Silver Creek swims to 11th at state meet

Led by junior Christopher Wingfield, the Silver Creek boys swim team scored 87 team points to finish in 11th place at last weekend’s Class 4A Swimming & Diving Championships held at the Air Force Academy. Wingfield ended with weekend with two top-ten individual finishes, and was also a member of the 200 and 400-freestyle relay teams, which both finished seventh. Overall, the Raptors sent finalists to six of the meet’s twelve events, including all three relays.

Silver Creek started the weekend strong, qualifying for the finals in five events (50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay, 400 freestyle relay) during the swim preliminaries, which were held on Friday. Raptor junior Matthew Winn came just shy of booking another finals appearance for the Raptors in the 100 freestyle, finishing in 23.20 seconds, just .08 seconds behind the 16th place finisher from Mullen (23.12).

The Raptors got their best finishes in the final round from their freestyle relays. In the Saturday’s 200-free relay, the Silver Creek squad of Winn, senior Roland Bailey, junior Kendrick Choong, and Wingfield claimed seventh place with a time of 1:31.39, just ahead of Northern League foe Thompson Valley (1:31.74). The 400 freestyle relay team of Wingfield, senior Damon Patrick, freshman Dakota Casey, and Bailey were also seventh, with a time of 3:24.73. Wingfield then tacked on an eighth-place finish in the 50 freestyle and a ninth place in the 100 freestyle to his impressive relay turns. Meanwhile, the 200 medley relay team (Ben Willett, Wu, Carson Simon and Winn) were 13th, with a time of 1:45.23.

In the dive event, juniors Ashton Hubert (291.15) and Ben Willett (272.30) earned a spot in the finals with respective 11th and 14th place scores in the semi-final round. In the finals, Willet, who is also a member of Silver Creek’s 200 medley relay, leapfrogged his teammate to claim the 11th spot with a score of 409.90. Hubert (408.60) slipped to 12th.

The 11th-place state meet finish came just one week after the Raptors claimed their third consecutive Northern Conference title. Held at Mountain View on May 12, the Raptors scored 523 team points at the League meet without winning a single event, a testament to the team’s depth.

For his part, Wingfield captured second in the 50 freestyle (22.97) and third in the 100-butterfly (54.58), ahead of teammate Simon (57.92). He was also on both freestyle relays, which also recorded second place finishes.

Elsewhere, Bailey and Choong, also members of both freestyle relays, combined for three fifth-place individual finishes, Bailey in the in the 200 freestyle (1:50.46) and 100 backstroke (58.64), and Choong in the 100 freestyle (51:31). Hubert and Willett were sixth and seventh in the dive event, and junior Samuel Beaudry (5:13.94) took fifth in the 500-freestyle, while his sophomore teammate Hayden Dickinson (5:14.72) was sixth.

Class 4A Swimming and Diving Championships, Air Force Academy, May 19-20

Team scores — Cheyenne Mountain 337, Valor Christian 239, Thompson Valley 219, Golden 177, Windsor 141, Coronado 107, George Washington 106, Discovery Canyon 105, Pine Creek 101, Montrose 101, Silver Creek 87, Pueblo County 72, Estes Park 70, Air Academy 63, Loveland 61, Mullen 60, Evergreen 43, D’Evelyn 36, Wheat Ridge 34, Glenwood Springs 34, Greeley Central 32, Green Mountain 24, Mountain View 22, Thomas Jefferson 21, Longmont 11.

200 medley relay —13. Silver Creek (Willett, Wu, Simon, Winn), 1:45.23.

50 freestyle — 9. Chris Wingfield, Silver Creek, 22.08.

Diving — 11. Ben Willett, Silver Creek, 409.90; 12. Ashton Hubert, Silver Creek, 408.60.

100 freestyle — 8. Christopher Wingfield, Silver Creek, 48.43.

200 free relay — 7. Silver Creek (Winn, Roland Bailey, Kendrick Choong, Wingfield), 1:31.39.

400 free relay — 7. Silver Creek (Wingfield, Damon Patrick, Dakota Casey, Bailey), 3:24.73.

Northern Conference Meet, Mountain View Aquatic Center, May 12

Team Scores — Silver Creek 455, Thompson Valley 395, Windsor 351, Estes Park 281, Mountain View 198, Longmont 186, Greeley Central 125, Valley 64

200 medley relay — 1. Thompson Valley, 1:39.00; 2. Windsor, 1:39.34; 3. Longmont, 1:45.10; 4. Silver Creek (Willett, Wu, C. Simon, Winn), 1:45.18.

200 freestyle — 1. Christopher Eddy, Thompson Valley, 1:44.39; 2. Garrett Britt, 1:48.28; 3. Riley Miller, Windsor, 1:48.53; 5. Roland Bailey, Silver Creek 1:50.46.

200 IM — 1. Drake Manuello, Greeley Central, 1:57.60; 2. Benjamin Smith, Thompson Valley, 2:03.48; 3. Jonathan Zakanycz, Mountain View, 2:04.61; 5. Noah Simon, Silver Creek, 2:09.06.

50 freestyle — 1. Jack Kisch, Thompson Valley, 22.56; 2. Chase Schwarz, Estes Park, 22.91; 3. Chris Wingfield, 22.97.

Diving — 1. Jacob Bielmaier, Estes Park, 538.60; 2. Ethan Igle, Estes Park, 512.60; 3. Luke Soguero, Estes Park, 502.30; 6. Ashton Hubert, 408.85; 7. Benjamin Willett, 396.30

100 butterfly — 1. Garrett Britt, Thompson Valley, 52.38; 2. Colby Horton, Windsor, 52.85; 3. Chris Wingfield, 54.58; 4. Carson Simon, 57.09; 7. Noah Simon, 58.03.

100 freestyle — 1. Jeffrey Borrett, Windsor, 50.19; 2. Chase Schwarz, Estes Park, 50.80; 3. Jack Kisch, Thompson Valley, 51.04; 5. Kendrick Choong, 51.31; 9. Liam Kendrick, 52.73.

500 freestyle — 1. Liam Gately, Thompson Valley, 4:34.15; 2. Riley Miller, Windsor, 4:48.93*; 3. Jonathan Zakanycz, Mountain View, 4:52.64; 5. Samuel Beaudry, 5:13.94; 6. Hayden Dickinson, 5:14.72.

200 free relay — 1. Thompson Valley, 1:27.84; 2. Silver Creek, (M. Winn, Bailey, Choong, Wingfield), 1:31.35; 3. Windsor, 1:31.97.

100 backstroke — 1. Colby Horton, Windsor, 53.60*; 2. Drake Manuello, Greeley Central, 53.66*; 3. Lukas Gately, TV, 56.65; 5. Roland Bailey, 58.64; 7. Weston Call, 59.78.

100 breaststroke — 1. Christopher Eddy, Thompson Valley, 59.75*; 2. Ethan Hansbury, Windsor, 1:01.57*; 3. Matyi Mayo, Mountain View, 1:03.13*; 5. Andrew Wu, 1:04.12; 6. Colby Wingfield, 1:04.53; 9. Eric Yi, 1:09.38.

400 free relay — 1. Thompson Valley, 3:22.26; 2. Silver Creek (Choong, Kendrick, Bailey, Ch. Wingfield) 3:23.21; 3. Estes Park 3:29.17.