For the Panthers, the Western Slope Swimming and Diving Championships this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11-12 in Durango, will be their last opportunity to qualify for the Class 4A State Championships in Fort Collins, Feb. 18-19.

Montezuma-Cortez High School will join host Durango plus Grand Junction Central/Palisade, Cedaredge, Delta, Gunnison, Glenwood Springs, Fruita-Monument, Hotchkiss, Moffat County, Montrose/Ouray, and Ridgway at Regionals which will be held at Fort Lewis College Pool (next to the Field House). Preliminaries start at 4 p.m. Friday and diving prelims at 9 a.m. Saturday. Swimming and diving finals are slated for 3 p.m. Saturday. The Panthers have got to hit certain qualifying marks in order to qualify for State.

"We are poised and ready for the Western Slope Swimming Championships," MCHS coach Mark Knox said. "Hopefully, we will get some more qualifiers."

The Panthers are coming off a solid meet in Grand Junction against Central/Palisade and Durango on Feb. 5 at Orchard Mesa Middle School Pool.

Brianna McCabe had a great meet, according to Knox. She qualified for State in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.59 seconds in her lead-off swim in the 200 free relay. That is the only split (and 400 relay) allowed for a qualifying swimming, according to Colorado High School Activities Association rules. She also placed second in the 200 free and set a new school record with a time of 2 minutes, 12.23 seconds. That eclipses the old mark of 2:16.19 set by Jenni Millican in 1997.

Kenzie Higgins had a best time by placing second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:13.01 and in placing second in the 100 back stroke in 1:11.62. Kelsey Green dropped 5.87 seconds in her 500 free (6:33.52) and Tessa Haukeness had a best time of 1:24.83 in the 100 breast, dropping .80 second.

Haukeness dropped .63 in 100 free (1:09.60), and Amy Greene dropped 4.31 in 200 individual medley and 2.87 in the 100 fly. German foreign exchange student Anna Weber cut .96 in the 50 free. Barbara Balcomb trimmed 4.48 off her time in the 100 free. Suzy Smart dropped .29 off her time in the 100 back. Tammy Henry cut a whopping 8.16 seconds off her time in the 100 free.

The Panthers competed at home against Central/Palisade and Delta on Jan. 28 and Gunnison and Glenwood Springs Jan. 29. In the triangular on Jan. 28, Delta won with 266 points, Cortez came in second with 206 and Central/Palisade finished a distant third at 164. In the triangular on Jan. 29, Glenwood Springs won with 298 points, Cortez came in second with 205 and Gunnison was next at 106.