Taking on a tough opponent early in the season can serve many purposes, and that’s exactly what the Manitou Springs swim team was counting on in early dual against Pueblo County.
The Hornets have been one of the top Class 3A programs in the state for several years, so the Mustangs seized the opportunity to compete against them.
Manitou swimmers were coming off a big dual win over Englewood to start the season, so they went in with a bit of confidence. County rolled to a 110-70 win but there were plenty of positives the Mustangs could take away from the battle.
“We saw a lot of great improvement from the start of the season to that meet,” coach Whitney Nuci said. “Their overall confidence really skyrocketed. We knew Pueblo (County) was going to be a hard competitor for us, but I think it pushed them in all the right areas.”
Manitou won two of the three relay races, taking the 200-yard freestyle and the 400 freestyle. The individual wins came from Summer Tenpas in the 100 butterfly and Theron Heim in the 200 individual medley.
“It’s pretty exciting and fun and no matter how well each individual does, it always brings the team up,” Tenpas said. “It’s just fun.”
And in a way, it’s going to help set a tone for the season. Seeing those results ahead of the Berthoud Break the Ice meet this weekend will be a factor in how the team develops.
“Our big thing we talked about for both meets last week is taking accountability and owning what they did in the pool,” Nuci said. “We take that into practice and see this is where we want to be so we actually need to do the (practice) set as it’s written, instead of not doing it because we’re tired.”
After the Berthoud meet, the Mustangs head to La Junta for a dual and then will compete at the Cheyenne Mountain Invite before the winter break.