Aurora boys swimmers have taken full advantage of a rule change that lets as many swimmers as possible qualify into the Class 5A state meet this season.
Not bound by a previous rule that limited each school to just four state entries per event, the city has a massive contingent of 54 swimmers and divers and 14 relay teams from five city schools set for this season’s meet May 20-21 at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
Traditional powerhouse Regis Jesuit generally sends the most swimmers to the state meet among Aurora teams and that will be the case again, as coach Nick Frasersmith’s team has 27 swimmers, 1 diver and three relay teams set to compete.
The Raiders increased their state ranks by eight at the Continental “A” League meet May 13-14 at Heritage High School, in which they still managed to finish second despite holding out nearly its entire state contingent to give others a chance to qualify.
It paid off in a big way, and Regis Jesuit has at least four swimmers qualified in every event with a high of eight in the prelims of the 200 yard individual medley. If the meet ended exactly as it is seeded according to the psyche sheets that came out May 17, the Raiders would finish eighth as a team according to the projections of PrepSwimCo.com.
Regis Jesuit was seeded to finish fifth last season, however, and worked its way up to second place behind Fossil Ridge, so Frasersmith’s team is used to outswimming its projections.
Sophomore Elijah Warren is the No. 1 seed in the state in the 100 yard breaststroke, with his time of 56.89 seconds set on April 5 in a dual meet against Arapahoe standing up. Sophomore Ty Coen —who finished fourth in two events at last season’s state meet — is seeded in the top 12 in a pair of events and senior Nick Norie is seeded to score in the 100 freestyle.
Besides that, Regis Jesuit’s relay teams are seeded No. 2 in the 200 medley and No. 4 in the 200 freestyle, which should net good points.
Regis Jesuit will miss the automatic diving points provided the last four years by Kyle Goodwin, who won an unprecedented four career 5A state titles on the board, but diving will remain one of events to watch for Aurora.
Smoky Hill senior Devin Bellamy is on a quest to win his first state title and he tuned up for state with his performance at the Centennial “A” League meet on May 14. Bellamy racked up a score of 605.7 points to set a league record (knocking former Smoky Hill star Karo Isajan’s 2003 score of 576.50 points to second place) and an Arapahoe pool record (topping Aaron Feight’s score of 550.04 points in 2003).
Bellamy should be at home as he trains at the Air Force Academy at least once a week as Goodwin did. Cherokee Trail senior Eric Lammon is also one to watch in diving, as is Hinkley’s Aurora-best contingent of three divers in brothers Byron and Jerald Mayo and Isaiah Cheeks.
Smoky Hill coach Scott Cohen has a total of 17 state qualifiers, who are headed by seniors Aidan Mercer and Joe Waite, along with dramatically improved sophomore Tylen Phillips.
Grandview has four individual qualifiers, headed by senior Robin Kuebler, who won the Centennial “A” League title in the 50 freestyle and is seeded third in the event at state. He should also score in the 100 freestyle and freshman Cobi Wood could get points in the distance freestyles, while junior Danny Schweitzberger could make it back in the 100 backstroke.
EMAC champion Hinkley — a mix of athletes from across Aurora Public Schools — has its largest contingent headed to the state meet in a long, long time.
At the league meet, coach Beth Himes added the 200 medley relay team of sophomores Nathan Leigh, Danyion Reagan and David Griffith and senior Joseph Graff to a state-bound group that already included the trio of divers, plus the 200 freestyle relay.
Leigh is a rare individual swimming state qualifier for the Hinkley team — the last one came in 2010 with Michael Martin — who is going in the 100 breaststroke.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel