{"id":17029,"date":"2025-08-07T23:28:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T23:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-water-dragons-shine-at-2025-seasonal-state-swim-meet\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:03:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:03:28","slug":"cortez-water-dragons-shine-at-2025-seasonal-state-swim-meet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-water-dragons-shine-at-2025-seasonal-state-swim-meet\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez Water Dragons shine at 2025 Seasonal State Swim Meet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Makenna
Makenna Dreier, 10, competes in the 50-yard butterfly at the 2025 Scottie Ascherman Memorial Colorado Seasonal State swim meet this weekend at the Cortez Outdoor Pool. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Cortez Water Dragons made a splash at the 2025 Scottie Ascherman Memorial Colorado Seasonal State Swim Meet this weekend, placing third while hosting 13 other teams from across the state.<\/p>\n

The Water Dragons competed with a record-breaking 45 athletes and was the largest team at the meet. The team competed in the large team division earning a score of 1,375.5 points.<\/p>\n

The Salida Cyclones placed first with 1,897 points, and the Gunnison Stingrays took second with 1,545.5 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am thrilled with how the 2025 season went. Between learning how to lead a team of swimmers and coaches to be their best, and having our most advanced group of swimmers adjusting to a very different coaching style than they have been used to, it has been a year of growth, trust and improvement in so many ways,\u201d head coach Sarah Brock told The<\/em> Journal<\/em>. \u201cThe team\u2019s victories at the state meet was such an epic way to end the season, and gives me so much excitement preparing for next season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Luella
Luella Brock, 6, breathes deeply during the last stretch of her 50-yard freestyle heat. Brock won the high point award for six-and-under girls. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Some standout performers, noted by coaches Brock and Nikki Berdzar, were three swimmers who earned high-point honors in their respective divisions.<\/p>\n

Luella Brock, 6, won high-point for the six-and-under girls division with 76 points, earning four gold medals, two silver and one bronze. Boaz McCabe, 8, came out on top for the 7-8 boys division with 96 points. He won eight gold medals.<\/p>\n

\"Rhett
Rhett Berdzar, 7, dives into the water for his 50-yard freestyle heat. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Breckyn
Breckyn Berdzar, 10, was the winner of the 9-10 girls high-point award with 150 points. (Sarah Brock\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Breckyn Berdzar, 10, led the 9-10 girls division with 150 points. Her swims concluded with nine gold medals, two silver and one bronze.<\/p>\n

\u201cNearly all of our Water Dragon swimmers cut times on the majority of their swims. As their coaches, we are so proud of the time cuts and improvement of their strokes throughout the season,\u201d the coaches said.<\/p>\n

\"Boaz
Boaz McCabe, 8, takes a side breath in the final heat of the boys 8 & under 50-yard freestyle race. McCabe won the high-point award for boys age 7-8 years. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In 19 relays, the Water Dragons won four gold medals, nine silver and one bronze.<\/p>\n

Berdzar and Brock also spoke of swimmer Miles Anderson, 17, who cut time in every event he swam. The coaches lauded his \u201cflawless starts and finishes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noah McCabe, 11, shaved 19.76 seconds off his personal best in the 100-yard backstroke, claiming first place in the 11-12 boys division in the event and in the 50-yard backstroke.<\/p>\n

Keller McCutcheon, 9, cut time on all of her individual state events.<\/p>\n

\"Miles
Miles Anderson, 17, dives into the water for his heat of the 100-yard freestyle race. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWatching our team\u2019s success in and out of the water this year has been worth all the early mornings and hours spent on the pool deck,\u201d coach Nikki Berdzar said. \u201cWe have a family-friendly, fun atmosphere along with working hard for all the children of our community to join in on..\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, Emily Pearson led the Water Dragons board as president, and Sarah Brock finished her first season as the head coach. Nikki Berdzar moved to lead coach position, and four new coaches joined the staff.<\/p>\n

\"Noah
Noah McCabe, 11, breathes during a butterfly lap of the 200-yard IM. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Cortez Water Dragons train at the city\u2019s indoor and outdoor pools and welcome swimmers age 5 to 18. While the team\u2019s 2025 season has ended, they will begin their next season in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d love to see you next season when we start in April,\u201d Brock said.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Water Dragons with their awards after the meet\u2019s end. (Sarah Brock\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

was held at the Cortez Outdoor Pool from Friday-Sunday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,60,29,346,514],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-17029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter","tag-sports","tag-swimming"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17029"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20524,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17029\/revisions\/20524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17029"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=17029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}