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Craig — Marin Campbell, Moffat County swim team coach said the "hardest month of training" is coming to a close for the Bulldog swimmers.

The last thing left on their schedule before league championships begin Feb. 8, is "crossing the T's and dotting the I's."

The Bulldogs placed third Saturday while competing in Glenwood Springs, but Campbell and Moffat County approached the meet a little different than usual.

"Three of our strongest swimmers were out," Campbell said. "Team wise, it wasn't our best meet, but we decided to mix it up for fun."

Campbell's approach to "mixing it up" was to let the girls attempt to break some school records.

Senior Caitlin Conci shattered the team record in the 500-yard freestyle by more than two seconds, clocking a new Bulldog standard of 5 minutes, 53.08 seconds.

Sophomore Genna Bradley came within four points of breaking the Moffat County record in diving, tallying 214.25 points.

Kelsey Conci - who has yet to be defeated in the 50-yard free - swam the 200-yard individual medley, just missing the Moffat record by less than a second.

Her time of 2:20.62 may not have been a new record, but it was 15.16 seconds faster than the next closest competitor Saturday.

"This month has been really physical for the girls," Campbell said. "They are tired and have been whining about being sore, so I thought I'd let them approach this meet with a different strategy."

Campbell said she took a look at the record book and "figured we could wipe a couple of them out."

"Once they have a time in place, a standard, it makes their race strategy more concrete," she said. "Instead of just going fast, why not go for some records along the way?"

Along the way in their attempts at setting new standards in Moffat County swimming lore, the Bulldogs captured a few titles Saturday.

Genna Bradley continued her domination in girls 1-meter diving, winning the event by nearly 20 points.

The Moffat 200-yard medley relay team claimed first, swimming a time of 2:05.25, more than 10 seconds faster than second-place finisher Glenwood.

Along with her title in the 200 IM, Kelsey Conci captured first in the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 1:01.58.

Her sister Caitlin - who's Bulldog record time in the 500 free earned her second in Saturday's event - blew away the competition in the 100-yard butterfly, outpacing the opposition in a time of 1:04.01.

"Genna had four dives with a degree of difficulty over two (out of a possible three) and nailed them," Campbell said. "She has really stepped it up in practice and it's showing in our meets."

Danielle Brockman swam a career best 30.45 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, a feat Campbell said surprised her, and the team.

"Brockman came out of nowhere in the 50 free," she said. "We were all like 'OK cool'. She stunned us all."

Moffat County will travel Saturday to compete in Grand Junction, and Campbell said this week's approach will be similar to last week's.

"We are going to shoot for more records this week," she said. "We are going to sit down after practice and the girls will pick their race. We're going through each race and visualizing everything going smoothly. Regionals are right around the corner."

John Vandelinder can be reached at 824-7031, ext. 211, or jvandelinder@craigdailypress.com