Steve Schmuhl is a cool customer.
The Legacy freshman begins his quest today at the Edora Pool Ice Center in Fort Collins to live up to the hype laid upon him before his prep swimming career even began.
“Whatever happens, happens,” Schmuhl said after his swims at last month’s Dick Rush Invitational in Loveland.
The Class 5A preliminaries start at 4 p.m. today and finish at 5 p.m. Friday The Class 4A will start its prelims Friday morning and wrap up Saturday beginning at 3:30 p.m.
Schmuhl, who will swim the 100-yard freestyle and will take on defending champion Tyler Bush of Fort Collins in the 200 freestyle, is just one of the story lines swirling around the 5A meet.
Regis is once again the heavy favorite to win the team title, although coach Michael Doherty will tell you he never enters a meet expecting to win. The Raiders have won 13 straight titles and 15 of 16.
Senior Jay Kim, who has seven gold medals, will try to add a few more before he heads to Missouri’s Drury University. Kim will swim the 200 individual medley and is the only prep athlete in the state to swim sub-50 seconds in the 100 butterfly.
In Class 4A, it has been 27 years since a Thomas Jefferson boys swimmer — George DiCarlo won the 200 and 50 freestyle events in 1981 — has stood atop the podium at state. Marc Houghton could end that drought if form holds true in the 200 free.
Two athletes to be familiar with are Silver Creek’s Nick Koerner and Ralston Valley’s Clay Myers. Both won multiple titles last season and are in position to do so again.
In diving, Mountain View’s Taylor Sishc, who will compete at Stanford next fall, won the state championship as a freshman, only to yield the next two titles to Conifer’s Ben Grado (now at Arizona).
Longmont’s Silver Creek appears to be the 4A team to beat, but the Raptors will have to hold off Ralston Valley, Conifer and Cheyenne Mountain, among others, to win their first title.
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com
