FORT COLLINS — “Hoo-rah!”
That was the Silver Creek battle cry at the Class 4A state swimming and diving championships Saturday at the Edora Pool and Ice Center.
Silver Creek became the first Longmont-based school to win a state title in boys swimming, scoring 236 points. The Raptors were five points better than runner-up Cheyenne Mountain, which made it close by winning the 400-yard freestyle relay. Three-time defending state champ Thompson Valley was sixth with 148 points.
“Winning as an individual is great; winning on a relay is even better. But bringing home the state title is the only thing that one team does each year,” Silver Creek star Nick Koerner said. “That’s something special.”
Koerner, the defending champion in the 50 and 100 freestyles, first defended his title in the 50. The Stanford-bound senior used his 6-foot-5 frame to outreach Moffat County’s Cole Worsley down the stretch.
In his final individual event, the 100 free, Koerner went out in style, breaking the Class 4A state record set by Cheyenne Mountain’s Kris Findorff (45.95 in 2005) with a winning swim of 45.54 seconds.
“I came out of the 50 and just missed that record and was a little frustrated by that,” said Koerner, who also anchored the Raptors’ 200 freestyle relay championship team. “I knew what I wanted to go and I set my sights high to go sub-45. It’s better to set them high and fall short and still get your ultimate goal. Breaking that record felt great.”
Ralston Valley’s Clay Myers defended his 200 IM and 500 free titles. The DU-bound senior cruised in the 200 IM. Then, a night after just making sure he qualified, he had plenty left in the tank to break his own one-year record of 4:38.98 in the 500 by winning in 4:35.61.
“When you’ve got to go that fast, it’s nice to have a little something left,” Myers said. “I wanted to go 4:34, but that is close enough and I’m happy with it.”
Joining Koerner at Stanford will be Mountain View diver Taylor Sishc, who, three years after winning his first state title as a freshman, climbed back to the top of the podium. A final score of 555.60, which included scoring a 10 on his second-to-last dive, left Sishc 125 points ahead of Loveland city rival Greg Conway of Thompson Valley.
“The last two years were pretty rough, and I’m just glad I got another title again,” said Sishc, who pulled a rare double by also swimming a leg of the Mountain Lions’ 200 medley relay championship team. “I’m happy with how I dove. It would have been nice to get the record, but I can’t complain.”
Thomas Jefferson’s Marc Houghton won the 200 free to become the first champion from the Denver school since Olympian George DiCarlo won the 200 and 500 in 1981.
“It’s really cool to represent TJ and all of the DPS,” Houghton said. “It’s really cool to come in here and swim against these guys from the suburbs and show them that Denver still has some good guys.”
Other champions included Worsley, who became the first Moffat County swimmer to win a state title when he won the 100 butterfly.
Mountain View’s Tim Stumbaugh, bound for MIT, won the 100 backstroke and Pueblo Centennial’s Tanner Krall won the 100 breaststroke.
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com
