THORNTON — Even as the
Regis Jesuit (Aurora) boys swimming team has dominated the state for the better part of two decades, head coach Mike Doherty concedes that the Raiders often do not turn in their best performances at the annual midseason Dick Rush Memorial Coaches Invitational.
In what could be bad news for the rest of the state, Regis reversed that trend Saturday, winning four events while recording 16 top-eight finishes to run away with the team championship. The Raiders finished with 408 points, while runner-up
Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village) recorded 238 at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center.
"We typically don't really swim well at this meet," Doherty said. "This is usually a struggle meet for us. I think we have a pretty special team this year. We just had spring break and every single guy stayed in town. So we had solid, no-distraction workouts all week. A lot of these guys, they can race no matter what you're doing."
The Raiders opened the meet with a victory in the 200 medley relay and also placed first in the 200 freestyle relay. Regis captured two individual titles, including
Clark Smith in the 100 butterfly and
Hennessey Stuart in the 100 backstroke. Stuart also placed second in the 200 individual medley.
"This looks good for us," Smith said. "We had some rough swims, but even then we didn't have trouble winning the meet. We'll try to find room for improvement. It's not always about winning, but getting as much improvement as you can."
Cherry Creek junior
Daryl Turner almost single-handedly made certain the Raiders could not sweep the relay events, putting together a sizzling anchor leg in the 400 freestyle relay to catapult the Bruins to a first-place finish.
Turner also won the 100 freestyle and was narrowly out-touched at the wall in a thrilling 50 freestyle race by
Bryce Carter of
Chatfield (Littleton).
"As far as the anchor on the relay, my main focus going into the water was that I've got to catch my relay up," Turner said. "At that point I'm not swimming just for me. I'm swimming for the team aspect, to try and get as many points as we could on the board. The way I think of it, you're going into battle with three other guys. You just have to encourage each other to go the best that you can to get the best out of your races."
Other individual winners included
D'Evelyn (Denver)'s
Jeff Garnier in the 200 freestyle;
David Fraser of
Highlands Ranch in the individual medley;
Broomfield's Martin Wallace in the 500 freestyle relay; and Cherry Creek's
Zachary Ballon in the breaststroke.
Denver East senior
Andrew Hull claimed the diving championship, although the competition was delayed after a Mullen diver required an ambulance after smacking his head on the board during a dive attempt.
Team scores: 1. Regis Jesuit 408, 2. Cherry Creek 238, 3. Arapahoe 182, 4. Highlands Ranch 175, 5. Chatfield 157, 6. Lewis-Palmer 120, 7. Fairview 115, 8. D'Evelyn 110, 9. Poudre 83, 10. Heritage 81,
11. Castle View-Douglas County 79, 12. Broomfield 76, 13. Fossil Ridge 61, 14. Smoky Hill 55, 15. Denver East 53, 16t. Fort Collins 43, Ralston Valley 43, 18. Mullen 39, 19. Cherokee Trail 33, 20. Standley Lake 25, 21t. Hinkley 17, Windsor 17, 23. Rocky Mountain 16, 24t. Monarch 15, Columbine 15, Legacy 15, 27t. Thompson Valley 12, Durango 12, 29. Greeley West 4.
200 medley relay: 1. Regis Jesuit 1 minute, 34.12 seconds; 2. Cherry Creek 1:36.74; 3. Highlands Ranch 1:37.89; 4. Arapahoe 1:42.88; 5. Chatfield 1:43.73; 6. Fairview 1:44.37; 7. Fossil Ridge 1:44.82; 8. Heritage 1:45.07.
200 freestyle: 1. Jeff Garnier, D'Evelyn, 1:39.14; 2. Tyler Hicks, Poudre, 1:42.46; 3. Martin Wallace, Broomfield, 1:42.69; 4. Andrew Torres, Ralston Valley, 1:45.62; 5. Ryan Arata, Lewis-Palmer, 1:45.78; 6. Andrew Parker, Highlands Ranch, 1:45.81; 7. Kyle Hentschel, Arapahoe, 1:46.11; 8. Josh Schechter, Arapahoe, 1:46.21.
200 individual medley: 1. David Fraser, Highlands Ranch, 1:56.16; 2. Hennessey Stuart, Regis Jesuit, 1:56.26; 3. Louis Geist, Mullen, 1:59.73; 4. Erik Biernat, Regis Jesuit, 1:59.80; 5. Eric Ung, Standley Lake,2:00.72; 6. Chris McMahon, Highlands Ranch, 2:01.36; 7. Andrew Scott, Windsor, 2:02.61; 8. Reed Mathews, Denver East, 2:04.22.
