Silver Creek boys swim squad splits with Windsor and Monarch

The Silver Creek boys swim team is getting ready for a push as the state Class 4A swimming and diving meet approaches.

The squad, which is based out of Silver Creek High School, is a combination of Silver Creek and Niwot High School swimmers and divers, under the direction of long-time coach Debbie Stewart, with athletes from a few other schools also participating.

“We just had our biggest week,” Stewart said of dual meets against Windsor High School and Monarch High School, a 5A school, last week. “We beat them by 20 points,” Stewart said of the contest with Windsor on April 11. “We didn’t have a lot of our boys against Monarch, and lost by three points.” The Raptors were hampered at Monarch on April 9 with one swimmer sick, another ineligible, and a third who jumped in the wrong heat, resulting in a disqualification.

The Raptors have several strong swimmers who have earned a “sweep,” meaning they have qualified for state in all individual events. At the top of the list is sophomore Lincoln Miller, a student at Erie High School.

Stephen Codevilla, a senior at Niwot, is right there with Miller, having qualified for all individual events at state. “He’s going for the school record in the backstroke, held by Sam Willett,” said Stewart.

“And we got James Story back,” Stewart said. “He’s from Mead, and he's ranked pretty high.” Story took a year off to concentrate on club swimming, but missed swimming with his Raptor teammates and the camaraderie of the high school sport.

“Our medley relay is ranked first, and I think our 400 (freestyle) relay is ranked second in Class 4A,” Stewart said. She has been experimenting with where to place Story, who is a strong freestyle and butterfly swimmer, in the medley relay. Lately, she has moved Story from freestyle to butterfly, with freshman Justin Leyba swimming the freestyle leg. Joining Story and Leyba in the relay are Codevilla (backstroke) and Chayakorn Ngampatipatpong (breaststroke). The new alignment produced the top 4A time in the state (1:39.92).

“Ngampatipatpong is going for the breaststroke record at Silver Creek,” Stewart said of the junior student at Silver Creek.

Sophomore diver Rider Neeb has also had an outstanding season. “He’s going for my son’s (Kyle Stewart) school record,” Stewart said. “He’s also a swimmer, swimming the 50 freestyle and the breaststroke.” The Dawson School student also plays water polo and loves to ski, according to Stewart.

Senior Levi Walker is another diver who is right up there with Neeb. And senior Justin Gawrych, a student at Niwot High, has been the top distance swimmer for the Raptors, qualifying for state in the 200 and 500 freestyle.

The Raptors will celebrate Senior Night on April 25 against Estes Park at the Aquatic Center at the school, starting at 3:30 p.m., with the conference meet starting the following week.