FORT COLLINS — He has been gone one year, but Mark Dylla’s aura is very prominent at the Edora Pool Ice Center, home of the state swimming and diving championships.
One of his former Heritage teammates and another fierce competitor had the spotlight Thursday in the Class 5A preliminaries.
Heritage’s Connor Brennan and Regis’ Jay Kim swam to 5A records and hope today’s finals will feature even better numbers.
Swimming in the sixth heat of the 200-yard individual medley, Kim broke the 6-year-old record of 1:51.55 by Standley Lake’s Danny Keeling by going 1:50.43. Kim’s time was just 0.18 seconds off the mark of Arapahoe’s Dave Denniston (1:50.25, 1997).
“That’s the best time I’ve swam in my lifetime, and there is hope to improve it tomorrow,” said Kim, a native of South Korea. “I really wanted the 200 IM record, just because it is kind of an old record.”
Kim would have to shave a second off his 100 butterfly time to match Dylla’s state mark of 49.22 seconds set last season.
Brennan — who talks often with Dylla, a former teammate who is swimming at the University of Georgia — set a state mark in the 50 freestyle with a 20.72 time, bettering the mark of George Washington’s Nick Kaluk (20.96, 2001).
Brennan qualified second in the 100 free, behind Legacy freshman Steve Schmuhl. The Lightning freshman also qualified first in the 200 free.
Other top qualifiers include Highlands Ranch’s Alexey Kotliarsky (500 free), Arapahoe’s Rob Newell (100 backstroke) and Regis’ Blas Yslas (100 breaststroke).
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com
