The National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (NISCA) annually honors the top 100 performers from across the country as All-Americans and the list of honors for the 2025-26 girls season came out Sunday.

The Aurora area had one representative among the group that recorded verified times that met a prescribed standard and submitted an application in Cherokee Trail senior-to-be Natalie Daum.

Daum spent her first two seasons at Regis Jesuit and earned All-American status as a freshman in the 2023-24 season as part of the Raiders’ 200 yard medley relay team. Daum joined the Cougars for her junior season and earned an individual All-American honor in one of her specialties, the 100 yard breaststroke.

Automatic All-American status in the breaststroke went to swimmers who were faster than 1 minute, 2.52 seconds, which was just a bit faster than Daum, whose top time was 1:02.68, which still put her 47th in the entire country. She was a close second in the event at the Class 5A state swim meet behind Cherry Creek’s Sydney Fernstrom, who also was an All-American.

Daum — who was also fourth in the 200 yard individual medley at the state meet — will enter next season again on the quest to become the first state champion in Cherokee Trail program history.

Girls individual swimmers and relay teams from Broomfield, Cherry Creek, Fairview, Fossil Ridge, Lewis-Palmer, ThunderRidge and Valor Christian were also honored (see list below).

Previously, NISCA unveiled Academic All-Americans and that included five recently graduated Aurora area swimmers, four from Smoky Hill and one from Grandview (see story, here).

The organization also honored the best swim teams in the classroom with team scholar awards, of which Smoky Hill claimed Gold with the 11th-best Grade Point Average in the country (see story, here).

Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at [email protected]. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports

2026 NISCA COLORADO GIRLS SWIMMING ALL-AMERICANS

200 yard medley relay (Automatic All-American, 1 minute, 44.15 seconds): 15. Cherry Creek (Sydney Wasylenky, Sydney Fernstrom, Jenna Fernstrom, Clara Paterson), 1 minute, 42.22 seconds; 64. Fairview (Ava Teunissen, Marin DeNeen, Lexi Byrn, Lucy Glynn), 1:44.28; 99. Valor Christian (Kayla Hunt, Elliana Wiesen, Hanna Prutsman, Ann Marie Macaulay), 1:45.27

200 yard freestyle (Automatic All-American, 1 minute, 48.81 seconds): 14. Grace Perry (Lewis-Palmer), 1 minute, 46.86 seconds; 22. Kate McKinnon (Cherry Creek), 1:47.60; 56. Ridley Hagerman (Broomfield), 1:48.69; 87. Annabeth Town (ThunderRidge), 1:49.73

200 yard indiv. medley (Automatic All-American, 2 minutes, 1.47 seconds): 33. Kate McKinnon (Cherry Creek), 2 minutes, 0.44 seconds; T37. Elliana Wiesen (Valor Christian), 2:00.82; 64. Grace Perry (Lewis-Palmer), 2:02.09; T83. Annabeth Town (ThunderRidge), 2:02.62; T98. Marin DeNeen (Fairview), 2:03.09

50 yard freestyle (Automatic All-American, 23.06 seconds): T11. Kate McKinnon (Cherry Creek), 22.64 seconds; 23. Jenna Fernstrom (Cherry Creek), 22.84; T35. Ella Gaca Thiele (Fossil Ridge), 22.91

100 yard butterfly (Automatic All-American, 54.29 seconds): 34. Grace Perry (Lewis-Palmer), 53.77 seconds; T37. Kate McKinnon (Cherry Creek), 53.90; 50. Lexi Byrn (Fairview), 54.14

100 yard freestyle (Automatic All-American, 50.13 seconds): 7. Kate McKinnon (Cherry Creek), 49.04 seconds; 18. Ella Gaca Thiele (Fossil Ridge), 49.54; 20. Jenna Fernstrom (Cherry Creek), 49.59

500 yard freestyle (Automatic All-American, 4 minutes, 53.01 seconds): 13. Ridley Hageman (Broomfield), 4 minutes, 47.52 seconds; 15. Annabeth Town (ThunderRidge), 4:49.14; 73. Ellie Foulke (Broomfield), 4:54.93

200 yard freestyle relay (Automatic All-American, 1 minute, 35.48 seconds): 48. Cherry Creek (Kate McKinnon, Sydney Fernstrom, Clara Paterson, Bea Earley), 1 minute, 34.95 seconds

100 yard backstroke (Automatic All-American, 54.71 seconds): 98. Sydney Wasylesky (Cherry Creek), 55.49 seconds

100 yard breaststroke (Automatic All-American, 1 minute, 2.52 seconds): 32. Sydney Fernstrom (Cherry Creek), 1 minute, 2.37 seconds; 47. NATALIE DAUM (CHEROKEE TRAIL), 1:02.68; 61. Paige Nguyen (Fossil Ridge), 1:02.90

400 yard freestyle relay (Automatic All-American, 3 minutes, 27.78 seconds): 7. Cherry Creek (Madison Williams, Jenna Fernstrom, Sydney Wasylenky, Kate McKinnon), 3 minutes, 23.84 seconds; 55. Valor Christian (Elliana Wiesen, Ann Marie Macaulay, Abigail Feldmann, Kayla Hunt), 3:27.29

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