Diving in to Victory

  As spring sports dive deeper into their seasons, the District 51 boy’s swim team also dives into greater competition accomplishing many victories. Friday, April 19th, marked the third home meet at CMU for the D51 Griffens. The D51 Griffens are the boy’s swim team composed of swimmers from schools all across the valley. Only three of the seventeen boys on the team are Palisade students but they continuously illustrate dedication and hard work. Gavin Burke, a Freshmen at Palisade High School has been swimming since the age of five and joined the swim team for a great new experience. Burke says, “ The past meet went great! A lot of our boys dropped time and we had a couple of great relays including our 200 free relay which we qualified for state in.” This past Friday, Burke competed in the 100 freestyle placing second with a time of 54.37 and the 50 freestyle placing sixth with a time of 24.14. Not only was Friday night an eventful night of contesting and perseverance, but it was also Senior night which celebrated the five Seniors of the team. Burke explains, “I’m definitely going to miss our Seniors, they are definitely the heart of the team. There is another Freshman on the team from Palisade and the Seniors helped us comfortably adapt to the new environment but also pushed us to become the best we can be.” The next swim meet takes place this weekend in Glenwood Springs. Burke explains his excitement for the rest of the season starting, “I’m most looking forward to dropping time, going to state, and making it overall a better team by pushing each other and improving ourselves.” Although small, the D51 Griffens do not lack team spirit and support and will continue to grow and achieve greatness.