High School State Championships: Colorado 4A, 5A Boys

THORNTON AND FORT COLLINS, Colorado, May 21. Colorado's high school season finished with the boys competitions May 18-19. Swimmers in Division 4A gathered in Thornton, while the 5A state meet was contested in Fort Collins. Five state and six division records were lowered during the two meets.

Division 4A
Air Academy's 241 points earned them first place by just 7-1/2 points over D'Evelyn (233-1/2). Cheyenne Mountain came in third with 200-1/2 points, with Coronado right behind with 193. In a three-way battle for fifth, Thompson Valley emerged on top with 163 points. Montrose collected 161 points, with Mullen putting up 159.

D'Evelyn senior Jeff Garnier posted the only state record in 4A competition with his 1:37.18 effort in the 200 free, and set a 4A mark of 45.41 in the prelims of the 100 free. He came back in finals with a 45.44 winning time. Garnier also anchored D'Evelyn's 4A record-setting 200 free relay along with senior Nick Fawcett, sophomore Jake Sbarbaro and junior Josh Graber (1:27.14). Graber and Garnier joined junior Michael Feller and sophomore Kevin Olson to take the 400 free relay win in 3:11.94.

Division 4A records fell to Alex Nickell, a senior at Mountain View (500 free, 4:31.92); Longmont senior Conor Dwyer (100 breast, 56.00); and Devon Davis, an Air Academy junior (100 fly, 49.79). Dwyer gained a second victory with his 1:52.92 in the 200 IM. Davis, along with senior Justin Dearden, junior Carson Shollenbarger and freshman Michael Loyd, gave Air Academy the 200 medley relay title with their 1:36.19.

Jonathan Littles, a Cheyenne Mountain senior, nabbed the 50 free title with his 21.52. Mountain View senior Alex Nickell's 50.54 in the 100 back earned him the top spot in that event. Cody Engstrom, a junior at Broomfield, easily won the diving competition with his 464.00 points.

Division 5A
Regis Jesuit picked up its 19th consecutive state title in convincing fashion with their 381-240 victory over runner-up Cherry Creek. Rounding out the top five teams were Loveland (201), Arapahoe (162) and Highlands Ranch (151).

Regis Jesuit's 400 free relay of sophomore Hennessey Stuart, senior Ben Fry plus juniors Clark Smith and Erik Biernat put an exclamation point on the meet with their state record-setting 3:04.91. Juniors Zach Suter and Grayson Magruder combined with Fry and Smith for a 1:25.53 triumph in the 200 free relay. Cherry Creek's 200 medley relay came up with a state record-setting 1:32.07 to prevent Regis Jesuit from a relay sweep, 1:3w2.07-1:33.08. Cherry Creek's team consisted of juniors Daryl Turner and John Mattern plus seniors Zach Ballon and Andrew Behrend.

Regis Jesuit enjoyed individual victories courtesy of Fry in the 50 free (21.17), Smith in the 100 fly (48.73) and freshman Kyle Goodwin in diving (533.25 points).

Cherry Creek's Turner erased state standards in two events. His first record came in the prelims of the 100 free, when he posted a 44.19. He came close to bettering that in finals with his winning 44.33. In the 100 back, he first bettered the record with a 48.22 in prelims; during finals, he slightly improved the new mark to 48.18.

Ponderosa junior Carter Griffin collected event titles in both the 200 and 500 free (1:40.92 and 4:34.43), Nick Hatanaka, a Loveland junior, set a 5A division mark in the 100 breast (56.62).

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