An exceptional season in the pool for Aurora area boys swimmers concluded over two days at the Veterans’ Memorial Aquatic Center.
When the final race of the Class 5A state meet finished, the composition of a loaded 2025 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Boys Swim Team — based on state performance — came into focus and features an array of talent from runner-up Regis Jesuit, seventh-place Grandview and ninth-place Cherokee Trail.
Grandview’s best season in program history (which saw coach Dan Berve’s team finish seventh in the final standings despite a relay disqualification) was keyed primarily by the performances of two standouts — one established and one new — with a combined four state titles.
Full 2025 Aurora Sentinel All-Aurora Boys Swim Teams, here
Senior Oliver Schimberg had already established himself in program history as the only multiple state champion, a distinction he earned when broke a tie with John Martens (who was Colorado’s 200 yard freestyle state champion in 2011). The University of Minnesota signee further enhanced his resume with his performance in his final state meet, after which he was named 5A Colorado Swimmer of the Year.
Schimberg extended his reign of dominance in his favorite event — the 100 yard backstroke — to three seasons. He placed fifth in the event as a freshman in 2022, but couldn’t be beaten at the state meet for the remainder of his career. Schimberg had hoped to set the state record in the event in his final race, but the 2014 mark of former Regis Jesuit star Hennessey Stuart (46.81 seconds) remained intact as Schimberg finished in 47.32, which was nearly two full seconds faster than runner-up Joseph Sudermann of Columbine and the second fastest in the state behind the 46.54 of 4A state champion Gavin Keogh of Monarch. Schimberg also was the Centennial “A” League champion in the backstroke and set the league and Cherry Creek High School pool record of 48.68 May 3.
Earlier in the meet, Schimberg won his first career state crown in the 100 butterfly with a time of 47.52 seconds that was the fastest in the state regardless of classification and bettered his seed time coming into the meet by a second and a half. He was seventh in the event as a freshman, third as a sophomore and the runner-up as a junior.
Grandview’s strength as a program took another step forward this season with the addition of senior Gherman Prudnikau, who chose to swim for his club team instead of his school until his final year, a decision he admitted that he regretted in retrospect. Even so, it all worked out well for Prundikau, whose one full varsity season was an immense success. He earned a scholarship offer from his dream college — Ohio State University — and committed just a day before he won state titles in the 200 and 500 yard freestyles.
In the prelims of the 200 freestyle, Prudnikau finished a half second behind Fossil Ridge’s Pierce Bickerton, but finished almost two full seconds in front of Bickerton — and just a little bit less in front of runner-up Carter Bradley of Columbine to win in 1:38.19. Only 4A state champion Keogh of Monarch (1:37.47) swam faster during the season than Prudnikau, who set the Cherry Creek High School and John Strain Memorial meet record of 1:40.02 April 19.
Prudnikau also came into the championship finals as the No. 2 seed in the 500 freestyle as Cherry Creek’s Grant Pier had the top prelims time, but he torched the finals field with a time of 4:27.14 that was five seconds faster than Bradley, who was again runner-up, and easily the state’s top time at any level. Also on Prudnikau’s list of achievements for the season were Centennial “A” League championships in the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly.
Two other individuals earned All-Aurora honors for Grandview in senior sprinter Evan Linnebur and sophomore diver Hunter Bull. No area swimmer made it to the championship finals in the 100 freestyle, but Linnebur was fastest among the five locals in the consolation heat as he earned 13th place with a season-best time of 46.66 seconds.
Aurora’s presence as a whole on the diving board was very small this season with only two state qualifiers in Bull and Overland senior Chad Hamilton. Bull finished in 14th place with a score of 431.75 points, which was slightly off his season-best of 443.35 set in a runner-up performance at the Centennial “A” League Championships.
Regis Jesuit landed two individual spots on the All-Aurora team from seniors Reid Magner and Hugh Boris, while the 200 yard medley relay of Boris, fellow senior Nolan Kohl, sophomore Greyson Connett and freshman Spencer Greene also earned top honors.
Magner’s individual All-Aurora nod came in the 200 yard individual medley, in which the Army commit placed third. Eighth after prelims, Magner swam nearly two full seconds faster in the finals to finish in 1:50.37, which was just behind winner Brennen O’Neil of Fossil Ridge (1:49.60) and runner-up Camille Trinquesse of Cherry Creek (1:49.77).
Boris established himself as the area’s top 100 breaststroker and improved his status from before the meet to the end. He came into the state meet as the sixth-fastest swimmer in the field and moved up to No. 4 after the prelims (when he recorded a season-best time of 56.02 seconds). Boris — a Villanova University commitment — swam 56.46 in the finals to keep the fourth place position.
Regis Jesuit led locals in only one of the three relay events, but posted the best finish as it was runner-up to Cherry Creek in the 200 yard medley relay. Coach Nick Frasersmith’s Raiders (who were faster than the Bruins and the entire field in prelims with a time of 1:30.64) posted a time of 1:30.40 in the finals to Cherry Creek’s 1:29.70.
Coach Kevin Chatham’s Cherokee Trail team appears on the All-Aurora team twice and both include senior Bronson Smothers, who finished the season as the area’s top sprint freestyler and swam on its top 200 freestyle relay team as well.
Smothers, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas recruit, was the lone local to make the championship final of the 50 freestyle from 10 state qualifiers and he bettered his seed time of 20.99 seconds in both state swims. Smothers swam 20.86 in the prelims and ended with a season-best of 20.81 in the finals, which landed him fourth place.
Later, Smothers teamed with fellow senior Jacob Mueller, junior Tyson Walker and sophomore Anderson Hardin on a team that qualified for the championship finals of the 200 freestyle relay with the fifth-fastest prelims time (1:25.38), then leapfrogged Fossil Ridge into fourth place with a finals time of 1:24.87.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
