The Regis Jesuit-Cherry Creek swim meet is always a heated affair. Since 2011, when RJ ended CC’s string of 6-straight State Championships (the first of which followed-up a 2006 RJ State Championships), these two teams have taken their rivalry to a new level. The next chapter was written on Tuesday night in the “bubble” of the Raiders, where Missy Franklin and her fellow seniors were honored on Senior Night as Regis won by score of 201-133.
Franklin took a pair of individual victories by winning the 200 free (1:49.78) and the 100 back (55.92), as well as leading the Regis Jesuit 400 free relay to a win in 3:38.96 (Couldn’t get splits as there was a bit of a timing snafu). RJ actually swept all of the events but one in the meet en route to a lopsided victory.
In other racing, Regis Jesuit swimmers Delaney Lanker and Kaylie Breslin had a great battle in the 100 fly. The much more experienced Lanker was able to pull out the victory on the back-half in 59.27, but the freshman Breslin has shown great promise this season and was 2nd in 59.52 (she’s been a 58.1 this season already).
The big win for Cherry Crek came from Emily Vazquez, who won the girls’ 500 free in 5:21.18, a 5-second victory ahead of TJ’s Lindsay Kriz that was earned almost entirely in the last 100 yards (Vazquez split-home in an awesome 1:03.1, as compared to Kriz’s 1:06.7).
This rivalry got really hot Tuesday morning, when the Wall Street Journal released an article that quoted several parents and former swimmers at Cherry Creek questioning whether Franklin should even be swimming high school, given all of her international accolades. There were no signs of this at the meet, however, which was a friendly affair that appeared focused on healthy competition and recognizing the accomplishments of the seniors in their final dual meet.
Up next for Franklin is the Colorado State Championship meet, where we’ll find out which events her and her coaches decide she’ll be best-suited for. She’s achieved state qualifying times in the 50, 100, 200, and 500 freestyles, the 200 IM, the 500 free, and the 100 back (in other words, all but two of the individual swimming events).
I think the moral of the story is that the majority of SWIMMERS and SWIM PARENTS are SOFT! Who cares?! So much passive aggressiveness on the internet. Quit bitching on this thread and go develop your athletes or raise your children to NOT BE AS SOFT AS THE KIDS COMPLAINING ABOUT RACING MISSY!!
Truth!
Nobody on this thread is bitching – the parents and coach in the WSJ article were the ones bitching. The mom and her daughter are precious – really? You think your supposed to win all the titles. Here’s an idea – swim faster.
i must say that by her times she took it real easy on the competition. 1:49 and 55 high must have seemed like warm-up swims to her
OR she could have had a morning workout, dryland session right after school and treated the meet as a second swim practice. A 30 min warm-up (2K) with 2 x 10 minute breaks (1.5K), the races and post meet warm-down (1-2K) in 2+ hours can add up to a training session.
The WSJ article is disgusting. The Eric Craven and his swimmers should be ashamed of themselves for making such petty remarks. American swimmers’ are the best in the world because of talent, hard work and competition. The world was privileged to watch Michael Phelps swim, and those who trained and competed against him were surely better for it.
The ironic thing about the sentiments of Eric Craven and his swimmers is that Amy Van Dyken competed for Cherry Creek High in the late 80s, early 90s and helped them win two state titles. I wonder what Amy would say!?
Coach Craven should be fired. Eric’s lack of leadership has exposed his swimmers to warranted scrutiny from the swimming community,… Read more »
Craven came across as petty although the article was very inflammatory and my guess is a lot of the quotes were out of context. One of the pictures actually had Missy’s club teammate in the pic. I think the WSJ was def digging for dirt on this one.
Let Missy swim drama free!!
As a Regis swim parent I will tell you that Eric Craven is a very good coach. He is a friend of mine and a good man.
You are flat out wrong about him.
