Palisade High Schools Girl Swim season of 25-26 has approached the end, leading to the Swim Conference, with an outstanding performance. Last year Bulldogs were honored to be champions, and it is with no doubt that they have not continued to work hard for their title winning conference once again. Freshman Ashley Burke, who swam in two events, the 50 yard freestyle, and the 100 yard freestyle, was pleased to hear that she gained new personal records. Burke has been swimming since she was 6 years old, starting swim with the Mavericks Swim Club, and has been honored to be a part of Palisade High School’s swim team for her freshman year. When asked before the conference how Burke was feeling, Burke responded saying she was ready to show her hard work off. “I am nervous and excited for our conference meeting coming up.” Burke was setting goals for the conference, Burke stated, “I hope to drop time, represent, and finish the season strong.” Burke has also acknowledged that without her team this would not have been possible, and that her team is doing great this year. Before Burke went to the conference this weekend Burke had a Personal best of 26.23 in the 50 yard freestyle, and 57.78 in the 100 yard freestyle. After Conference this weekend, Burke had new personal records of being first place in the 200 freestyle, with a time of 1: 41, and got better scores then previous times in her other events. Freshman Kierra Shannon, was also interviewed about this weekend and couldn’t be happier with how this season has went, and her teams successes. Shannon went onto say how she felt about this season stating that she was proud of how far she has come. “Seeing it as my first season, I broke all my personal records. It was nice because of how much I learned: I was almost able to personal record at almost all of the meets.” Alone from Shannon’s personal excitement, she wants to continue her excitement for the team as they go onto compete. “I am feeling excited for my team. Although I will not be competing, I look forward to cheering them on and being able to be behind the scenes.” After this weekend, Shannon reflected and said “ The meet went great. Our team won and a bunch of people were proud of their scores. It was honestly funny to see that Junction didn’t make some of the first heats, but were in all of the final heats. The team’s support and positivity stuck out the most. While all of the teams were winning, and sometimes Grand Junction was not first, everybody on every team was very respectful. The conference had a nice atmosphere.” After all, with Shannon and Burke finding this season strong, they cant wait for next year. Lets go Dawgs!
