Though Greeley West was unable to crown any individual state champions Saturday at the Veteran’s Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton, numerous Spartans swimmers were able to cap their seasons with fine performances against the top swimmers in the state.
Early in the second day of the two-day Class 5A boys swimming and diving championships, Greeley West’s Everett Mash placed 17th (392.35 points) in the 1-meter diving finals.
Saturday afternoon, Spartans standout junior Ian Spooner was sixth (1:41.16) in the 200-yard freestyle championship finals. Moments later, Spooner placed seventh (50.85) in the 100 butterfly championship finals.
Greeley West’s quartet of junior Timothy Kenigsberg, freshman Sam Sasaki, sophomore Hayden Bley and Spooner placed 14th overall (1:27.93) in the 200 freestyle relay after competing in the event’s consolation finals.
That same team competed in the consolation finals of the 400 freestyle relay and placed 13th overall (3:12.44).
The Spartans scored 67 team points and placed 20th in the 29-team standings. Cherry Creek took home the team title with 458.5 points, well ahead of runner-up Regis Jesuit’s 306.5 points.
State finals experience
A pair of local competitors fell just short of capturing state titles during the third and final day of the 4A girls tennis state tournament Saturday at Pueblo City Park.
Windsor sophomore Zaylee Rose lost a spirited two sets — 7-5, 7-5 — against Cheyenne Mountain sophomore Sophie Zhou in the No. 2 singles title match.
While Rose will look to use that finals experience to again contend for state titles the next two years, Severance senior Erin Crownhart wrapped up her high school career with a stellar run.
She fell 6-1, 7-5, to Cheyenne Mountain sophomore Rose Katen in the No. 3 singles finals.
No local competitors qualified for championship matches in the 3A state tournament at Memorial Park in Colorado Springs. One local doubles team, however, advanced through playbacks into Saturday’s third-place matches.
Eaton’s No. 3 doubles duo of juniors Lily Kennedy and Evie Gavette fell just short, 7-6, 6-3, to Peak to Peak juniors El Allen Bonney and Lhadze Olsen in a third-place match.
Tough foe
Frontier Academy’s perennially competitive girls soccer program may be a tad bit weary of staring across the pitch at league foe Timnath, for the team being.
For the second time in about a month and a half, the upstart Cubs got the better of the Wolverines, this time in the second round of the 3A state soccer playoffs.
Ninth-seeded Timnath knocked off No. 25 Frontier Academy 3-0 Saturday in Timnath.
The Wolverines ended their season at 9-6-2, just two days after upsetting No. 8 St. Mary’s Academy 2-1 in the opening round of the 32-team state tournament.
Timnath won its fifth consecutive game and improved to 16-0-1 heading into what will likely be a challenging third-round road match against top-seeded Colorado Academy (15-0) at 4 p.m. Tuesday in Denver.
The Cubs previously defeated Frontier Academy 9-3 on March 28 in Greeley in 3A/2A Patriot League play.
Among the elite
With a result that wasn’t available at press time Friday night, Windsor capped a stellar two-day outing in the 4A boys swimming and diving championships at the VMAC with a third-place finish (3:13.13) in the 400 freestyle relay.
The Wizards team was composed of senior Jake Eccleston, senior Booker Whittington, junior Joshua Abram and senior Keegan Nichols.
Windsor wrapped up the state meet with 267 points, placing second out of 26 teams. Silver Creek was first with 329 points.
— Bobby Fernandez covers high school sports for the Greeley Tribune. Reach him at (970) 392-4478, by email at bfernandez@greeleytribune.com or on X @BobbyDFernandez.