John Smith,
What’s your take on this then? At the very least Craven should have known Missy is a huge national story and that anything he said might be taken out of context. If that was the case, why did he open himself up to criticism? Also, how do Regis parents feel about her presence? Do they feel that she invited the circus or she is also a victim of the circus that follows her? Obviously you don’t have to answer any of this but would be interesting to know.
Missy is a good girl, fun to be with and her skills speak for themselves. My wife is one of the coaches, and I know the Regis girl swimmers enjoy being with her a lot. They are lucky. Of course she is way too fast for them now. But like my own daughter who swam a relay with her, they will never forget it. As for Cherry Creek….. it’s a long heated rivalry. There’s always going to be smack talk. Let it go.
That’s not smack talk, it’s bickering and complaining. It would have been let go if those swimmers and parents said no comment.
It should never have been an issue. However, parents, swimmers and coaches made it an issue. This is not something that will be “let go,” or forgotten. I hope these young swimmers learn from their mistakes and the mistakes the adults involved in this petty situation – for now they reap what they have sown.
Just re read the WSJ article. Crave a comments were just fine. It was some
Of his swimmers that crossed the line. His we’re rely statements of fact.
I am currently a student at cherry creek and i swim for their team (guys team). and I swim for Eric on his club team. Eric is one of the most respected coaches in colorado and i know he would never say anything like that.
JW,
I swim for ACES swim club and I have for about 5 years now. For the past 3 and a half years Eric Craven has been my head coach. Just yesterday at a morning dryland workout, we asked Eric about this article and he denies saying any of the quoted statements, as does the cherry creek athletic director who was in the room during the interview. Eric has also coached Olympic trial finalists Bonnie Brandon and Mark Dylla, so he knows a lot about the situation that Missy is currently. So please refrain from saying such awful things about one of the most respected coaches in the state of colorado when you don’t even have all of the… Read more »
Sounds a bit like this. (Thanks to CoachMike Blog outta Canada)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2257715/Study-shows-college-students-think-theyre-special–read-write-barely-study.html
Can someone say sense of entitlement?
Hahha oh man, this reminds me of a poll someone put up on a track messageboard I used to go to: “Where would you rank your intelligence relative to those on this board? Top 25%? Top 50% Top 75%? Top 100%” or something. More than 75% of people picked top 25%, it was awesome.
The whole “having high self-esteem is the MOST IMPORTANT THING!” kids keep getting fed is turning them all into narcissistic little shits.
She can’t swim for her high school team without being criticized? Unbelievable. Did the Cherry Creek swimmers even think about what they could learn from racing her? Their defeatist attitude is simply sad and unproductive. Sounds like a lot of this is generated by the parents. Gee what a surprise parents setting bad examples. Let’s hope not of these sore losers has the nerve to ask for Missy’s autograph.
I am sure a lot of this negative attitude is being generated by parents, the bucks stops with Coach Craven. A head coach should never encourage or tolerate poor sportsmanship.
Agreed that team attitude begins with the coach. The Journal article is sort of pathetic. When did words like diligence, perseverance, excellence,champion become taboo idiom in American high school sports?
Just a thought for the parents who are complaining: how many college coaches are going to want your swimmer if mom/dad publicly whine every time that you think something isn’t “fair”?
Is it even an argument that she should be allowed to swim in high school meets? Are you serious? Just because shes sooooooo much better than everyone else lets all try to punish her and give her less choices about her life. Instead, I propose we have cut-off times for high school swimming so all the slow swimmers don’t waste our time making us watch their pathetic strokes. I would really like to go to high school duel meets and not see kids that can’t break 6:00 in a 500.
People have to start somewhere. Several great swimmers did not start swimming competitively until they were nearly in or already in high school.
Oh don’t say that but over 6:00 is the basis of half of the teams in ur area. Of course we have plenty of seats available at our state champs in one of the larger US state populations.
Oh no! Braden you take many risks with another article about Missy and high school swimming. I’m already afraid that the crazy “helicopter mom” from the previous article again comes back.