Just Keep Swimming

Abby Jensen, Reporter|December 8, 2022

The 2021-2022 swim team celebrates in the pool together after a meet.

It’s that time of the year where the swim team starts at Conifer High School. But this swim season is not just any normal swim season, it’s a new season with a new coach. Conifer Teacher Melissa Bartt is the new swim coach for this year, who stepped up when the old swim coach moved away.

“Mr. Kragel asked me to be the new swim coach because I’ve been competitively swimming since I was five or six. I have knowledge of competitive swimming and meets and hopefully I can help the kids out with their stroke,” Bartt said.

Two 2021-2022 Conifer divers slice into the water with arrow-like form. (Alex Miller)

Paige Naku, ’21, pierces the water as she competes as a diver for Conifer. (Alex Miller)

Since Conifer doesn’t have a pool, they travel to Platte Canyon’s pool to practice. They practice 5 days a week Monday through Friday and occasionally on the weekends for about an hour and a half. Then they have meets scattered throughout the week.

“I am excited. I think right now I am a little nervous because I want everything to go smoothly and do the best I can. I think once we get into practice I am going to be really excited,” Bartt said.

The swim team needs about 20 girls to compete and only has around 7-10 girls right now. So the Conifer swim team needs more girls to join the team. Even if you’re not a good swimmer, trying something new is always a great thing. If you’re interested, go talk to Mrs. Bartt and see if you can join and try it out. One of the girls on the swim team, Freshman Alaina Faler, talks about what she is excited for this season.

“I really like swimming. This is my first time competing and I have been trying to get into a sport, but every single sport feels like a chore. I found that when I’m swimming I can just go and do it,” Faler said.

The Swim team had their first meet on November 14th at Platte Canyon. Holly Dykema, a freshman at Conifer, is also joining the swim team this year. She is a really big swimmer and is ready for this year’s season to happen and help support Conifer’s swim team.

“I have swam since I was three years old and I have done club swimming since I was 11,” Dykema said.

Dykema is really excited to start swimming with Conifer because she wants to create a bond with the people who also enjoy swimming as much as she does. She doesn’t really know anybody on the swim team since she’s a Freshman, but the one thing she is most ready for is meeting a ton of new people.

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Templeton closes out the night by telling the players how he feels about their performance. He explained that he’s proud of the work they did, and he wants to see them back again soon for another round of practice and tryouts.

New Coach, Who Dis?

Emerson Brooks poses on the baseball field in her West Jefferson jersey and glove. West Jefferson Baseball was founded in 1984 and has had around 5,000+ players through its program. This competitive program is meant for girls and boys ages 8-14 and is where many Conifer players start their baseball careers. Brooks is the first female on the Conifer High School Baseball team and played on this league growing up. “One thing my mom tells me is that if anyone ever looks at you weird for what you’re doing, remember that you're accomplishing your goals and it shows your confidence,” Brooks said. (Provided by Emerson Brooks)

Pitching for Change

A pinball ejects from a scoop on a popular game, “Road Show.” During Blizzard Mountain Pinball’s 24 hour tournament, players competed on 39 different machines, all from different decades. “It’s a huge spread, and there’s a lot of rare and unique machines, which are a good challenge for me,” player David Ariew said. (Kanin Cadam)

Midnight Madness

Lily Harwood and Sara Charvat pose for a photo on a ski trip. They are two of the ski club's founders and are passionate about the sport. (Provided by Lily Harwood)
"I hope it just keeps getting bigger and we can just keep doing more extravagant adventures," Charvat said.

Conifer Takes on the Slopes

Sports

The Mountain Area Lumberjacks girls' rugby JV team faced off against the Fort Collins Hammers on Saturday, November 2nd at the state tournament. Evelyn Westwood passes the ball to a teammate in the first half as the Lumberjacks go on to win 22-5. “Rugby is such a welcoming sport—I never thought I’d enjoy it as much as I do,” Westwood said.

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What’s That Noise?

Conifer High School sports is about more than just winning and losing. It’s not all about the competition on the field, but also about the unity, pr...

Conifer Lobos Junior Varsity Team warming up before the start of their game. They ran laps around the field about 5 times before going back to individual warmups. “I feel we’ll perform well,” Freshman Aaron Drake stated, “We haven’t been performing that good recently. Hopefully we will step it up for this game.”

Rival Against Rival

The Conifer Lobo’s L4 Volleyball team celebrating their win against Little High School. After all 3 sets of the game, they felt the energy from the win and showed their passion for the game. “I feel pretty good about [our record].” Freshman Victoria Stewart said, “We’re doing pretty good.”

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