Fossil Ridge swimmer Lucy Bell sweeps Colorado 5A titles, breaks Missy Franklin's record

THORNTON — They laid out the goal long before the race itself.

Standout Fossil Ridge swimmer Lucy Bell and SaberCats coach Jimmy Rodriguez both knew she was capable of it. They even mentioned it as a stretch goal for this year's Class 5A state swimming and diving championships.

Colorado, meet your new 200-yard individual medley state record holder.

Bell dominated the 5A field Wednesday evening at the Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center, winning the 200 IM final by more than six seconds with a time of 1:56.41 and breaking U.S. Olympics star Missy Franklin's decade-old mark of 1:56.85 in the process.

"It’s super cool," Bell said. "I’ve known about that record since I joined high school swimming. It’s always been a goal of mine but I’ve never wanted to really outright say it. Just to accomplish that is beyond exciting."

Bell was the only swimmer to go under the 2-minute mark in the event and led start to finish, crushing the competition.

Rodriguez said he knew Franklin's record was within Bell's reach. But they didn't want to put pressure on it, even in arguably her strongest event. So they spoke in reverent tones, alluding to it but never outright gunning for the mark.

"It was a big goal to take a stab at it, especially because she had to do a lifetime best at altitude," Rodriguez said. "It’s always special to take an Olympian's record down, but to do it in such an atmosphere showed everyone just how great she is."

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Added Bell: "Having it be someone like Missy Franklin is super special. Just to even come close to that time is really good. It was a great reminder that the hard work I’ve put in since I’ve started swimming all paid off."

Bell had the milestone in the bag, but she wasn't even done.

For good measure, Bell won her third straight 5A 100-yard freestyle title barely half an hour later with a time of 49.07 seconds.

And how could you script an incredible career without a storybook ending? Bell capped a memorable meet with an epic comeback in the final event, erasing a 2.5-second deficit over the anchor leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay to give Fossil Ridge its sixth straight state title in the event.

In that final push, Bell swam her 100-yard leg of the freestyle in 48.23 seconds, which would have eclipsed the state record in the standalone event by .01 seconds.

"Being able to come from behind is one of our trademark things, so I still knew we could win," Bell said. "It was super exhilarating. At the very end, my legs just gave out because I was so tired."

"It’s one of the best feelings. We already talked about it together and it was probably the greatest race we’ve swam together."

The relay win at the end helped Fossil Ridge place fifth as a team, a quality finish considering a smaller-than-usual number of SaberCats state qualifiers.

Unsurprisingly, Bell was also named CHSAA's 5A Swimmer of the Year.

Bell wraps up her high school swimming career with at least two individual state championships in three straight seasons, and she won at least one all four years at Fossil Ridge.

The record-breaking 200 IM swim was also a personal best by nearly half a second and essentially made it a three-peat in the event. As a junior, Bell did not compete in the 2021 race to go for the rare 100-free, 100-butterfly double. She ultimately won both.

Bell will head to Stanford as one of the most decorated swimmers in Fossil Ridge and Colorado history.

She was already a star swimmer, but Wednesday's performance was legendary. A perfect high note to finish a near-perfect career.

"I don’t think I could have asked for any better for (my last high school meet)," Bell said. "That was the best way it could have gone."

Renee Gillilan wins 100 butterfly

Bell wasn't the only SaberCats swimmer coming home with hardware.

Fellow senior and relay teammate Renee Gillilan helped Fossil Ridge go back-to-back, winning the 100 butterfly immediately after Bell's 200 IM win with a time of 52.17 seconds.

Gillilan finishes her Fossil Ridge career with three 100 fly state titles, just like her older sister Colleen, who won three straight 100 fly state championships for Fossil from 2016-18.

"That race is just in her blood," Rodriguez said with a laugh. She and her sister hold seven of the top 10 state times, Lucy has one and (former Fossil Ridge swimmer) Bailey Nero has another."

"She's just a great finals swimmer and had an amazing race."

She also swam the opening leg in the 400 freestyle relay and paced Fossil Ridge to third place, which teammates Sydnee O'Neil and Kenadie Glasgow maintained before Bell's furious finish.

Gillilan won three 100 fly state championships in her four seasons, and Bell's foray into the event last season is likely the only thing that prevented a clean sweep.

"It was just really fun to see her finish off a great swim and a great career with one last win," Bell said.

Gillilan also placed 11th in the 100-yard backstroke and started the SaberCats' fourth-place 200-yard medley relay team off in the first event of the day.

O'Neill finished 11th in the 200-yard freestyle and 12th in the 500 freestyle. Glasgow placed 13th in the 200 IM.

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Fort Collins earns top-10 finish

For much of the meet, it looked like the Fort Collins girls swimming and diving team would challenge Fossil Ridge for the best team finish in the city.

It was still a great day for the Lambkins, which finished ninth as a team, just a half point out of eighth.

Fort Collins had top 15 finishes in 10 events, including sixth place (200 medley relay) and fifth place (200 free relay) with the relay team of Abbi Crum, Alex Leland, Amber Siverts and Mishka Little.

Siverts also added a seventh-place finish in the 100 fly and a 14th-place finish in the 50 free. Leland placed 11th in the 100 breaststroke and 13th in 100 freestyle. Crum got a top 10 spot, finishing eighth in the 200 IM.

Two Fort Collins divers, Caroline Sullivan (16th) and Elle Gray (20th) also placed earlier in the day during the diving finals.

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Rocky Mountain's Hinerfeld leads Lobos

The Rocky Mountain girls swimming team posted a strong finish, placing 15th overall in the team standings.

Senior swimmer Quinlan Hinerfeld led the Lobos as she finished third in the 200 IM (2:04.29) and eighth in the 100 backstroke (56.21).

She also swam the opening leg for Rocky Mountain's 200 medley relay team, which placed eighth with Hinerfeld, Naomi Duran, Madeleine Maves and Mia Waldron.

Chris Abshire is the sports and stats content coach at the Coloradoan. Contact him at ChrisAbshire@coloradoan.com. Support his work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Swimmer Lucy Bell breaks Missy Franklin's Colorado 200 IM record