With the state meet only a week away, local boys swim teams used Friday and Saturday’s Northern League meet as a final tune-up for the season finale.
For Mountain View, that meant breaking more records — both meet and school marks. Across Friday’s preliminaries and Saturday’s finals, the Mountain Lions broke all three of their relay records and two individual ones by senior JJ Phillips.
The Mountain Lions finished fourth as a team with 538.5 points, only 2.5 points behind third-place Rocky Mountain. Fort Collins was first with 721 points and Windsor was second with 702.
“Really, really well for the team overall,” Phillips said. “I am so impressed with our boys from the start of the meet to the end of the meet, and I want to give so much credit to coach Wietse (Wullink) and coach Jamie (Leopold) for the work they have done with this team to get us to where we are right now.”
The Mountain Lions’ record-setting day began with the meet’s first event, the 200-yard medley relay. Mountain View had the top time in the prelims of 1 minute, 36.59 seconds, a school record, and then it went 1:35.53 in the finals to not only lower its school record but set a meet record as well.
The foursome of Kane Willis, Owen Kolowski, Zac Chang and Phillips have broken that record multiple times this season. The record was 1:40.11 before the group began knocking it down this year.
“It was something,” Kolowski said. “I mean, looking at that record and going, ‘We’re going to beat it.’ We were like, ‘Wow.’ And then we beat it. We crushed it even more today, and we just felt so relieved that we actually still have fuel in the tank, and we know that we can bring the time down a lot more.”
Also Friday, the Mountain Lions set a school record in the 400 freestyle relay. They turned in the top preliminary time of 3:15.69, breaking the old record of 3:22.56 they set early last month. Then, in the finals, they went 3:12.79 and finished second just behind Rocky Mountain’s time of 3:12.51.
In the 200 freestyle relay, they topped the school record they set last year, finishing third in 1:28.52, besting the old mark of 1:28.55.
Mountain View is ranked second in Class 4A in the 400 freestyle relay and third in both the 200 medley and 200 freestyle.
The weekend’s broken records weren’t limited to the relays. Phillips set marks in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events on his way to being named the league’s outstanding swimmer.
In the prelims Friday, he knocked down his school record in both races, swimming a 20.31 in the 50 and 45.12 in the 100. Both were meet records as well.
Then Saturday, he won the 50 free in 20.29 and the 100 free in 45.21.
He has finished third in both races at the state meet two years in a row and feels like he is ready to win and possibly lower his record times even more. His time in the 50 on Saturday and his 100 time Friday are currently the fastest in Class 4A this season.
“I feel good,” Phillips said. “I’m starting to feel a little bit rested. And so, all of those things coming together is setting me up for success in both of those events and I’m excited to see what I do next weekend when I’m fully tapered and ready to go.”
Other top-six finishers for Mountain View were Nathan Dicks, who was fourth in the 50 freestyle (21.89); Kane Willis, who was fourth in the 100 backstroke (53.80); and Kolowski, who was fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.23).
Without top swimmer Alex Patricelli, Loveland finished seventh as a team with 261.5 points. The Red Wolves were led by Evan Phillips, who finished second in the 50 freestyle (21.40), just behind JJ Phillips.
“I knew since Alex is gone, I knew had to step up for that 50 free,” Evan Phillips said. “Prelims, I really had to find it in myself to go under 22, and then I just hung on in the finals even though I was exhausted going through that.”
Thompson Valley was ninth with 179 points. The Eagles were led by diver Nathaniel Chou, who finished second with a personal best 11-dive score of 437.45. He was only 7.35 points behind winner Noah Abram’s 444.80.
With the conference meet complete, all three teams will have representatives at next weekend’s Class 4A state meet at the Arvada Aquatic Center in Arvada.
