Silver Creek boys swimming starts fast

Veteran swim coach Debbie Stewart has another strong team at Silver Creek, with swimmers from both Silver Creek and Niwot High Schools. And that's in spite of four unexpected losses from last year's squad.

"We're a little smaller this year," Stewart said, "but we did pick up some freshmen."

One of the losses was James Story, a Mead High School student who excelled as a freshman last season. "He was one of our top swimmers, but he's shooting for the Olympic trials," Stewart said. "We also lost a distance swimmer who is home-schooled, and can't swim this year due to a parental discipline decision."

Another swimmer has transferred to Peak to Peak Charter School, and a fourth, Niwot's Jack Klein, is playing boys volleyball this season.

But Stewart is poised to simply reload. She noted that junior Stephen Codevilla, younger brother of former Niwot standout and current Notre Dame swimmer Mary Codevilla, "has bulked up quite a bit" since last season and is on track to qualify for state in every swimming event. "Rugby has helped a lot with that," Stewart said, describing Codevilla's other sport.

Senior Josh Dowlin is a diver as well as a swimmer, having already qualified for state in the 100 Breaststroke. "We've always had a swimmer-diver," Stewart said. "He's just following in the footsteps of his brother [Joshua Dowlin]." The younger Dowlin is also on his way to qualifying for state in diving. "He's already had one of the two required 6-dive qualifiers," she noted. Last year Dowlin finished eighth at state in diving.

Levi Walker, another senior, is also a returning state qualifier in diving. Walker finished 18th at state last season.

Junior Justin Gawrych has already qualified for state in the 200 Freestyle and 100 Backstroke. Hudson Kammerer, a senior, has qualified in the 50 and 100 Freestyle, as well as the 100 Breaststroke.

Seniors Evan Welding and Sean Wyatt also return, and both finished in the top 10 in events at state last season. Welding has already qualified for state this year in the 200 Individual Medley and the 100 Butterfly, while Wyatt has qualified in the 100 Backstroke and 100 Freestyle.

Brighton Langenegger also returns after qualifying for state last year in the 50 Freestyle. Langenegger, a junior, has been slowed by a concussion suffered while playing basketball at Niwot High.

New to the Silver Creek team this year is senior Henry Milam, who swims the 50 and 100 Freestyle and 100 Backstroke. Milam, who swam with the Loveland Swim Club in the past, has already qualified for state in the 100 Freestyle.

Chayakorn Ngampatipatpong is another all around swimmer, who excels at the breaststroke. "He loves to race, and his hard work ethic is paying off," Stewart said. He has already qualified for state in the 200 Freestyle.

Brayden Stalcup is another swimmer who has improved over last season. "He barely made the 50 Freestyle as a state qualifier last season," Stewart said. "He went to a bunch of camps and dropped a lot of weight. Stalcup swims the freestyle events, and has already qualified for state this year in the 100 Freestyle.

Stewart also has a transfer student from Texas in senior Markkus Tong. Tong, who was a top state qualifier in Texas last year, has already qualified for state in the 100 Breaststroke.

Stewart is enjoying the second year of having a pool on the Silver Creek campus with the St. Vrain Aquatic Center. The pool is also used by the district's other boys swim team, Longmont High, so Silver Creek still practices one day a week at Centennial pool across town. All of the home meets for both Longmont and Silver Creek are held at the Aquatic Center.

"I love having it local," Stewart said. "We don't have restrictions, we don't have to be out at a certain time."

Silver Creek has already won two meets, a season-opening mini-sprint meet which the Raptors (265) won handily over Brighton (171) and Longmont (74), and a dual meet with Mountain View, a 225-75 win by the Raptors.

Stewart is assisted by veteran coach Tony Huff. Divers are coached by St. Vrain district co-head coaches Shawn Gregg and Erin Lionberger.