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Steamboat swim team ends winter season with seven medals at state

Steamboat Springs high school freshman Zoe Anfang competes in the 200-yard individual medley during the 3A state swim meet in Thornton on Feb. 11, 2023. Anfang dominated the championship season including three first-place finishes at the Colorado Silver State Championship Meet in Denver from March 3 to 5, 2023.
Charlie Coates/Courtesy photo

The Steamboat Springs Swim Team closed out the winter championship season earlier this month after training and competing for over 15 weeks.

Steamboat sophomore Stovin Briggs earned a spot to compete at the Colorado Senior Meet at the University of Denver in mid-February. This meet takes the top swimmers in Colorado, ages 15 and up. 

Briggs swam personal best times in all four of his events, including a 200 butterfly swim that was nearly 4 seconds faster than his previous best at 2 minutes, 7.84 seconds. 



Zoe Anfang and Oliver Catlett also traveled to Denver for the Colorado Age Group Championship Meet at the end of February for age 14 and under athletes. 

Both swimmers qualified for the finals in each of their events with Anfang swimming her personal best time in the 500 freestyle at 5:31.26. 



To officially close out the year, Steamboat sent eight swimmers to the Colorado Silver State Championship Meet from March 3 to 5 in Denver. The team collected five first-place finishes along with two second-place finishes. 

It was Anfang and Catlett who led the way for the team, combining for all five of its gold medals. Anfang won the 400 individual medley, 200 butterfly and 100 butterfly swims. Catlett earned gold in the 50 butterfly and 500 freestyle. 

Members of the Steamboat Springs Swim Team pose in the pool for a picture at the Colorado Silver State Championship Meet on March 3. The team took home five gold medals and two silvers to close out the winter season on a high note.
Charlie Coates/Courtesy photo

Steamboat’s head coach Charlie Coates said she is impressed with how much her athletes improved over the course of the season. She thinks they did a great job representing Steamboat at all the state meets both in and out of the pool. 

“They totally exceeded my expectations as I walked out onto the pool deck in September,” Coates said. “They absolutely crushed it, did anything and everything I asked of them and it really paid off in the end.”

Following a short break, swimmers will be back in the pool starting May 1 for spring session training. 

Registration for the spring sessions opens April 1 and can be found on the swim team’s website

“We’ll start in May and focus on a lot of technique, just really drilling down and perfecting strokes,” Coates said. “Then summer starts and we’ll start back up with meets.”

The summer competition season will begin in June with long course competitions in a 50-meter pool. It will be a change of pace from the winter’s 25-meter short course pools. 

“Personally that was always a favorite for me but it’s a different training technique and style of swimming so it will be interesting to see how they adjust to that different pool,” Coates said.


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