50 freestyle: 1. Bryce Carter, Chatfield, 20.95; 2. Daryl Turner, Cherry Creek, 21.00; 3. Ben Fry, Regis Jesuit, 21.42; 4. Zach Suter, Regis Jesuit, 21.98; 5. Andrew Behrend, Cherry Creek, 22.07; 6. J.P. Beach, Castle View-Douglas County, 22.11; 7. Joey Hinton, Heritage, 22.35; 8. Miles MacKenzie, Fairview, 22.45.
Diving: 1. Andrew Hull, Denver East, 475.65; 2. Cody Engstrom, Broomfield, 460.55; 3. Eric McMillin, Rocky Mountain, 452.85; 4. Alan LeBlang, Arapahoe, 451.70; 5. Kyle Goodwin, Regis Jesuit, 451.00; 6. Matt Mauser, Regis Jesuit, 401.40; 7. Matt Jagiello, Chatfield, 376.30; 8. Trent Kindvall, Standley Lake, 375.35.
100 butterfly: 1. Clark Smith, Regis Jesuit, 49.03; 2. David Fraser, Highlands Ranch, 50.55; 3. Ryan Arata, Lewis-Palmer, 51.08; 4. Andrew Torres, Ralston Valley, 51.15; 5. Reed Mathews, Denver East, 51.61; 6. Erik Biernat, Regis Jesuit, 53.47; 7. Josh Schechter, Arapahoe, 54.32; 8. Max Holter, Fort Collins, 54.99.
100 freestyle: 1. Daryl Turner, Cherry Creek, 45.44; 2. Jeff Garnier, D'Evelyn, 45.73; 3. Bryce Carter, Chatfield, 46.22; 4. Tyler Hicks, Poudre, 46.29; 5. Ben Fry, Regis Jesuit, 47.22; 6. Kyle Hentschel, Arapahoe, 48.26; 7. Jack Jenner, Castle View-Douglas County, 48.44; 8. Max Phillips, Fairview, 49.33.
500 freestyle: 1. Martin Wallace, Broomfield, 4:41.08; 2. Louis Geist, Mullen, 4:41.20; 3. Juhan Hong, Smoky Hill, 4:41.96; 4. Chris Dawson, Regis Jesuit, 4:48.75; 5. Josh Graber, D'Evelyn, 4:50.14; 6. Brandon Barocio, Hinkley, 4:56.74; 7. Alex Walton, Fairview, 5:00.65; 8. Bryce de Venecia, Cherry Creek, 5:09.69.
200 freestyle relay: 1. Regis Jesuit 1:25.51; 2. Arapahoe 1:28.26; 3. Cherry Creek 1:29.59; 4. D'Evelyn 1:30.11; 5. Chatfield 1:30.98; 6. Fairview 1:30.99; 7. Heritage 1:31.06; 8. Castle View-Douglas County 1:31.34.
100 backstroke: 1. Hennessey Stuart, Regis Jesuit, 51.29; 2. Andrew Parker, Highlands Ranch, 52.00; 3. Austin Layman, Chatfield, 53.20; 4. Sam Urban, Regis Jesuit, 54.52; 5. Austin Phillips, Regis Jesuit, 54.71; 6. T.J. Konde, Cherokee Trail, 56.59; 7. Grant Olsen-Stavrakas, Columbine, 56.72; 8. Jake Thelen, Fossil Ridge, 56.87.
100 breaststroke: 1. Zach Ballon, Cherry Creek, 1:00.88; 2. Tim Smith, Regis Jesuit, 1:01.04; 3. Lucas Karasek, Highlands Ranch, 1:01.55; 4. Mason Markle, Smoky Hill, 1:02.49; 5. Matthew Sima, Poudre, 1:02.65; 6. John Mattern, Cherry Creek, 1:02.87; 7. Josh Bedford, Cherokee Trail, 1:03.70; 8. Jesse Ireland, Heritage, 1:04.60.
400 freestyle relay: 1. Cherry Creek 3:12.05; 2. Arapahoe 3:12.05; 3. Highlands Ranch 3:17.76; 4. Regis Jesuit 3:19.02; 5. Lewis-Palmer 3:19.26; 6. Chatfield, 3:20.58; 7. D'Evelyn 3:20.98; 8. Fairview, DQ.
