The right time to shine: Red Devils' swim team relishes state spotlight in opening round

Feb. 22—TAYLOR MILL — The KHSAA altered the state swimming format this season. The region qualifiers were broken up and competed at three first-round sites. The top 24 swimmers who emerged from the opening round would converge in Lexington this weekend for the finals.

Time proved to be an important commodity in the pool last Saturday for the state's top swimmers. They were not competing against other swimmers on site but from across the commonwealth, hoping to post a time that would allow them to advance to UK's Lancaster Aquatic Center and swim for a state title.

It made swimmers focus on a different goal.

"It was a completely different structure," Russell coach Jennifer Trippett said. "For the swimming world across the state, it was a new experience for everybody, not knowing what this Round 1 would be like. It was a new pool at Scott High School. It was a nice facility but it was brand new to us."

"We have spent the last two weeks really focusing on being the best we could be," she added. "We wanted to be prepared for anything that would come our way. We wanted to end the season with our relay getting the best time possible. It was our goal. We set out to swim a personal best and we did that."

Russell made its annual trip to the state meet, a recurring theme in its growing swim program, on the heels of the Red Devils' first runner-up finish at the Region 9 meet. The team had 13 individual swimmers ascend to the podium for the medal ceremony and four relay podium finishers.

Russell's first-round site at Scott was a new environment but the Red Devils have grown accustomed to the state atmosphere and posted personal-best times. The 4x100 freestyle relay team of SK Barfield, Ava Ladd, Maddie Whitlock and Brynlee Trippett shaved 6 seconds off their time from the region meet.

The KHSAA cut the limit of qualifying swimmers to 24 for the state final round. Unfortunately, the Red Devils' relay team did not move on but their coach said her team keeps making waves with every event.

"All four of them swam a personal best in each of their four legs," Jennifer Trippett said. "I couldn't be any prouder of all four of them."

Jennifer Trippett said her team has individual and team goals. Each swimmer has set certain time standards for themselves. As they achieve their goals, it's always the biggest win of the season.

"Each year, we keep growing and setting new goals," she continued. "If the KHSAA keeps having the same structure, it's the relay's next goal. They want to make it to the championship round. It's our next step. They have already set the next goal and we are ready for it. It's been a great experience for them. Kentucky is an extremely fast-swimming state. ... For them to have advanced this far, they should be super proud of themselves."

Brynlee Trippett's time in the 200-meter freestyle (1:59.43) and the 500-meter freestyle (5:27.76) advanced the sophomore to the state finals on Saturday in Lexington.

Trippett is seeded 16th in the 200 freestyle and No. 22 in the 500 freestyle. With the short turnaround, her coach will monitor the stopwatch this week. "She is focused on improving what time she can," Jennifer Trippett said. "Her goal is to stay in the top 16 in the state. It's a goal that we will work on this week. Anything that we can tweak to improve even a tenth of a second, we will work on it."