Daryl Turner looking to lead Cherry Creek to state swimming title

Daryl Turner will never forget the birthday party he attended nearly 10 years ago.

The party was held at a local pool in the Denver area. Turner and his friend were playing in the shallow pool when his friend suggested they try the water slide. The slide dumped into the deep pool.

"He goes down the slide and swims fine," Turner recalls. "I go down and can't touch the bottom, I freak out and I have to get saved by a lifeguard.

"I can still see the lifeguard running across the pool to come get me."

Nowadays, there aren't many lifeguards that can keep up with Turner, who stars for the Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village) boys swim team.

With eight state championships to his credit already, Turner will make his senior season debut on Saturday at the Colorado High School Swim Coaches Association Dick Rush Memorial Invitational. The meet will be held at the Veteran's Memorial Aquatic Center, a pool Turner said he "absolutely loves."

Turner began to love the water shortly after that birthday party a decade ago. His mother got him into swim lessons, and he said he actually failed one of the early ones. Nevertheless, he kept at it, and a recreational team sharing the pool caught the attention of Turner's mother.

"Once I learned to float and I learned the majority of the strokes, my mom asked me, ‘Do you want to try that, being on a swim team?' I said, ‘Sure, why not?' The rest is history," he said. "I joined the recreational swim team. That's where it all started."

Where it all ends is anybody's guess, but Turner is certainly on the path to stardom.

As a freshman in 2010, he shared the state title in the 50-yard freestyle and helped Cherry Creek win the 200 freestyle relay. As a sophomore, he brought home three state titles and a second-place finish.

Turner repeated that feat last year, winning the 100-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard medley relay. He set Colorado state records in all three races. He also helped the Bruins finish second in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

With 11 top-two finishes in 12 career state events, Turner said he's feeling faster now than ever.

"Definitely I am," he said. "I'm working hard at practice every day with state on my mind as the ultimate goal to swim well at that meet. Our team is training hard and we'll be ready for state."

Following his stellar state meet performance last year, Turner kept going. Just a few weeks after the state meet, Turner competed at the Olympic Trials in Omaha.

"That was an amazing experience," he said. "I'm excited to go back in the next three years or so, in 2016 for the next Olympic trials."

Turner has also participated in countless meets for his club team, Aces, since last summer, taken a handful of recruiting trips and signed a letter of intent to compete at the University of Minnesota.

"I just felt like I was at home," he said of his visit to Minnesota. "I love the team, I love the coaching staff. I'm really happy to compete in Division I, in the Big 10 Conference."

Before becoming a Golden Gopher, however, Turner is aiming for a few more golden moments as a Bruin. That starts with the Dick Rush Memorial on Saturday, where he will swim the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle, as well as a pair of relays.

"I want to win the 50 free this time, because I was out-touched for second last year," he said. "My goal is to go four-for-four in all of my events, including relays. I really believe my teammates and I can accomplish that."

Four-for-four is a goal at state, too. But only because he knows that will give Cherry Creek a great opportunity to win the Class 5A team title. The Bruins have won 10 state championships, but the last one came in 1994. Regis has won 17 of the 18 titles since then, with Highlands Ranch winning in 2010.

In the last eight years, Cherry Creek has been second five times and third in the other three years.

"I want to serve my team the best way I can, and I feel like four-for-four would not only benefit me in my goals, but it'll also help my team in their goal of winning state," he said.