The Psych Sheet

Colorado State 5A Championships One for the Record Books

Before the 5A Girls Championship meet began this afternoon, the Cherry Creek High School team ceremoniously poured a bit of their special water into the pool, and based on the results, it must have been fast water because new state records were set in every single swim event except for two. And Creek girls were crowned state champs in every event except for the two won by Regis Jesuit High School Freshman Missy Franklin.

All five new Colorado state records from yesterday’s prelim swims tumbled. The 100Y Freestyle, which was won by Jordan Mattern, who set a new 5A record yesterday, is the only individual state record that wasn’t broken.The 200Y Freestyle Relay record from 2005 also remains intact.

For the sixth consecutive year, Creek captured the 5A championships with sophomore Bonnie Brandon taking two events – the 200Y IM and 500Y Freestyle – Mattern winning the 200Y Freestyle and 100Y Freestyle – and sophomore Kelly Naze victorious in her two events – the 100Y Butterfly and 100Y Breaststroke. That left Franklin with the two remaining individual events – the 50Y Freestyle and 100Y Backstroke.

Creek also swept all three relays including a heartbreakingly close 400Y Freestyle Relay in which Regis Jesuit was out in front the entire race until the last few yards when Creek’s Kelly Naze out-touched Regis Jesuit’s Hillary Thomas by .05. In that same race, Franklin set a new National Independent High School Record with her incredible lead-off swim of 48.39.

Your 5A Top 10 Teams and scores were as follows:

      1) Cherry Creek, 399

2)    Regis Jesuit, 322

3)    Fairview, 271

4)    Heritage, 148

5)    Rampart, 126

6)    Arapahoe, 116

7)    Monarch, 110

8)    Boulder, 106

9)    Smoky Hill, 103

10) Ralston Valley, 82

Check back tomorrow for full top-16 results from each event from the 5A championships as well as a list of special awards.

Meanwhile, a shout out to Pueblo South freshman Mary Saiz, who became the first state champ ever from the Pueblo area with her win at the 4A Championships in the 100Y Backstroke in a time of a 58.83.

 

Girls High School State Off to Quick Start

The water was churning tonight at the 5A Girls High School State Championships as five state records were smashed during preliminary competition at EPIC in Fort Collins. The tone for the evening was set early as Jordan Mattern, a junior at Cherry Creek High School, served up the first state-record setting swim in the first individual event of the evening. Mattern clocked a 1:49.25 in the 200Y Free, breaking the previous mark of 1:50.04 set in 1992 by Stephanie Northrup of Creek.

To few people’s surprise, Missy Franklin, a freshman at Regis Jesuit High School, claimed two of the four records for the evening. Franklin, 14, destroyed the 50Y Freestyle record with a 22.70, bettering the previous record of 23.06 set in 1994 by Becky Bicknell of Denver East. In the 100Y Backstroke, Franklin set the new mark at 53.43, wiping out Creek Sophomore Bonnie Brandon’s record swim of 54.77 from last year.

In the 100Y Butterfly, Kelly Naze, a sophomore at Cherry Creek, put down a 54.44 erasing the mark of 55.16 set by Lisa Caprioglio of Highlands Ranch in 2006.

The biggest record margin, however, came in the 100Y Breaststroke as Duke-bound Cherry Creek High School Senior Christine Wixted swam a 1:02.68, more than a second and a half better than Regis Jesuit’s Lauren Stoeckle’s record-setting swim of 1:04.27 last year.

Down the road at Mountain View High School in Loveland where the 4A High School State Championship prelims were being swum, no records were set.

Not to worry. I'm sure the finals at both meets slated to begin at 2 p.m. tomorrow will be speedy.

Giving Back Through Swimming

Kendall Hagar, 17, had been swimming since she was five. Like many athletes, a lot of her life revolved around her sport. Just more than a year ago, her competitive swimming career ended abruptly when a heart condition forced her to give up competitive swimming. But the Cherry Creek High School senior hasn’t foregone the sport completely, far from it.

Since she was 11 or so, Hagar had been helping out with Special Olympics on a periodic basis. Now, she has taken that involvement to the next level and beyond as the head coach of the Cherry Creek Youth Aquatics, which practices weekly on Sundays at Cherry Creek High School.

“I had so much time on my hands,” she says after she could no longer swim. Her solution: plan a meet for Special Olympic athletes.

On Jan. 23, the second annual Fast and Furious intra-squad meet was held at Cherry Creek High School and more than 35 Special Olympic athletes competed in a variety of events. On hand to help out were nearly 50 swim volunteers, many of them Hagar’s swim friends from various club teams around the area. The meet was once again successful.

