Littleton – There is no vanilla in Mark Dylla.
Acclaimed and confident, the Heritage senior is as much of a pool boy as he is a cool boy.
He is a Colorado native goaded into swimming 13 years ago by a little girl who lived across the street, yet is 20 days from proving he is the best in-state schoolboy to splash in a Speedo since sanctioning began in 1959.
“He’s almost a once-in-a-lifetime boys swimmer,” Fairview girls coach Bob Smartt said.
Dylla’s credentials aren’t watered down, and he’s still sponging up accolades.
His highlights include having not lost an individual race as an Eagles competitor (77 with two each remaining at the Continental League meet next weekend and Class 5A championships May 18-19); winning six state titles with the possibility (probability?) of two more; being named an All-American 18 times (17 individually, and seven more to be declared official by the end of June); holding two state records (100-yard butterfly, 48.7 seconds; and 500 freestyle, 4:28.42); being national champion in the 100 butterfly in 2005 and 500 freestyle in 2006; and qualifying in both butterflies and individual medleys for the 2008 Olympic trials.
Dylla’s versatile stroke has won the 100 butterfly three times, 500 freestyle twice and 200 individual medley once (making him Heritage’s only individual winner), putting him behind only Wally Hultin of East and George Washington, an eight-time champ from 1959-61 (when more than two individual events were first permitted).
With six titles, Dylla is in lofty company with Tom Chamberlain (South), John Ebuna (Adams City), Bill Heiss (old College High), Bob Sundell (George Washington), Bob Patten and Sam Worden (Littleton), Luke Wagner (Regis) and Eric Weisner (Montrose).
While Dylla, who has signed with Georgia, can recite swimming statistics, names and more as if he were Pete Rose talking baseball, don’t misconstrue brag with fact.
“I’m confident. I don’t think I get big-headed,” Dylla said. “I just go race and compete.”
Sure, and water is just wet.
“He could win just about any event at the state meet this year and probably is the best out of Colorado overall,” said Littleton’s Maurice Ervin, a coach in the state for four decades.
Initially, Dylla dived into swimming at age 5, when a friend strutted her pool prowess and told him he couldn’t swim to a lifeguard. So Dylla roared home, confronted his mother as to why he wasn’t doing it, too, and was told, “You can’t swim.”
But, Dylla said, “she signed me up, and I guess I got better.”
Perhaps just a little – as he ripped through club pools like a fish, became the premier prepster locally and developed into a force nationally with recruiting attention that would make most football prospects cry.
At 6 feet, 180 pounds, Dylla isn’t imposing physically, although his wingspan is that of a person who stands 6-4. His work ethic and competitiveness remain legendary without benefits of weight training that await him as a member of the Bulldogs, but his strength includes unmatched power under water.
“He has started to fill out over the past six to eight months,” Heritage coach Tom Byorick said. “He has to put on some more muscle and get stronger, but he has always had a big motor and heart, and he won’t quit.”
Others usually see Dylla come up ahead of them, although Dylla can get cramps from humble pie … after a race.
At a big-time meet in Texas, Cherry Creek coach Eric Craven, who has worked with Dylla for a dozen years, watched two-time Olympic champion Ian Crocker serve a slice.
“All Mark saw were (Crocker’s) toes,” Craven said. “Mark learned. He makes adjustments within minutes.”
Byorick considers Dylla a team guy and “his mind for swimming is terrific….If I’m irritated and want to say something to the guys about it, I’ll tell Mark and he’ll tell me that he already talked to them about it.”
Dylla’s choice of events also draws a buzz, and he enjoys keeping it in the vault. He is unsure which two he will choose at state, but here’s a hint – calling it a schoolboy career while holding four state records is appealing.
“No one else has done that,” he said.
Also having beefed up his grade-point average to 3.5 despite a hectic schedule that initially kept him out of advanced-placement and honors classes, Dylla knows his regular swims soon will be elsewhere.
“Sad? There is some of that,” he said. “I realize this is it, I can’t go back and do it again.
“Was I good? Yeah. The best ever? That’s for someone else to decide.”
Elite swimmers
Heritage’s Mark Dylla has won six individual swimming titles, leaving him only two behind the all-time leader, according to state records:
EIGHT
Wally Hultin (East, George Washington)
1959: 150-yard individual medley; 400 freestyle
1960: 200 IM; 50 freestyle; 100 butterfly; 100 freestyle
1961: 200 IM; 100 freestyle
SIX
Tom Chamberlain (South)
1963: 200 freestyle; 100 freestyle
1964: 200 freestyle; 100 butterfly
1965: 200 freestyle; 400 freestyle
Bill Heiss (College High)
1968: 200 IM; 100 backstroke
1969: 200 IM; 100 backstroke
1970: 200 IM; 100 freestyle
Bob Sundell (George Washington)
1971: 50 freestyle; 100 freestyle
1972: 50 freestyle; 100 freestyle
1973: 50 freestyle; 100 freestyle
John Ebuna (Adams City)
1973: 200 freestyle; 100 backstroke
1974: 200 freestyle; 100 freestyle
1975: 200 freestyle; 100 freestyle
Sam Worden (Littleton)
1978: 200 freestyle; 100 freestyle
1979: 200 freestyle; 100 freestyle
1980: 50 freestyle; 100 freestyle
Bob Patten (Littleton)
1979: 100 butterfly; 500 freestyle
1980: 200 IM; 100 butterfly
1981: 100 butterfly; 100 backstroke
Luke Wagner (Regis)
1997: 100 backstroke
1998: 100 backstroke
1999: 100 backstroke; 100 butterfly
2000: 100 backstroke; 100 butterfly
Eric Weisner (Montrose)
1999: 200 freestyle; 500 freestyle
2000: 200 freestyle; 500 freestyle
2001: 200 freestyle; 500 freestyle
Mark Dylla (Heritage)
2004: 100 butterfly; 500 freestyle
2005: 100 butterfly; 200 IM
2006: 100 butterfly; 500 freestyle
Neil H. Devlin can be reached at 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com.
