Something special was in the (pool) water this spring in Aurora and it showed from start to finish.
When the final race of the Class 5A boys state swim meet concluded at the Veterans’ Memorial Aquatic Center, city individuals and relay teams had collected a team title, three individual event crowns and 57 top-20 finishes.
While Regis Jesuit earned a second straight state championship — and 24th all-time — not all the power was concentrated with the Raiders, which is shown in the composition of the 2023 Sentinel Colorado All-Aurora Boys Swim Team — which is determined by performance at the Class 5A state meet — that reflects that depth. Regis Jesuit is heavily represented, however, Grandview, Smoky Hill and Overland swimmers and divers also earned spots.
Coach Nick Frasersmith’s Regis Jesuit team put two defeats to rival Cherry Creek during the regular season behind it with a senior-led performance that completed a repeat
The Raiders were dominant in a few events, most notably the 50 yard freestyle, as they earned three of the top six places on the medal podium. At the top was senior Truman Inglis, who won the championship by a mere 0.12 of a second over Legacy’s Tegan Barrier.
Inglis — who signed a national letter of intent to play water polo at Chapman University — came into the meet seeded fourth with a top time of 21.23 seconds, but turned in a 20.79 in the championship final, with teammates Carter Anderson (fourth) and Hawkins Wendt (sixth) close behind. Inglis earned a second All-Aurora individual spot in the 100 freestyle with a third-place finish (in a time of 45.78 seconds) after he was seeded fifth coming into the meet.
Inglis also was the last in the water for Regis Jesuit’s other event championship, which came in the 200 yard freestyle relay.
The Raiders rolled during the season in relay events and that kept going at the state meet with three top-10 performances, which were highlighted by the 200 freestyle crown from the all-senior crew of Inglis, Wendt (a Seattle University recruit), Anderson and Ronan Krauss.
Regis Jesuit was the top seed in the event after its fantastic performance at the John Strain Memorial meet and it held that spot through to the medal podium with a finals time of 1 minute, 23.47 seconds, which was a half-second swifter than Monarch.
The same relay group — with another senior, Charlie Klein, in place of Anderson — also finished an Aurora-best third in the 400 freestyle relay. Both relays, as well as the Raiders’ 200 yard medley relay, garnered All-American status from the recently-issued awards from the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (NISCA) (story, here).
Krauss earned another individual All-Aurora honor in the 200 yard freestyle in which he came in seeded fourth and finished in that exact spot in the championship final. The time improved significantly, however, for the Georgetown University signee as he came in with a best of 1:42.36 and finished in 1:41.
The other state championship from Aurora came from Grandview sophomore Oliver Schimberg, who claimed state honors in his specialty, the 100 yard backstroke.
A Grandview boys swimmer hadn’t captured gold at the state meet since way back in 2011 when John Martens — a future standout at the University of Texas — touched the wall first in the 200 freestyle at the state meet’s old home at the Edora Pool & Ice Center in Fort Collins, but Schimberg became the second.
Continuing his upward trend as the season went along, Schimberg — who said his goal is to swim 70 percent of the race underwater — achieved his goal of swimming under the 49 second barrier in the championship final. He came in with a top time of 49.59 seconds that made him the No. 2 seed behind Monarch’s Gavin Keogh.
Both went under 49 in the final with Schimberg prevailing with his 48.87. He earned NISCA All-American status in the event on top of that.
Schimberg also was the city’s top performer in the 100 yard butterfly in which he made a big jump. The No. 9 seed coming into the meet, Schimberg finished third in the championship final and was just .04 of a second out of second.
Grandview claimed city-best honors in the 200 yard medley relay when the team of Schimberg, his brother William, Matthew Scicchitano and Evan Higgins finished in fifth place.
The Wolves shaved nearly a second off their seed time with a 1:32.53 in the final to finish in front of teams from Smoky Hill and Regis Jesuit, which were eighth and ninth, respectively. All three Aurora squads made the NISCA All-American list.
Smoky Hill’s rise continued this season and coach Scott Cohen’s Buffaloes made it all the way to the No. 5 spot in the final 5A team standings.
Junior Daniel Yi came into the meet in search of an elusive state championship in the 100 yard breaststroke, but Chatfield’s Joshua Corn again proved to be the obstacle he couldn’t overcome. Yi set a number of pool records in the event over the course of the season and it took a state record-setting performance by Corn to beat him.
In the finals, Corn (a Columbia University recruit) swam a 53.73 to better former Regis Jesuit star Will Goodwin’s 2019 standard of 54.67, while Yi touched the wall second in 54.86 to claim All-Aurora honors for a second straight season. The two raced for a second time on the season after they went head-to-head in the finals of the Smoky Hill Invitational, a race Corn won by 0.15 of a second.
Yi also topped Aurora in the 200 yard individual medley, in which he finished in third place. His season-best time of 1:51.76 had him seeded second coming and he swam faster in the final (1:51.19), but Arvada West’s Drew Ravegum (1:50.09) and Highlands Ranch’s Mason Kajfosz (1:50.63) got to the wall just before him.
Both performances earned Yi All-American accolades from NISCA.
The Buffaloes were particularly outstanding with internal competition in the 500 yard freestyle and sophomore Ian Noffsinger and junior Jake Baker continued to push each other to new heights. Noffsinger won the Centennial “A” League championship in the event for a second straight season and was the No. 2 seed in the event with a time of 4:41.46.
