THORNTON — They might not have been household names on the Fairview girls swimming team last winter, and hardly the most recognizable.
Such is life on a team that produces state qualifiers in bulk rate.
It appears, however, that three Knights swimmers won’t have to wait much longer for their turns in the spotlight. That’s if the Boulder Valley Summer Swim League Finals are any indication.
Sienna Stonesmith, Kyla Dickerson and Quinn Adams simply blazed Saturday at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center during the immense, 90-event competition that spanned multiple age groups.
Stonesmith was the top individual point scorer in the girls 15-18 age group with 60 points, and her Knights teammates were right behind her. Dickerson was second (56) and Adams fourth (48).
“I think we’re in for a really good season,” Adams said. “We have a lot of fast girls and I’m really excited about it. Coach (Bob) Smartt is amazing and really good at putting together a team of state qualifiers.”
Adams, who will be a junior, won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1 minute, 12.25 seconds, was part of a winning relay and finished third in the 200 individual medley.
The 200 IM finish wasn’t hard to take, considering it was won by teammate Dickerson (2:21.61). Dickerson also triumphed in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:02.82, finished third in the 50 free and was part of a first- and second-place relay team.
“I think I was really good underwater, and my friend Sierra (Szeto) was two lanes away,” Dickerson said of her backstroke triumph. “She almost caught me and it made me want to go faster.”
Dickerson and Adams swim for Mesa Swim Team in the summer while Stonesmith swims for the Louisville Dolphins. But at heart, they’re all teammates.
Stonesmith displayed plenty of guile in the 100 butterfly, where she set a meet record en route to a first-place finish. Her swim of 1:00.60 shaved more than two seconds off her preliminary time. It trumped the meet record of 1:00.96 set by Taylor Kitayama in 2009. Stonesmith also won the 50 freestyle (25.58) and 100 freestyle (55.00).
If that wasn’t enough, she also was part of a first- and second-place relay.
“Always, the goal is to have fun in the summer and then get a little more serious during high school season,” Stonesmith said. “But my fastest time in the fly had been 1:01, and I went a little under so that’s exciting.”
Stonesmith and Adams will be juniors and Dickerson a senior next season, and odds are, their names will be much more common along the circuit over the winter.
Additional local standouts included recent Monarch graduate Michael Jupille, 17, who stole the show and was all over the leaderboards as the boys top scorer in the 15-18 age group with 60. Jupille, who swims for the Rock Creek Flyers, set meet records in the 100 freestyle (47.78) and the 100 butterfly (53.61) and scantly missed another record in winning the 50 free (21.96).
“There were a lot of things that went into it,” said Jupille, who will swim for the University of Colorado club team next season. “Training really hard even in the summer season when it’s usually not as difficult of a workout, shaving down, and when it really counts, I like to drink coffee as an added boost.”
In addition, he anchored the Flyers’ impressive win in the 200 freestyle relay, in which they shaved more than eight seconds off their prelim time to finish in 1:31.28. He helped win the 200 medley relay as well.
The Louisville Dolphins won the meet overall — with all ages and both genders tabulated — and various other awards were given to teams that won specific age groups.
For Boulder, two sophomore-to-be athletes shined. Ben Webb won the 100 backstroke and Hannah Dorris the 100 breaststroke, each in the 13-14 age group.
“It’s good inspiration for them,” Boulder coach Curt Colby said. “I know Hannah in the breaststroke was really psyched with her time. She shaved off two seconds, and it was a race where she was tied through 75 and just blew them away at the end.”
Of note for Boulder, standout senior-to-be Amanda Richey continued her ascension on the national circuit, winning the 800 freestyle this week at a USA sectionals meet in Gresham, Ore.
Follow Paul on Twitter: @PaulWillis21
