View photo/Mike Griffin

By MIKE GRIFFIN The Pueblo West View
Despite a sizzling score in the season opener, the Pueblo West girls swim team may be a little slow to round into form this year.
The Cyclones smoked East 127-53 last Thursday and followed the season-opening win with some mixed results at the Valley Invite in Gilcrest on Saturday.
"I liked the effort I saw from the girls - especially the support for each other," said coach Andy Halvorson.
But the mechanics were a different story.
"My main impression was that they showed a lot of sloppy turns, exchanges and stroke work. More than any other team I have coached, I want to focus on stroke technique over conditioning for a lengthier portion of the season," Halvorson said. "I see times suffering a little bit through December while some stroke overhauls take place."
Among the early ups and downs, Halvorson said Stephanie Meyer and Alissa King stood out as pleasant surprises among his younger set of swimmers.
Veteran Shalana Gray, known for her distance swimming, showed potential in the sprints at Valley.
While West's speed may take a while to catch up this year, a few of the top swimmers are showing signs early.
Karlee Canfield took fourth in the 100 backstroke at Valley while Samantha Davenport finished sixth in the 200 individual medley. And the 4 by 50 freestyle relay placed second at Valley, about 3 seconds off the state-qualifying time.
"Our 4 by 50 freestyle relay is looking like it could be a special one. Since we have access to blocks this year, we are working on a more aggressive relay exchange. Right now the exchanges are horribly slow," Halvorson said.
The Cyclones' schedule gets tougher this week, as they are scheduled to swim at Pueblo South today. The Cyclones have been pretty well entrenched in the No. 3 spot in the South-Central League in recent years behind Centennial and La Junta, but South gave Centennial a scare in a close season opener last week.
"South worries me greatly. If we win the meet, it will show good depth," Halvorson said. "It is possible that we will not take a single individual first place in the meet."

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