Student Athlete of the Week Justin Gawrych

Very few high school athletes earn the right to hoist multiple team state championship trophies throughout their careers.

Last month, the now-graduated Justin Gawrych joined that rare company when he helped the Silver Creek High School boys swim and dive team to its second Class 4A title in four years. Gawrych, who swam for the Raptors while attending Niwot High School, was grateful to have helped Silver Creek secure the ultimate prize twice.

"It was super exciting because we went second the past couple of years and (won) it our freshmen year as well," Gawrych said. "It was a really fun way to end it. I'm definitely happy with how it finished."

As a freshman in 2021, he qualified for state in the 100-yard backstroke and finished 28th with a time of 1 minute, 0.26 seconds. Three years later, the emotions were a little different for Gawrych as he entered his final state meet at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton.

"Knowing I had done it before and how close we've been the past two years, I really wanted to give it everything and finish hard my last season," Gawrych said.

Immediately after Silver Creek's runner-up finish in the 2023 state championships, head coach Debbie Stewart informed Gawrych, fellow NHS student Stephen Codevilla, and Jack Fischmann that they would be team captains for the upcoming season. Gawrych took great pride in helping Silver Creek's younger swimmers, including standout underclassmen Lincoln Miller and Justin Leyba, develop throughout the spring.

"It was super exciting going into senior year knowing we were the leaders of the team," Gawrych said. "We've been swimming for three years and we could finally lead the team and help boost all the new swimmers up and get everyone super excited and hyped for the new season."

His determined mindset soon yielded some strong results. In a pair of individual freestyle races, Gawrych recorded career-best times, finishing 1:47.59 in the 200 (11th place) and 4:59.07 in the 500 (ninth place). The senior also joined James Story, Chayakorn Ngampatipatpong, and Codevilla on Silver Creek's fourth-place 400 freestyle relay team.

Gawrych left his final high school meet without any regrets.

"At the end of the day, I knew it could have been one of my last times swimming those events," Gawrych said. "I just wanted to give it everything I had left and finish super strong. I wanted to try to swim as hard as I could and get those points for my team."

While Gawrych appreciated the euphoric feelings associated with winning a state championship, he remained aware that a significant chapter of his life was officially closed.

"It was a little sad knowing we were done and that was it for high school swimming, but it was super exciting to end it on that super high note," Gawrych said. "I was really happy just for all the swimmers on our team, especially the seniors, knowing that they worked so hard to get to that point."

With his high school career now complete, Gawrych plans on studying biology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles beginning this fall. He'll continue to fuel his love for water, albeit in a slightly different fashion.

"I've always kind of been drawn to the water and the ocean," Gawrych said. "I really want to go into biology and science with a marine [focus]."