Raptors are runner-up at 4A State Swimming & Diving Championships

The Silver Creek Raptors, defending state champions from 2021, came close to defending their title, finishing second in Colorado's 2022 Class 4A State Swimming & Diving Championships.

The Raptors, a combined Silver Creek and Niwot High School based team, scored 371.5 points, just behind Cheyenne Mountain's total of 402 points. The two-day competition took place Thursday, May 12th and Friday, May 13, with spectators crowding into Thornton's Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center to watch the young men compete.

"I told the guys on the bus this morning, we had our best times out of 100% of the guys yesterday. It's just come back, have fun today," Coach Debbie Stewart said during Friday's prelims. "To try to hold our places and to have fun is going to make everything fall into place the way it's supposed to be."

Stewart added, "I'm just excited at how early on we qualified. We got 23 individual state qualifiers. Silver Creek has never had that many individual state qualifiers. We only have one alternate, and we are bringing him back because he was a state qualifier last year and we just want him to be a part of the team this year.

"What we are hearing today is that there are a lot of scratches from other teams from Covid. We have about three guys that are sitting as the first and second alternates and that's the exciting thing too today. Today, yesterday, when they left, they didn't think they were going to get to swim. Maybe they are today."

Diving coach Kyle Stewart expressed pride in his team Thursday morning as his divers prepared for the day's events. "The season has been going very well. We have our own pool now at Silver Creek. It's amazing. It's nice having our own boards, our own pool. Plenty of time to work out."

During warm-up, the four divers were in fine form. "I'm hoping the swim team can repeat last year at the state championship," Stewart said. "I'm excited to have the Dowlin brothers, who are doing well this year. And I've got a sophomore who just came out of nowhere-Levi [Walker]--.and we just found out that everyone's going to place, everyone's going to score."

The Dowlin brothers, Jacob and Joshua, competed in both diving and swim events. "There's actually some really good competition today," Joshua said. "Better than last year, for sure. I think we're all going to do really good and have fun."

His brother Jacob was equally enthusiastic. "I'm loving it," Jacob said. "The competition is fierce ... so it will [be] tight for top five and everywhere below that." Scheduled to compete in diving, the 50 freestyle and the 200 freestyle relay, Jacob was excited to be back in the pool. "I had an injury a few weeks ago and I'm recovering from that," he said. "I had to get stitches....I did a flip turn and hit the bulkhead ... it split my heel...that was three weeks ago... This is my first meet since then."

The newest member of the diving team, Levi Walker, was enthusiastic about his first season. "I'm in 10th grade.... I think it's been pretty good. ... My coach and my teammates are really good, too. We've got some fierce competition out here. There's a lot of good divers. Usually, we have six dives. Today we have 11. The stakes are higher because it's obviously state."

The divers earned 34 points for the Raptors putting them in third place to start the meet, with senior Jacob Dowling finishing seventh, junior Joshua Dowling finishing eighth, only 1.7 points behind his brother, and Walker finishing 18th.

When asked what fans might have to look forward to in the afternoon, Stewart was quick to answer. "James Story. He's second in the 200 free. He's a racer. Our 400 free relay is going to be a race with everybody. And it's going to be a really exciting race at the end of the meet. In years past that 400 relay determines first, second, third-place finishes of the whole meet."

Several other athletes discussed their respect and admiration for their coaches and teammates. Brandon Lis, who came in 15th in the 500 freestyle, said, "The whole team has been bringing the energy up like crazy and we've all been cheering each other on. I got a personal best and a season best so far. All we can say is that we are so thankful [that our competition is] so good and we are going up against some really amazing athletes. They are definitely bringing on the heat and we are doing our best and we are keeping the energy up."

The team's alternate, Connor Wagner, hoped to swim the 200 freestyle."I'm an alternate," Wagner said. "I got kicked out early by one point. I placed twenty-first ... and twenty make it back. But it's looking like I have a really good chance to swim that at least. I'm really proud of my teammates. Everybody's worked really hard throughout the year and everybody's dropping time." As it turned out, Wagner did not get to swim in the finals.

Jake Gutru, swimming the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly, added early Friday, "I think things are going amazing. Pretty much every swimmer we had yesterday dropped times so that was really encouraging to see. I was doing pretty good too. Shaving, wearing a tech suit, all that definitely helped... so we'll see what happens today."