“They’re such an inspiration, so amazing and so brave,” says Hagar of the Special Olympic competitors. “We celebrate all accomplishments, no matter how big or how small.

Last week Hagar traveled to Washington D.C. after being selected as one of a handful of delegates to represent Special Olympics Colorado. The delegation met with several members of Congress to encourage continued financial support of the Special Olympics program.

Special Olympics Colorado serves nearly 10,000 children and adults statewide. It’s mission is to “provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, eight years of age and older, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendships with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community."

Hagar says volunteering has filled a huge void. Without that involvement, she says, “It would have been so hard to leave the swim family.”

You can learn more about Special Olympics Colorado, including how you can become a volunteer, by clicking here.

 

Colorado Swimmers Once Again Victorious

The team representing Colorado at this year’s Midwest All Star Meet in Lawrence, Kansas, nabbed first place once again. This marks at least the third year in a row that Colorado has won the Midwest All Stars, which pits the top 14 and under swimmers from Iowa, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota and Missouri.

This year’s team swam to victory behind several first-place finishes and also set two meet records in the process. Michael Loyd, 12, set the 11-12 Boys 100Y Breaststroke meet record with a time of 1:05.26 and Matthew Sima, 12, set the 11-12 Boys 50Y Breaststroke meet record with a time of 30.69.

The Colorado team is comprised of the top 10 swimmers each for boys and girls from the following age groups: 10 & under, 11-12 and 13-14. Those swimmers are determined using a high point system based on the CSI database top 10 lists through roughly mid December. The Age Group coaches may also assign automatic spots, which in the past have been given to the top one or two swimmers per an All Star event. It should be noted that at least a few of the state’s top swimmers who were selected this year opted instead to attend other meets. But that didn’t seem to make much of difference. The 2^nd-place team, Missouri Valley, finished more than 450 points behind.

Kudos to these Colorado swimmers who took first place:

Riley Hoffman, 12 (1 relay)
Annie Ochitwa 12  (1 relay)
Leah Roberson 12  (1 relay)
Abby Kochevar 11 (2 relays)
Nathaniel Forbus 14 (1 relay)
Connor Croan 14 (1 individual, 1 relay)
Daryl Turner 14  (3 individual, 1 relay)
Jacob Davis 14 (1 individual, 1 relay)
Shelly Drozda, 12 (6 individual, 1 relay)
Tyler Lis, 12 (1 individual)
Abbie Houck, 14 (2 individual)
Michael Loyd, 12 (1 individual)
Jennae Frederick, 10 (1 individual)
Santana Garcia, 12, (2 individual)
Delaney Lanker, 14, (1 individual)
Dominique Schiffman, 10 (2 individual)
Mary Saiz, 14 (1 individual)
Andie Turner, 12, (1 individual, 1 relay)
Lexie Malazdrewicz (1 individual)
Matthew Sima, 12, (1 individual)
Jolene Norton 12 (1 relay)

To view complete meet results, click here.

Busy Travel Weekend for Swimmers

Many of Colorado’s top swimmers are scattered across the country competing in various meets this week. First and foremost, the state’s select All Star team, made up of many of the leading 10 and under, 11-12 and 13-14 swimmers in the state, are representing Colorado at the Midwest All-Stars in Lawrence, Kansas. Our swimmers have fared very well in the past, grabbing first place and bettering teams from Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri Valley (Missouri and Kansas) and Midwestern Swimming (Nebraska and Iowa).

For a complete list of those who were selected to go, click here. Note that some of these swimmers choose not to compete so several alternates and even swimmers not listed as alternates ended up attending. More meet info. can be found here including the psych sheet and eventually results.

Meanwhile, at least four Colorado clubs are in Austin, Texas, at the New Year’s Classic at the University of Texas this weekend and at least two more area clubs have made the trip to Minneapolis to compete at the Winter Classic at the University of Minnesota, which will host the 2011 NCAA swim championships. Both venues have reputations as being great places to compete, and from the initial results posted so far, it looks to be true with many best times.

Personally, I think it’s great that our kids have a chance to swim at or near sea level. It’s just plain harder to compete at altitude so this offers a nice change of pace.

Happy Holidays

Wishing all of those who celebrate Christmas a very merry and blessed day from The Psych Sheet. Here’s to family time without having to worry how to fit in swim practice, and a day of dry hair!

Thanks to everyone for their support and readership. Hope everything goes swimmingly for you and your family today and in the coming year with many personal bests and enjoyable laps!

Franklin Contributes to US Win

Missy Franklin proved to be an asset as Team USA defeated the European stars in the Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool, which wrapped up earlier today in Manchester, England.

