Danny Kovac was Fossil Ridge’s sole individual winner at the Colorado 5A Champs, as Fossil Ridge relied on depth and putting lots of swimmers in scoring position to take the 5A title.
Kovac was the sole swimmer under 50 seconds in the 100 back, touching at 49.69 for the win after his time of 49.53 took the top seed after prelims. Kovac made waves in the 200 IM, too, touching at 1:50.56 for 2nd behind Michael Zarian (1:49.98). Zarian, of Fairview, also won the 500 free (4:34.45), winning that race by nearly six full seconds.
Kovac was important on relays, too, leading off Fossil Ridge’s runner-up 200 medley relay and anchoring their 3rd place 400 free relay. Without Kovac, Fossil Ridge won the 200 free relay by .38 over Arapahoe.
Regis Jesuit, where American record holders Missy Franklin and Clark Smith (among others) went to high school, won the 200 medley relay to begin the meet. Elijah Warren, the sophomore breaststroker on that relay, tore up the field in the 100 breast towards the end of the meet. Having already picked up a bronze in the 200 IM, Warren swam a dominant 54.82 to take the breaststroke by over two seconds.
Also picking up individual wins were Boulder’s Chris Nicholson in the 200 free (1:37.85), Ponderosa’s Max Grogan in the 50 free (21.04), and Highland Ranch’s Gabriele Sasia in the 100 fly (49.32). Griffin Eiber, the 200 free runner-up from Arapahoe, edged Nicholson in the 100 free, 45.07 to 45.12. With Nicholson’s help, though, Boulder would end up winning the 400 free relay with a 4:06.21.
Final Team Scores
- Fossil Ridge 331.50
- Regis Jesuit 252
- Cherry Creek 219
- Fairview 208
- Boulder 162.50
