The Eagles went from having zero state championships in program history to winning back-to-back titles in the last two years, but things may be harder as they try to go for a three-peat.Pine Creeks coach Kent Nelson took over the program at the start of the 2022-2023 season and had a focus of growing the program. Nelson credits the coaching staff before him for encouraging the girls and building a culture within the program. One of the ways he focused on building the program was by doubling the number of girls on the team. As a result, he ended up with a group that he says was ready to take on the world.During that 2022-2023 season, the girls knew they had a chance at making a push for winning state, but the Cheyenne Mountain Invitational gave them an idea of how good they really could be. In a neck-and-neck battle with the Red-Tailed Hawks, who were one of the favorites to win it all that year, Pine Creek came out on top, and that instilled a ton of confidence in the team.Jumping in that pool after we won was such an incredible feeling. Then we got to state and we were saying we can do it again, said August Ricca.That is exactly what they did, as they finished first place to capture their first state title. Cheyenne Mountain finished as the runner up.It was definitely weird coming in as a freshman and winning state... But then again, I think that gave us a lot of confidence going into our second year winning again, said Evie Gray.The 2023-2024 season was even more dominant than the season prior. The team didnt graduate many seniors, so they returned at nearly full strength. They knew they had potential to go back-to-back, but had conversations about the target painted on their backs after winning it all.Ultimately, the targets did not matter because the Eagles went to state and won the team title by more than 300 points. Now, they have been moved up from 4A to 5A and will face a new set of challenges.Cherry Creek High School has won the 5A state title each of the last four years and now, Pine Creek will make the attempt to dethrone them.Cherry Creek and Regis Jesuit are extremely tough 5A schools. Were hoping in our next cycle that we will be able to swim some dual meets against those teams, but that is really the prep that we have. We go out and swim every time as if we were swimming against Cherry Creek, said Nelson.The Eagles will get their shot at a historic third straight title when the state championships take place in Thornton on February 6 and 7.________Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.