Franklin, 14, led off the Women’s 4X100M Free relay with a blistering 52.78, not only her personal best, but the 7^th fastest women’s 100M free swam worldwide in 2009. In fact, her time bested the American Record set in 2007 by Dara Torres, but that record had already been bettered the day before by Olympian and NCAA Swimmer of the Year Dana Vollmer, 22.

In the relay, Franklin had to go head-to-head with European Recordholder Francesca Halsall of Great Britain, but held her own, finishing just 1.2 seconds behind. Franklin was teamed with Vollmer, Amanda Weir and Christine Magnuson, and together the four beat the European relay team by 1.1 seconds. They also finished well ahead of the American Record but weren’t granted the record because of an odd ruling by USA Swimming, which won’t recognize any records set in high-tech suits since banning them from domestic meets Oct. 1. The oddity being, US swimmers can still wear high-tech suits internationally until the end of this year, and in a couple of cases, World Records set at this meet by American swimmers won’t register as American Records.

Yesterday, Franklin placed 4^th in the 100M Free, which featured three American swimmers against Great Britain’s Halsall and two other European swimmers. Franklin was 2^nd among the Americans, beating Weir.

Next Sunday, Dec. 27, you can catch all the meet highlights during a special, two-hour broadcast from 2-4 p.m. EST on NBC.

Franklin Set to Compete in Duel in the Pool

Colorado Stars swimmer Missy Franklin, 14, once again finds herself on the international stage as she competes beginning tomorrow in the 2009 Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool, a two-day meet in Manchester, England, that pits a European select team of swimmers from Britain, Germany and Italy against a handpicked team of the United States top swimmers.

Franklin is the youngest member of Team USA, which includes 17 men (Ryan Lochte had to withdraw because of injury) and 18 women, many of them former Olympians, including Michael Phelps, Rebecca Soni and Aaron Peirsol.

The bi-annual Duel in the Pool is essentially a made-for-TV event designed to showcase the sport’s most exciting swimmers in non-Olympic years. A two-hour broadcast of the event will air on NBC on December 27 from 2 – 4 p.m. ET

Last month, Franklin broke onto the European scene at the FINA World Cup meets in Stockholm and Berlin. She was joined by fellow Colorado swimmer Jared Markham, 16, (shown in above photo with Franklin in Berlin) of Greenwood who competed in the 200M Backstroke at both meets. At Stockholm, Franklin took home an impressive 2^nd-place finish in the 200M IM, 4^th in the 200M Backstroke and 9^th in the 100M free, among her six races.

Colorado Contingent Impresses At Junior Nationals

Colorado swimmers were on fire at the 2009 Speedo Short Course Junior National Championships, which wrapped up Saturday evening. Colorado STARS, without Missy Franklin, took home the top team honors on the Women’s side, proving just what depth they have. Not only did they have fantastic individual swims, but their relays placed 2^nd twice and no worse than 5^th.

Meanwhile two Colorado swimmers took home 1^st place in their events – Jared Markham, 16, of Greenwood, set a meet record in the 200 Backstroke, and Bonnie Brandon, 15, of MACS, hot off her high-point success at the Grand Prix last month in Minnesota, took home 2 firsts in the 500 Free and 1650 Free.

An astounding 23 Colorado swimmers finished in the top 30^th, proof the state is shaping up to be a swimming powerhouse. What’s even more remarkable is that the majority of swimmers had more than one top 30 swim. Kelly Naze of STARS, for example, placed no worse than 6^th in five events including three 3^rd-place finishes.

As for breakout performances, I’d have to say two swimmers earned quite a bit of respect – Ryan Arata, 15, of Falfins, placed in four events, three of which were in the B Final and scored points, and although Clark Smith, 14, of Denver Swim Academy, didn’t make it to finals, he had two amazing swims with a 43^rd place finish in the 100 Fly (he was seated 91^st) and 37^th in the 100 Fly after being entered in the 64^th spot.

Overall, Coloradoans have much to be proud of.

Here are the Colorado swimmers who placed top 30. (My apologies to anyone I may have missed):

