A year made a big difference for the Smoky Hill girls swim team in terms of its finish at the annual Smoky Hill Invitational.
The Buffaloes placed seventh at the meet last season, but rocketed all the way up to third on Jan. 19 against largely the same field, as they racked up 372 points to finish behind winner Chaparral and runner-up Heritage.
Smoky Hill’s performance was sparked by the 200 yard freestyle relay team of Kelsey Gaul, Gaby Antunez, Melanie Vasina and Julia Song, who broke a meet record that stood for 20 years when they dropped a time of 1 minute, 41.48 seconds to set the mark.
The Buffs’ foursome — who swam nearly four seconds faster than they did in prelims — topped the previous mark of 1:41.70 set in 1994 by Denver East.
Song posted Smoky Hill’s other individual event victory, as she won the 100 freestyle, which also saw Antunez finish third and Lizzie Wiley fourth, in addition to finishing third in the 50 freestyle. Freshman Jordyn Richey also scored individually for the Buffs.
Cherokee Trail didn’t have any swimmers qualify for championship finals, but amassed 184 points to finish in eighth place, while Eaglecrest’s total of 99 — helped by Sarang Kang‘s fifth-place result in diving — put the Raptors 11th. Full meet results, here.
• The Regis Jesuit girls basketball team downed North Canton Hoover 52-38 on Jan. 20 to wrap up a 3-0 performance at the Classic in the Country in Berlin, Ohio. Jess Lewis scored 14 points in the final game to lead coach Carl Mattei‘s Raiders, who also downed Princeton (Ohio) 78-56 behind Justine Hall‘s 18 points on Jan. 18 and Hathaway Brown (Ohio) 75-25 on Jan. 17 with Diani Akigbogun and Kelsi Lidge scoring 15 points apiece.
• In other big girls swimming results from the week, Grandview capped a big week with a second-place finish among 22 teams at the Jan. 18 Jefferson County Invite. The Wolves scored 309 points to finish one point behind Ralston Valley. That performance came just two days after coach Karen Ammon’s team beat Cherry Creek 94-91 in a Centennial League dual meet for the first time ever. Morgan Ammon, Madison and Taylor Dirks, Amanda Matheson and Mia Wood earned event wins in addition to the 200 freestyle relay team.
• With 156 points, Cherokee Trail won the eight-team Mullen Invitational wrestling tournament on Jan. 18. Danny Constant (106 pounds), Michael Thelen (152), Harley Korte (160) and Quincy Starling (285) won their weights, while third-place Smoky Hill had winners in Demarcus Curtis (195) and Dexter Bess (220).
• Hinkley’s Serj Chavez (132 pounds) and Max Carbajal (220 pounds) and Eaglecrest’s Aldin Puris (160 pounds) won championships to highlight strong showings for both Aurora wrestling teams at the Alameda Invitational on Jan. 18. The Thunderbirds finished second, followed by the Raptors in third.
• Sophomore heavyweight Josh Harrison took third place for Grandview’s top results at the rugged Arvada West Invitational wrestling tournament on Jan. 28. The Wolves finished 13th.
• Cody Oakes had the eventual game-winning goal in the Cherry Creek co-op ice hockey team’s 4-3 win over Standley Lake on Jan. 28. Oakes had two goals in that game after he recorded a hat trick the night before in a 7-5 win over Mullen.
• The Smoky Hill boys basketball team avenged a pair of losses to Grandview last season —including a 50-point defeat — with an emotional 72-65 home victory over the Wolves Jan. 17. Senior Chris Williams finished 14-for-20 from the free throw line on his way to a game-high 24 points for coach Keenon Clement‘s Buffs (7-5), who saw Trent Clay, Unwana Ekiko and Colby Johnson score 11 points apiece. Keanu Flores led Grandview (8-5) with 13 points.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel