Although some of their team scores in recent meets aren’t the best, the small Montezuma-Cortez High School boys swimming team are staying on track in their overall development, according to head coach Mark Knox.

The Panthers hosted Delta and Glenwood Springs on April 7 at the Ute Mountain Recreation Center Pool. Glenwood won easily with 142 points, Cortez 68, and Delta 61.

In the meet, MCHS had a lot of thirds and fourths but several individuals swam well. The 200-meter medley relay team of Ryan Gray, Noah Leonard, Daniel Puls, and Adam Schneider came in second. Knox was pleased with the simming of Gray and Leonard in that event.

John Hart and Kevin Kaime both swam well during the meet, he said.

A couple swimmers recorded personal bests. Hart had a good time for him in the 100 back stroke and Leonard in the 100 breast.

"They swam well at that meet as a team although we only had Daniel for the first four events before he had to leave to perform in the play at school. He swam pretty well in the first three of four events," he reported.

The Panthers host Griffins and Moffat County on April 8. That’s a unified team composed of Grand Junction area teams (Palisade, Central, Grand Junction High, and Fruita). The Griffins scored 157, Moffat County 100, and Cortez 45.

Puls recorded his best time of the season in the 100 breast stroke. He came in first in 1 minute, 20.24 seconds (meter time).

"He really did a good job in that event. Compared to other Western Slope swimmers, he is pretty high up. He is just about three seconds off qualifying for State. I think we can work on some of his mechanics and help him trim those three seconds," Knox added.

The 200 freestyle relay of Gray, Hart, Puls, and Leonard came in third. Hart did come back and swim another personal best in the 100 free. He cut two seconds off. Leonard swam a resonably strong 500 freestyle.

"Beyond that, we didn’t do all that well. But overall we did not have a very good meet. But this is still a developing team. We are very young this year after losing all those guys last year to graduation. They are coming along," he added.