Bonnie Brandon, 15, MACS: 1^st 500 Free, 8^th 200 IM, 4^th 400 IM, 16^th 100 Back, 6^th 200 Back, 1^st 1650 Free
Jordan Mattern, 16, STARS:,3^rd 500 Free, 10^th 200 IM, 11^th 400 IM, 7^th 200 Free
Steve Schmuhl, 16, Boulder: 4^th 500 Free, 24^th 100 Fly, 2^nd 200 Free, 13^th 200 Back
Jared Markham, 16, Greenwood: 8^th 500 Free, 5^th 200 IM, 5^th 400 IM, 4^th 100 Back, 1^st 200 Back
Ben Holston, 16, TOPS: 19^th 500 Free, 10^th 1650 Free
Jacob Ores, 16, Loveland: 22^nd 500 Free, 14^th 1650 Free
Andrew Chevalier, 17, North Jeffco: 30^th 500 Free, 20^th 400 IM, 27^th 1650 Free
Kelly Naze, 15, STARS: 3^rd 200 Free, 3^rd 400 IM, 3^rd 100 Fly, 6^th 100 Breaststroke, 4^th 200 Breaststroke
Mackenzie Stein, 16, UN-TOPS, 6^th 200 Free, 10^th 400 IM, 30^th 100 Fly
Caroline Piehl, 16, STARS: 13^th 200 IM, 10^th 200 Free, 13^th 100 Free
Bridgette McNally, 17, TOPS: 29^th 200 IM, 29^th 400 IM, 26^th 200 Breaststroke
Christine Wixted, 17, STARS: 30^th 200 IM, 16^th 100 Breaststroke, 6^th 200 Breaststroke
Brandon Hatanaka, 16, Loveland: 15^th 400 IM
Ryan Arata, 15, Falfins: 22^nd 100 Butterfly, 17^th 100 Backstroke, 14^th 200 Backstroke, 17^th 200 Butterfly
Lauren Stoeckle, 16, MACS: 24^th 100 Breaststroke, 17^th 200 Breaststroke
Jeremiah Zglieczynska, 16, MACS: 21^st 1650 Free
Patrick Scally, 17, CSST: 30^th 1650 Free
Kyle Noser, 17, TOPS: 30^th 100 Breaststroke
Jenna Gregoire, 17, Falfins: 10^th 100 Free
Kyrene Clarke, 17, CSST: 20^th 200 Breaststroke
Rachel Snyder, 16, North Jeffco: 29^th 200 Butterfly
Lauren Rigg, 17, North Jeffco: 30^th 200 Butterfly
Andrew Torres, 15, North Jeffco: 25^th 200 Butterfly

State’s Elite Swimmers In Ohio at Jr. Nationals

Many of the state’s top swimmers have taken their game to Columbus, Ohio, for the 2009 Speedo Short Course Junior National Championships, which gets under way today and runs through Saturday.

Sixteen Colorado teams are represented at the meet: ACES, Boulder, CSST, Denver Swim Academy, STARS, Evergreen, Falfins, Fort Collins, Greenwood, HRA, Longmont, Loveland, MACS, Montrose, North Jeffco, RallySport and University of Denver Hilltopppers (TOPS). TOPS has brought the most Colorado swimmers with 13 competitors, making it among the larger teams at the meet.

Altogether 60 swimmers from the state are entered: Jason Hartbarger, 16, Kaitlyn Jackson, 17, Brian Styerwalt, 17, Lizzy Anderson, 15, Julia Anderson, 17, Jaclyn Best, 18, Steve Schmuhl, 16, Kyrene Clarke, 17, Ashley Forsyth, 17, Jordan Mattern, 16, Kelly Naze, 15, Caroline Piehl, 16, Christine Wixted, 17,  Clark Smith, 14, Hillary Thomas, 16, Lexie Malazdrewicz, 14, Ryan Arata, 15, Jenna Gregoire, 17, Emily Campbell, 15, Samantha Guay, 14, Joseph Thelen, 17, Gretchen Cohen, 17, Spencer Fronk, 17, Matthew Long, 17, Jared Markham, 16, Yana Garvey, 18, Andrew Parker, 16, Conor Dwyer, 15, Brandon Hatanaka, 16, Jacob Ores, 16, Bonnie Brandon, 15, Lauren Stoeckle, 16, Mikella Zglieczynska, 18, Jeremiah Zglieczynska, 16, Logan Morris, 14, Emily Stucky, 17, Andrew Chevalier, 17, John Gedney, 18, Eric May, 16, Lauren Rigg, 17, Rachel Snyder, 16, Andrew Torres, 15, Siobahn Hengermuhle, 16, Rin Isobe, 16, Anna Labozan, 16, Darien Brunetti, 17,  Rachel Burns, 18, William Franz, 16, Ben Holston, 16, Daniel Jurgs, 17, Mark Maguire, 18, Michael McCormick, 16, Bridgette McNally, 17, Alex Todd, 16, Shelly Patton, 16, Mackenzie Stein, 16, Kristen Milberg, 18, Kyle Milberg, 17, Paige Newell, 17, Kyle Noser, 17 and Peter Wickwire, 17.

The psych sheet and more information about the meet are available here. Results are also being posted by USA Swimming.

Congrats and a best of luck to all the swimmers.