The Fossil Ridge boys swimming team had plenty to celebrate last season, winning the Class 5A state title. The SaberCats are the favorites again in the big-school classification as the regular season hits the homestretch ahead of the May 20-21 championships.
File photo by Ray Chen
Attempting to predict the path the postseason will take in any sport can be somewhat of an exercise in futility.
This is especially true when a team championship depends on a compilation of individual events, where a team's depth and ability to put it all together matter most.
That's a statement echoed by
Fossil Ridge (Fort Collins) boys swim coach Mark Morehouse. The SaberCats are the defending Class 5A state champions and earlier this season won the Dick Rush Coaches Invite. But as to how the final few weeks of 2016 will go for Fossil Ridge or any other program for that matter? That's a question that can only be answered at the conclusion of the 5A and 4A state meets May 21.
"I always say we don't really know. Swimming is hard to know what everybody has and how fast they are going to swim until you get to the end," Morehouse said. "(The season) is going well but we know what we need to do to reach our goals for the end of the season hasn't really come yet."
Fossil Ridge outdistanced
Regis Jesuit (Aurora) by 68 points at the Coaches Invite back on March 19. Senior
Loren Gillilan won the 100-yard butterfly at the meet and sophomore
Danny Kovac took the 100 backstroke; the combination of
Matt Geraghty,
Craig Heimark,
Mason Fine and Kovac took first in the 400 free relay.
Not all teams were at the Coaches Invite, but 38 squads from 5A and 4A did make for perhaps the strongest non-state field of the season.
"I think it was certainly a good sign to go there and swim against some of the other top teams in the state and swim pretty fast and place well against those teams," Morehouse said. "We're trying to keep control of what we can keep control of. It was positive feedback for us, but it doesn't guarantee anything."
Gillilan currently owns the top 5A time in the state this season in the 100 fly at 50.76 seconds and is fourth in the 100 backstroke. The 400 free relay team also has the top time (3:12.02) and the 200 free relay team of
Shamzi Alkaff,
Kris Malinin, Kovac and Heimark ranks first after its time of 1:27.18 at the Eagle Invitational on April 23.
Kovac is second in the 100 backstroke and fourth in the 200 individual medley;
Matt Willis is third in the 200 free, and the 200 medley relay team is second; and Heimark ranks fourth in the 100 free.
Having graduated three seniors who placed at state a year ago, Morehouse said Fossil Ridge will rely more on swimmers who were at state a year ago but may not have scored any points.
"Individual people don't win team championships. It's about having a lot of guys score points and having a lot of guys who make it back into finals," he said. "It's kind of a numbers game. It's not about the individual. It's about everybody having their best performance and doing what they can to help the team out."
Last spring Fossil Ridge became only the second team other than Regis Jesuit to win the 5A state title since 1995 (Highlands Ranch won in 2010).
Regis Jesuit currently owns the top 5A times in the 200 yard medley relay and
Elijah Warren ranks first in the 100 breaststroke.
Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village), which hasn't won a boys swimming title since taking the 6A crown in 1994, ranks in the top three in two relays and has three swimmers back from its state-winning 400 free relay team of a year ago.
"I think one thing making swimming in Colorado very exciting right now is it's not one team," Morehouse said. "There was a whole bunch of years where everybody was swimming for second place behind Regis. I think the talent is more distributed between the schools, and I think that makes it more exciting for everybody."
Arapahoe (Centennial) junior
Griffin Eiber, who won the 50 and 100 free at the Coaches Invite, currently has the top 5A time in those events. Defending champions
Keegan Foulke of
Pomona (Arvada) (200 IM),
Gabriele Sasia of
Highlands Ranch (100 fly) and
Michael Zarian of
Fairview (Boulder) (500 free) also have top 5A times.
Boulder's Chris Nicholson has the fastest time in the 200 free.
Devin Bellamy of
Smoky Hill (Aurora) is the highest scorer in the 1-meter diving event.
Class 4ACheyenne Mountain (Colorado Springs) and
Air Academy (US Air Force Academy) have combined to win the previous four 4A state titles, and those two squads figure to be battling it out again May 20-21 in Thornton.
Defending champion Cheyenne Mountain currently holds the fastest 4A times in seven of the 12 events, including all three relays. Junior
Brayden Love has the top times in the 200 IM, 100 fly and 100 breaststroke, and teammate
Kyle Leach is first in the 500 free.
Air Academy senior
Tommy Baker is first in the 100 and 200 free and is second in the 50 free behind
Denver South's Keegan Bundy.
Golden's Daric Sundeen holds the top time in the 100 back, and
Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch) freshman
Casey Fellows tops the board in 1-meter diving.
