There might have been some controversy surrounding the Rock Canyon girls swim team at the state meet, and the Jaguars were not able to knock off Ralston Valley to claim the Class 4A state title again this year, yet junior Taylor Curado said this was the best year ever.

"Sometimes, winning isn't the most important thing," Curado said. "Yes, it is a priority that everybody wants, but at the same time, I'm fine with being second. Second place is not bad, by any means.

"We may have finished second, but I think we were a better team and we had a lot of great performances. As a team, we did amazing at the state meet and we did amazing the entire season. This was just such a great year for all of us."

The Jaguars claimed four victories at the 4A state meet, with Curado being a part of three titles. She was on the Jaguars' victorious 400-yard freestyle relay, the 200 medley relay that set a state record and she defended her crown in the 100 butterfly. That earned Curado the honor of being selected the Rocky's All-Colorado swimmer of the year.

Rock Canyon coach Ruthie Milberg is the coach of the year.

"I think this year was fantastic, pretty much everything we were hoping for," Milberg said. "We had a lot of standout performan- ces, and our girls had so much motivation this year. I really could not have asked for anything more."

Curado finished as a four-time champion, but she also was disqualified from swimming in the 50 freestyle final because she jumped into the competition pool to cool down after the Jaguars' 200 medley relay team of Curado, Kirsten Milberg, Londyn Clawson and Jehan Atoe completed its state-record performance of 1 minute, 48.30 seconds.

"That was something we were working for all year, and that was always a goal of ours and we were really excited about it," Curado said. "I just didn't like that everyone thought I was celebrating when I wasn't. It's not like I was trying to gloat. It was just a misunderstanding, but that probably took the biggest toll on me for the rest of the meet."

Curado overcame all the commotion to bounce back and win the 100 butterfly for the second consecutive year.

"I did win again, and that was a very good thing," Curado said. "There was definitely some stress for me to win that again, but it helped that I had people behind me, believing in me."

The All-Colorado team is composed of the swimmers/divers who recorded the best time/score in each event in the state championship finals, regardless of classification.

Ralston Valley won the 4A team title but recorded only one victory in the state meet - Katie John- son's win and top performance in the 200 individual medley. John- son finished second in the 500 freestyle and was part of two Mustangs relay teams that finished second.

Estes Park senior Lauren Hew- son had the top showing in the 100 breaststroke and had a great performance at the 4A state meet as part of a victorious 200 freestyle relay team with her twin, Kenzie, who was the classification champion in the 100 freestyle.

But Jackie Cromer of Lewis- Palmer was tabbed All-Colorado for the 200 freestyle, and Rampart's Jenna Gregoire earned a spot for her top performance in the 100 freestyle.

Cherry Creek won the 5A team title with three wins at the state meet, all which became a part of the All-Colorado selection. The Bruins' wins and top performan- ces included the 200 freestyle relay team of Jordyn Ambrosich, Jordan Mattern, Katie Naze and Gretchen Cohen; the 400 freestyle relay team of Mattern, Naze, Morgan Kimminau and Loren Brandon; and Brandon was selected to the team for her 500 freestyle victory.

Brighton's Breann Fuller defended her crown in the 100 backstroke to be part of the squad for the second year in a row. The All- Colorado diver is Chaparral senior Elizabeth Yovich, the champion in 5A.

All-Colorado girls swimming

Event Swimmer School Year Time/points

200 medley relay: Kirsten Milberg Rock Canyon Jr. 1:48.30 Londyn Clawson Jr. Taylor Curado Jr. Jehan Atoe Jr.

200 freestyle: Jackie Cromer Lewis-Palmer Jr. 1:53.16

200 individual medley: Katie Johnson Ralston Valley Jr. 2:06.31

50 freestyle: Tricia Nelson Fort Collins So. 24.17 Shelley Perkins Chatfield Jr. 24.17

100 butterfly: Taylor Curado Rock Canyon Jr. 57.18

100 freestyle: Jenna Gregoire Rampart So. 52.03

500 freestyle: Loren Brandon Cherry Creek Jr. 5:01.63

200 freestyle relay: Jordyn Ambrosich Cherry Creek Jr. 1:38.55 Jordan Mattern Fr. Katie Naze So. Gretchen Cohen So.

100 backstroke: Breann Fuller Brighton Sr. 57.17

100 breaststroke: Lauren Hewson Estes Park Sr. 1:06.06

400 freestyle relay: Jordan Mattern Cherry Creek Fr. 3:32.60 Morgan Kimminau Jr. Katie Naze So. Loren Brandon Jr.

Diving: Elizabeth Yovich Chaparral Sr. 479.10

Swimmer of the year: Taylor Curado, Rock Canyon

Coach of the year: Ruthie Milberg, Rock Canyon

Honorable mention: Jamie Bristol, Mountain View, Sr.; Kelsey Conci, Moffat County, Sr.; Shannon Garlie, Fossil Ridge, Sr.; Kenzie Hewson, Estes Park, Sr.; Caroline Piehl, Smoky Hill, Fr.; Caroline Shea, Mullen, Sr.; Lauren Rigg, Fairview, So.; Christine Wixted, Cherry Creek, So.