working on my fly,” Mason said. “I’ve been swimming maybe a couple IMs, just trying to stay well-versed in everything.”

The Knights won the meet with 1,267.5 points.

Going for gold

Holy Family junior Lorelai Frauenfelder admitted it stung a bit to finish second in her two events at the Class 3A state meet last year. Instead of eating away at her, she let it motivate her to change her mindset. On Saturday, she shone in her two individual events, winning both the 100 IM (59.33) and the 25 free (11.22), while helping her team to fifth in the 200 free relay (1:46.93) and ninth in the 200 medley relay (2:01.12).

“I have a lot more confidence,” Frauenfelder said. “Mentally, I’ve gotten better. I’m not so crazy about my races, so I think relaxing and not worrying about if my time is good and just having fun has really helped my progress this season compared to last.”

The laid-back, expanded style of the 16-event BoCo Invite only aided in the fun, especially as she strives for a state title or two in the 50 free and 100 free in a couple of weeks.

“It’s awesome,” she said. “I love doing events that I don’t usually get to do, like the 100 IM and the 25 free. They’re never offered at any other meets, so it’s just so fun to get up and race. I love sprint races like the 50 free. It’s harder to do that in distance events because you have to pace yourself, but with sprint races, it’s just go, go, go.”

Second best

Boulder senior Sloan Zallen is all about going the distance, especially in her favorite 200 free and 500 free events, but on Saturday her performance in the pool served as a microcosm to the greater effort of the Panthers as a whole.

She placed second in the 200 medley relay (1:53.68), the 200 free (1:56.93) and the 400 free relay (3:43.91), all while adding bronze in the 100 back (58.83). She hopes to compete in the two larger, individual freestyle events at the VMAC for state.

“Our team did really great overall, and this is great momentum going into league next weekend. I think I had some great swims, and Hazel (Huilman) had amazing swims,” Zallen said. “Overall, we did really well as a team and placed third overall, which is a big thing for us. It’s kind of an unrecognized team and people kind of look over us, but I think we have a lot of great talent. Hazel (Huilman) is having an amazing season. Margaret (Chester) is having a great season. I’m having a good season.”

The Panthers scored 780 points as a team.

A state sleeper

Broomfield, just like the rest of the teams, is deep into its heavy training ahead of the league and state meets. Still, athletes like junior Ridley Hagerman found a way to stand out. She’s hoping their second-place mark as a 4A team (1,081.5) against 5A Fairview is a good omen for what state will bring.

Especially now that defending champion Pine Creek is out of the picture.

“(I’ve done) lots of lifting, lots and lots of swimming. I sleep a lot. I go to bed early. It’s just kind of doing what I did (before) but making sure I do it better,” Hagerman said. “I think our team is really good. We have some really good freshmen this year that made it, so our state team’s exciting. I think now that Pine Creek has gone (to 5A), we’re also really excited to hopefully maybe move up into their spot, hopefully get the win.”

Hagerman ended her day with a win in the 500 free (5:14.45), third in the 200 free (1:57.78), third in the 400 free relay (56.09) and fourth in the 200 medley relay (1:56.25).