Columbine senior Chase Mueller smashed the standing state record in the event by more than five seconds with his time of 4:21.21, while Noffsinger dropped nearly five seconds with a 4:36.96, but had Highlands Ranch’s Vladislav Kazakin sneak past him to finish second. Baker finished fourth and Krauss — Aurora’s top state finisher last season — came in fifth.
Noffsinger received NISCA All-American status as a result.
In stark contrast to past years, divers were incredibly scarce around Aurora.
Overland had one of the few on the board in sophomore Chad Hamilton, who was a state qualifier. Hamilton got the Trailblazers on the scoreboard at the state meet with a point as he made the finals and finished 20th with a score of 343.85 points.
NOTES: In a reflection of how strong Aurora swimmers finished in sprint events, Cherokee Trail sophomore Bronson Smothers came in third in the 50 yard freestyle at state and only landed second team All-Aurora honors as he came in behind Inglis, the champion.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2023 SENTINEL COLORADO ALL-AURORA BOYS SWIM TEAM
FIRST TEAM
200 yard medley relay — Grandview (Oliver Schimberg, Matthew Scicchitano, William Schimberg, Evan Higgins); 200 yard freestyle — Ronan Krauss, sr., Regis Jesuit; 200 yard individual medley — Daniel Yi, jr., Smoky Hill; 50 yard freestyle — Truman Inglis, sr., Regis Jesuit; 1-meter diving — Chad Hamilton, soph., Overland; 100 yard butterfly — Oliver Schimberg, soph., Grandview; 100 yard freestyle — Truman Inglis, sr., Regis Jesuit; 500 yard freestyle — Ian Noffsinger, soph., Smoky Hill; 200 yard freestyle relay — Regis Jesuit (Hawkins Wendt, Carter Anderson, Ronan Krauss, Truman Inglis)*; 100 yard backstroke — Oliver Schimberg, soph., Grandview*; 100 yard breaststroke — Daniel Yi, jr., Smoky Hill; 400 yard freestyle relay — Regis Jesuit (Hawkins Wendt, Ronan Krauss, Truman Inglis, Charlie Klein)
* — Class 5A state champion
SECOND TEAM
200 yard medley relay — Regis Jesuit (Charlie Klein, Hugh Boris, Carter Anderson, Harry Kerscher); 200 yard freestyle — Owen Mulligan, jr., Regis Jesuit; 200 yard individual medley — Reid Magner, soph., Regis Jesuit; 50 yard freestyle — Bronson Smothers, soph., Cherokee Trail; 100 yard butterfly — Carter Anderson, sr., Regis Jesuit; 100 yard freestyle — Hawkins Wendt, sr., Regis Jesuit; 500 yard freestyle — Jake Baker, jr., Smoky Hill; 200 yard freestyle relay — Smoky Hill (Landon Brewer, Nicholas Gordon, Kyle Brushaber, Antonio Goris); 100 yard backstroke — Harry Kerscher, sr., Regis Jesuit; 100 yard breaststroke — Matthew Scicchitano, sr., Grandview; 400 yard freestyle relay — Smoky Hill (Landon Brewer, Kyle Brushaber, Sam Baker, Daniel Yi)
HONORABLE MENTION
Carter Anderson, sr., Regis Jesuit (50 yard freestyle); Cruze Bailey, jr., Regis Jesuit (100 yard breaststroke); Sam Baker, jr., Smoky Hill (200 yard indiv. medley/100 yard butterfly); Hugh Boris, soph., Regis Jesuit (100 yard breaststroke); Landon Brewer, jr., Smoky Hill (100 yard freestyle/50 yard freestyle); Davis Brown, fr., Regis Jesuit (100 yard backstroke); Kyle Brushaber, jr., Smoky Hill (200 yard freestyle); Angus Dugan, jr., Regis Jesuit (200 yard freestyle/100 yard butterfly); Robert Hall, sr., Grandview (100 yard breaststroke); Harry Kerscher, sr., Regis Jesuit (100 yard butterfly); Shepard Kerscher, soph., Regis Jesuit (100 yard breaststroke); Charlie Klein, sr., Regis Jesuit (100 yard backstroke/100 yard freestyle); Nolan Kohl, fr., Regis Jesuit (100 yard backstroke/200 yard freestyle); Ronan Krauss, sr., Regis Jesuit (500 yard freestyle); Reid Magner, soph., Regis Jesuit (500 yard freestyle); Hugh Mullen, jr., Cherokee Trail (50 yard freestyle); Owen Mulligan, jr., Regis Jesuit (500 yard freestyle); Michael Sanchez, soph., Regis Jesuit (50 yard freestyle); Matthew Scicchitano, sr., Grandview (200 yard indiv. medley); William Schimberg, sr., Grandview (200 yard freestyle/100 yard freestyle); Bronson Smothers, soph., Cherokee Trail (100 yard freestyle). Relays — Hugh Mullen, Tyson Walker, Andrew Wilson, Bronson Smothers, Cherokee Trail (400 yard freestyle); Tyson Walker, Bronson Smothers, Hugh Mullen, Andrew Wilson, Cherokee Trail (200 yard medley relay); Josh Woren, Omari Henry, Andrew Wilson, Hugh Mullen, Cherokee Trail (200 yard freestyle relay); Evan Linnebur, Oliver Schimberg, Matthew Scicchitano, William Schimberg, Grandview (400 yard freestyle relay); Ethan Finlay, Evan Higgins, Christian Burgeson, Evan Linnebur, Grandview (200 yard freestyle relay); Ben Brewer, Daniel Yi, Nicholas Gordon, Antonio Goris, Smoky Hill (200 yard medley relay)