The Raptors came close, but were denied a repeat as state champions. In their best individual event, the 100 backstroke, the Raptors had four swimmers (Gutru, and juniors Evan Welding, Nathaniel Starbuck and Sean Wyatt) place in the top 20 in the finals, and a fifth swimmer, sophomore Justin Gawrych, would have placed in the top 20 based on his prelim time, but he had the bad luck of swimming in a fast heat and did not qualify for finals. Story maintained his second place finish in the 200 freestyle, and was the top individual finisher for the Raptors.

The team will be losing 11 seniors this year. "You never know what you're going to get the next year," Coach Debbie Stewart said. "We didn't know we were going to get James Story, who's a freshman and who is leading the pack in a lot of his races today. And so, yes, we will miss them. We will feel the loss of them, but we will just cross our fingers and hope that we get a lot of new freshmen."

Several of the seniors shared their future plans. Lis will attend Skidmore College in the fall to study computer science, and he plans to continue swimming. Gutru will attend Colorado State University, where he will study natural resource management. "And hopefully," Gutru said, "if they have a club team, I can swim on that."

Wagner will join the Air Force, and after the Air Force plans to attend college. Jacob Dowlin has no plans to pursue sports, but will study finance at Colorado State University. His brother Joshua, who will continue to dive and swim next year, was candid about being on the team with his brother. "It's been awesome. I swam with him basically my whole life. We're super close which is awesome, and we cheer each other on, and we are both doing really good. I'm going to miss him for sure."

Silver Creek Scoring (Place, Grade, Points/Time):

One-Meter Diving

7. Dowlin, Jacob (12) 399.80

8. Dowlin, Joshua (11) 398.10

18. Walker, Levi (10) 292.25

200 Medley Relay

3. Silver Creek - 1:37.22

(1) Gutru, Jake (12)

(2) Dowlin, Joshua (11)

(3) Welding, Evan (11)

(4) Starbuck, Nathaniel (11)

200 Freestyle

2. Story, James (9) 1:43.95

17. Lis, Brandon(12) 1:51.63

200 IM

16. Codevilla, Stephen (10) 2:06.51

50 Freestyle

10. Kammerer, Hudson (11) 22.21

13. Starbuck, Nathaniel (11) 22.49

15. Dowlin, Jacob (12) 22.68

100 Butterfly

7. Gutru, Jake (12) 53.30

8. Welding, Evan (11) 53.38

100 Freestyle

3. Story, James (9) 47.23

10. Wyatt, Sean (11) 49.92

16. Matyjewicz, Alek (12) 51.68

500 Freestyle

17. Lis, Brandon (12) 5:05.53

200 Freestyle Relay

3. Silver Creek 1:28.55

(1) Dowlin, Jacob (12)

(2) Kammerer, Hudson (11)

(3) Starbuck, Nathaniel (11)

(4) Story, James (9)

100 Backstroke

5. Gutru, Jake (12) 53.42

7. Welding, Evan (11) 54.53

9. Starbuck, Nathaniel (11) 55.85

12. Wyatt, Sean (11) 56.24

100 Breaststroke

7t. Dowlin, Joshua (11) 1:01.07

11. Kammerer, Hudson (11) 1:00.78

17. Ngampatipatpong, Chay (9)1:03.30

400 Freestyle Relay

3. Silver Creek 3:17.59

(1) Wyatt, Sean (11)

(2) Welding, Evan (11)

(3) Gutru, Jake (12)

(4) Story, James (9)

Team scores - Cheyenne Mountain High School 402, Silver Creek High School 371.5, Discovery Canyon High School 358, George Washington High School 267.5, Windsor High School 204, Mullen High School 191.5, Air Academy High School 182, Glenwood Springs High School 160, Greeley West High School 59, Wheat Ridge High School 145, D'Evelyn High School 135.5, Thomas Jefferson High School 133, Broomfield High School 112, Golden High School 110.5, Evergreen High School 110, Northfield High School 95, Montrose High School 55.5, Pueblo County High School 48.5, Green Mountain High School 47, Palmer High School 35.5, Estes Park High School 34, Liberty Common High School 30, Thompson Valley High School 27, Liberty High School 18, Widefield High School 16, Mountain View High School 4, Denver North High School 14, Littleton High School 12