The Fossil Ridge High School Girls Swim and Dive team won their first dual meet of 2020 against the defending state champions, Fairview High School. The Sabercats beat the Knights 195-120.

Tuesday night, the Fossil Swim and Dive Girls team hosted their first dual meet of the year. Coming into this meet, the team knew this would be their most challenging dual meet of the year. Facing the defending state champions, Coach Jimmy Rodriguez knew that he had to put together his most competitive lineup. He skillfully approached putting together the lineup, putting everyone in events where they can score the most amount of points for their own capabilities.  

The Sabercats started out the meet quite handily, winning the 200 medley relay by over a second, which was followed up by a dominating win by sophomore Renee Gillilan, in the 200 IM (2:10.28). Gillilan put her hand on the wall first by over six seconds. 

The overall meet score was going back and forth in between the two teams going into the diving. The divers knew that for them to have a chance at winning the meet they would have to perform at their best. They did nothing less. The Sabercat Divers placed first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth, lead by junior Aspen Warnygora, who is ranked among the top divers in the state for this season in the 5A division.

Following the diving, the Sabercat girls did not back down at all; nevertheless, they added to their lead. The event that seemed to secure the win was the 500 freestyle. Lucy Bell, a sophomore standout, put her hand on the wall first by over a minute before the first Fairview swimmer. So far, Bell has qualified for the State meet in every single event she has swam this season and is ranked top five in a total of four events in the state. 

The meet came to a close with an impressive comeback win in the 400 freestyle relay by the Sabercats with Amber Silverts, Kenadie Glasgow, Mahala Erlandson, Lucy Bell on the relay, touching first with a time of 3:41.24. 

“This meet was a great preview for the state meet,” said head coach, Jimmy Rodriguez. Coach Jimmy seemed very confident and proud of his team’s performance Tuesday night. The Fairview-Fossil rivalry has been intense for the past two years, with the Fossil girls winning the 2018 State Championship, and Fairview winning the 2019 State Championship. With the Sabercats coming out on top in the dual, it fulfills their hopes of coming out on top of Fairview at the state meet.