Pine Creek wins seven golds, repeats as state swimming champion as Madison Mintenko breaks two records

By Carson Field February 9, 2024 | updated 2 years ago

Pine Creek's Madison Mintenko celebrates with teammates after winning the 4A state title in Thornton on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024.

From the first event to the last, Pine Creek was the best team throughout Thursday’s 4A state girls’ swimming championships.

The Eagles won their second state title in a row, placing first in seven events. They collected 567 team points, 302 more than second-place Broomfield.

“The girls worked really hard all season,” Pine Creek coach Kent Nelson said. “We’re a large team, and they’ve stuck together all season long. We really promoted that. It’s fun to go back-to-back like that.”

Mintenko makes history

For the second year in a row, junior Madison Mintenko was the Eagles’ star.

Mintenko set records in both the 200-yard freestyle and 500 freestyle in 2023. She shattered those records in 2024.

Mintenko swam in the 200 freestyle just moments after she helped the Eagles win gold in the 200 medley relay, the meet’s first event. That didn’t bother Mintenko, though, as she won the 200 freestyle by almost four seconds.

Mintenko knew she swam a good race but didn’t know if it was better than last year’s.

Once she touched the final block, Mintenko vaulted out of the water, turned to the scoreboard and saw that she broke the record.

“Looking over and seeing that I broke those records was awesome,” Mintenko said. “I was just making sure I was doing the best that I could do.”

She wasn’t done there.

Mintenko came into the 500 freestyle as the heavy favorite and lived up to expectations. She won that race by more than 24 seconds, overlapping a few of the other swimmers.

Mintenko ended the night how she started it, helping Pine Creek win a relay. This time, it was the 400 freestyle relay, and the Eagles won by five seconds.

“I have been thinking about it the whole season, trying to improve year after year after year,” Mintenko said. “Being able to do that with my team is amazing.”

Mintenko beat her best times twice on Thursday.

Next for her? Trying to beat one of the best swimmers ever.

Five-time Olympic medalist Missy Franklin holds the state record in both the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle. Franklin graduated from Regis Jesuit in 2013.

“It’s in the back of my mind,” Mintenko said. “I’m thinking about it, 100%. I just have to put the work in and get better and better.”

Other Pine Creek success

While Mintenko’s four gold medals were more than any other swimmer competing at the 4A meet, she wasn’t the Eagles’ only star.

Senior Kamdyn Swanson won the 100 butterfly and finished in 56.89 seconds. Fellow senior Isabella Burton won the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.12 seconds.

Three relay teams won gold medals.

The 200 medley relay team consisted of Burton, Swanson, Mintenko and Elizabeth Gray and beat second-place Monarch by more than two seconds.

Pine Creek’s 200 freestyle relay team of Lily Kemmerer, Evelyn Morris, August Ricca and Jacquelyn Erickson narrowly finished ahead of Golden to win gold.

And in the final event of the night, Mintenko, Burton, Swanson and Kemmerer swam the 400 freestyle relay team to a 10-second win over Monarch.

Pine Creek had never won a girls swimming state title prior to 2023.

“It’s really cool when you can be looked at across the state as the team that they’re chasing,” Nelson said. “The girls are always looking forward. They keep driving me forward, so it’s fun.”

Red-Tailed Hawks get bronze

Cheyenne Mountain finished on the podium in third with 243.5 points.

Junior Samantha Synsvoll won the Red-Tailed Hawks’ lone gold medal in the 200 individual medley. Synsvoll finished the race in 2:05.03.

Synsvoll also earned a silver medal in the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.30, just .18 seconds behind Burton.

Rampart was the next-highest finisher in the Pikes Peak Region. The Rams placed 14th as a team with 97 points.

Pine Creek’s Madison Mintenko celebrates with teammates after winning the 4A state title in Thornton on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024.