Glory in the Water: Girls Swim team heads to state

Here at Palisade High School, Bulldogs take sports to a serious level. Palisade is known for high performance and dedicated athletes. Girls swim had an incredible season and is wrapping up this season strong with state, although Palisade does not have its own team and has a large combined team with schools such as Central and Caprock joining together as a Grand Junction High School swim team, that doesn’t stop Palisade’s hard work. Recently, the girls competed in the 2026 State meet along with 32 other schools. To celebrate this, Palisade Bulldogs were seen lining the halls on Wednesday, the 11th, to cheer the team on. Ashley Burke, a freshman at PHS, was granted the opportunity to head to State. Burke was interviewed about this, and Burke had nothing but positivity reflecting on the meet. “Qualifying for State Championships was an amazing opportunity for me.” Burke then went on to acknowledge the team’s wins and her personal achievements. “My team placed 11th overall for the whole meet. I was thrilled that my two-hundred freestyle relay placed fifth, and my four-hundred freestyle  relay placed sixth.” With this being said, Burke placed 20th overall in the one-hundred-meter freestyle. As Burke finishes the PHS swim season, she will continue to swim for the Colorado Mesa University Mavericks. At the end of the interview, Burke stated her excitement for next year, as a sophomore on the team. Another member, senior Riley O’Hara, went with the team to State for her second year, both years as an alternate, but third year swimming in total, and was thrilled to get to experience State with her team.“I was so excited going into State. I love watching my teammates race, and the energy in there is so cool.” O’Hara went on to say, “Heading into the season”, “I had goals to go to state and improve my times a lot. Although I didn’t improve my times a ton, my team was so supportive and encouraging”, “and I love that so much.” While O’Hara might not have been a main swimmer at State, she celebrated each win with her team like it was her own. “Our team did so well, we went undefeated and won the Conference and that was a goal we had as a team. At State we placed 11th, so that’s so cool.” O’Hara was asked about her plans out of high school for swimming, where O’Hara responded, “I am not going to swim competitively or for college but I will continue swimming with friends or by myself because it’s fun and I love it a lot.” While O’Hara is not continuing her journey for swimming, senior Emily Hardin, a member of the swim team who performed at State, will be continuing her athleticism in swimming for her fifth year, at Macalester College in St. Paul Minnesota. After State, Hardin was asked about her performance, and Hardin said, “I did well at State. I placed sixth in the 50 freestyle, fifth in the 200 freestyle relay, sixth in the 400 freestyle relay”, “and 14th in the 100 freestyle. I dropped time in my 100 freestyle with a time of 55.6, which I was happy about.”  From freshman year, when Hardin started originally competitively swimming, to now, Hardin would like Bulldogs to know that swimming is not an easy sport, but the moments you get while doing the sport is worth it. “Although it is a really difficult sport, the connections you make and the things you do are so worth it. Many things I have learned in swimming have applied to my everyday life, and it has taught me a lot about myself.” Through the eyes of these dedicated athletes, it is clear that hard work pays off. Let’s continue to work hard for what we have got, GO DAWGS!