{"id":21466,"date":"2025-07-13T19:24:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T01:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/determined-brinley-duran-qualifies-for-team-colorado\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:06:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:06:48","slug":"determined-brinley-duran-qualifies-for-team-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/determined-brinley-duran-qualifies-for-team-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Determined Brinley Duran qualifies for Team Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Durango
Durango Swim Club member and Cortez native Brinley Duran qualified for Team Colorado to compete at the Zones Championships in California in August. (Photo courtesy of Candi Duran)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Making the Team Colorado swim team had been a goal of Cortez\u2019 Brinley Duran for a long time.<\/p>\n

While Duran continued to excel for the Durango Swim Club, it appeared as if that goal was well within reach. However, a hard fall in an accident at a friend\u2019s house and a broken wrist later, her dream of competing for the statewide squad at the Group Zones swim meet in August seemed to be slipping away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat feeling like this injury might mess up the whole season, it was insane,\u201d recalled Duran, before she turned her focus toward getting back in the pool. \u201cI remember asking the doctor if I could be back in four weeks \u2013 \u2018I need to swim in this meet (in Grand Junction)\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

A self-proclaimed fierce competitor, the 12-year-old wouldn\u2019t let the matter of a broken bone hold her back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so determined, I went and kicked at every single practice until I got my cast off,\u201d she added, waking up at 4:30 a.m. to get to one of her eight weekly practices.<\/p>\n

Needing some rigorous qualifying times in Grand Junction to improve her r\u00e9sum\u00e9 for Team Colorado, just days after removing her cast, Duran was back on the blocks in search of her second qualifying time of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though I wasn\u2019t supposed to touch the wall with my left (injured) hand, I was like \u2018oh well,\u2019 and I\u2019m glad I did, because it helped me get the time I needed,\u201d said Duran, who posted a strong time in the 200 backstroke.<\/p>\n

A few days later, Duran learned that she had been named as one of 16 girls in the 11-12 year-old division to be named to the Team Colorado Zone Team.<\/p>\n

The Zone Team will compete in Elk Grove, California, Aug. 5-10, with a total of 80 Coloradans aged 14 and under representing the Centennial State among some of the top swimmers in the western United States. The Zone Team\u2019s selection process considered applicants from all over the state, with each additional qualifying standard met helping to improve one\u2019s chances of making the team.<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s two standard-meeting times came in the 100 and 200 backstroke \u2013 one of her strongest strokes. She added a third standard in the 400 freestyle at the Western Slope Championship meet over the weekend of July 12-13 in Grand Junction \u2013 as she earned high-point honors while helping the Durango Swim Club pursue their fourth straight WSL team championship.<\/p>\n

While she\u2019s an intense competitor, Duran\u2019s kindness and positive energy is beloved by her teammates, coaches and opponents alike \u2013 making her achievement not only a source of personal pride, but one that the whole Western Slope swimming community is excited to witness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love racing, but it\u2019s even more fun to see my friends from other teams at meets that I don\u2019t get to see very often,\u201d said Duran.<\/p>\n

A strong meet in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in May helped bolster Duran\u2019s confidence, where she posted one of her two backstroke qualifying times \u2013 shortly before the injury nearly derailed her plans. Her hard-nosed approach to getting back gives her a major boost heading into the Zones competitions, especially knowing that she qualified while being less than 100%.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was feeling really confident about how I was able to hit the standard while dealing with the injury,\u201d said Duran, \u201cand it made me wonder what I can do when I\u2019m healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s success continues what has been a remarkable youth swimming career, where she has ranked among the top swimmers in her age group over the past several years. Much like her older sisters Victoria, Caisey, and Bailey \u2013 all competitive swimmers as well \u2013 Brinley continues to set the standard high for herself while representing southwest Colorado next month.<\/p>\n

Duran is keeping it in perspective, however, as she looks forward to her chance that nearly didn\u2019t happen. \u201cIt makes me appreciate the whole opportunity even more, to be there with the team and remember the special moments that it took to get me there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

12-year-old Cortez swimmer earns opportunity to swim in zone championships<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,28,37,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21466","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=21466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77323,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21466\/revisions\/77323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21466"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}