Competing in one of their final meets of the summer during the Western Slope Championships in Grand Junction, July 12-14, members of the Cortez Water Dragons swim club showed marked improvement while earning several top-10 finishes in individual events.

Leading the way for the Cortez swim club was Erin Lawrence, who competed in the girls’ 11-12 age division and finished first in the 100-meter backstroke (1:22.77), second in the 50-meter backstroke (39.56) and 200-meter backstroke (3:05.97), third in the 100-meter freestyle (1:13.13) and 200-meter breaststroke (3:30.67), fourth in the 50-meter freestyle (32.83), fifth in the 50-meter butterfly (37.60) and 50-meter breaststroke (45.59) and sixth in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:40.61).

Also turning in a solid performance for the Water Dragons was Houston Hurst, who competed in the boys’ 11-12 age division and placed second in the 200-meter backstroke (3:11.72), fifth in the 50-meter breaststroke (49.32), sixth in the 100-meter backstroke (1:30.86), ninth in the 50-meter butterfly (44.96) and 100-meter breaststroke (1:49.86) and 10th in the 100-meter freestyle (1:22.75).

Another top finisher for the Water Dragons was Jayden White, who competed in the girls 10 and younger age division and finished fifth in the 50-meter backstroke (47.62), 100-meter freestyle (1:31.51), 100-meter backstroke (1:44.00) and 200-meter freestyle (3:30.52), sixth in the 200-meter individual medley (3:47.37), and seventh in the 50-meter breaststroke 58.17 and 50-meter freestyle (42.27).

Dannika Goodall competed in the girls’ 10 and younger age division and finished third in the 50-meter butterfly (51.80) and 50-meter backstroke (46.48), fourth in the 50-meter freestyle (40.63), and sixth in the 100-meter freestyle (1:34.09) and 200-meter freestyle (3:31.58), while Anna Tewell and Taylor Johnson competed in the same age division and placed fifth in the 50-meter butterfly (59.04) and ninth in the 50-meter breaststroke (53.09) respectively.

Leading the way for the Water Dragons in the girls’ and boys’ 13-14 age division were Braden Schmittel, who placed sixth in the 200-meter breaststroke (3:39.72), seventh in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:37.62), eighth in the 50-meter freestyle (32.33), ninth in the 200-meter freestyle (2:50.48) and 100-meter backstroke (1:28.00), and 10th in the 100-meter freestyle (1:15.97), and Delta Suckla, who placed fifth in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:29.88) and seventh in the 200-meter breaststroke (3:17.11).

Anna Lawrence rounded out Water Dragons’ team members who finished in the top-10 of at least one individual event with a seventh-place finish in the 100-meter backstroke (1:24.83) and 10th-place finishes in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:40.45) and 50-meter freestyle (31.75) while competing in the girls’ 13-14 age division.

Thanks to the performances of their swimmers, the Water Dragons placed ninth in the team standings of the 15-team meet. Aspen Swim Club finished first overall and Durango Swim Club finished second.