Boulder’s Zallen sisters looking to do something special in 5A girls swimming championships

THORNTON – A quick look at the team rankings from last year’s Class 5A girls swimming championships and there was a noticeable team missing.

Boulder was nowhere to be found, yet the Panthers are littered throughout the 5A finals which are set to begin at 5 p.m. on Friday at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center.

There are several good reasons for the Panthers’ surge in 2023. New coaching is a part of it and so is the addition of sister duo of Zara and Sloan Zallen. Neither one had competed in high school swimming prior to this season and opted to compete for their schools this season and it’s a decision they’ve wholeheartedly embraced after one day at the state meet.

“It worked out with my schedule and it’s my last year [in high schoo] before going to college,” Zara said. “I’ve heard so many good things about high school swimming and the energy of it so I wanted to try it for a year.”

Her biggest endorsement of her experience is that it is team oriented and the crowd is filled with fans of the team and rooting on all the competitors donning Boulder purple. It’s an experience that they can’t quite get in the club scene.

The same feelings are echoed by Sloan, a sophomore. The experience of swimming for her high school team has reinforced her love for the sport and to be able to share it with Zara will make this season memorable.

“It’s been a lot of fun and something I’ve been waiting for my whole life,” Sloan said. “She’s my best friend and it’s great to come and experience this and represent our school together.”

And there’s a chance to bring some history to the halls of Boulder High School. The Panthers have never won a girls swimming championship and have never even finished second. But they have a chance to end somewhere high in the team standings as a result of Thursday morning’s prelims.

The Zallen sisters are the main representatives for the Panthers in their five A-final qualifiers. They’ll swim together on the 200-yard freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay teams. They’ll also be just a couple lanes apart in the 200 freestyle and would love to get to the podium and stand right next to each other.

“Hopefully we can go one-two in the 200,” Sloan said.

When asked if she had a preference of who goes No. 1 and who goes No. 2, she could only smile.

“We’ll see,” she said.

While the competition against each other might be fun, the ultimate goal is to generate the best possible result for the team. The girls are just taking a refreshed approach into Friday’s finals and looking to give their best performance of the year.

“I feel like we can place high in the relays,” Zara said. “We’re definitely going for some team records there.”

They’ll go for those records when the finals begin Thursday night. Events begin at 5 p.m. following the first session of the day which is the 3A prelims.