FORT COLLINS – While a familiar team dominated the Class 5A swimming and diving championships at Edora Pool Ice Center on Saturday, a plethora of first-time champions gave the event a twist that it hasn’t really seen in a few seasons.

A powerful Cherry Creek team beat out several close competitors for its third consecutive team title, using the depth of 20 slots in the consolation and finals and a couple of gold-medal finishes to get past Fairview and Regis with 267 total points.

Yet the meet was characterized by the array of individuals who had never previously won their events at the state finals. Some of the winners were expected, but there were plenty of surprises to go around.

Emily Kuhr of Dakota Ridge and Breann Fuller of Brighton each won titles, becoming the first girls in their school’s histories to bring home the top prize.

Kuhr may have had some good incentive coming into the 100 breaststroke, which she won with an automatic All-American time of 1 minute, 4.91 seconds.

"The bribe to me was one week of free Chipotle, so now I’m really excited," Kuhr said laughingly after receiving her medal. "Taking a couple of seconds was really, really exciting for me. I heard I made my coach cry, so I’m pretty excited about that, too."

Kuhr upset Smoky Hill’s Annie Perizzolo to get the win, but Fuller was the one to beat in the 100 backstroke.

Coming in as the top seed did not intimidate the junior. She also swam one of her best times, an automatic All-American posting of 58.05 seconds.

"I kept this in my mind every day at practice so I could have this," Fuller said. "I felt really good after (Friday), so I made up my mind to sprint it out all the way and it worked."

Then there was Chatfield senior Maiya Otsuka. She expectedly became the first Charger in 12 years to win an individual event (200 individual medley), but doubled up with an upset title in the 100 butterfly, an event that anyone of the final eight could have captured.

Just six-tenths of a second separated six of the eight butterfly swimmers. Otsuka was seeded fifth.

"It is just amazing," Otsuka said. "By the last turn (of the fly), I saw that I was kind of behind and I pushed all that I could. I wanted to get first in the IM, but I had no idea I would get the fly, too."

Otsuka was later named Class 5A’s swimmer of the year.

No 5A title was defended in the meet. Regis won both the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays last year as 4A teams, and the Raiders were able to capture those events on their way to a third-place finish.

Highlands Ranch sprinter Samantha Dole was able to keep the top award at her school in the 50 free, but added a second by blitzing past Kyla Dahlquist (Mountain Vista) in the 100 free.

Fairview’s Julie Giehl won the 200 freestyle, while Pomona’s Cori Swango took the diving championship.

Fairview kept things interesting in the team race as they finished with 240 points, but the Bruins still were too much to overtake.

Cherry Creek started the meet off right for themselves with a close win in the 200 medley relay – close being a touch just .13 seconds ahead of Grandview’s squad – and were ahead by enough that even the 400 freestyle relay results did not make a difference.

Michelle Menezes, a senior, was the only individual champion for the Bruins. She out-dueled Giehl in the 500 freestyle, knowing that the Bruins were in an unfamiliar place with just a slight lead in the team race.

"After that, everything went well," Menezes said. "It was more the fact that I knew we needed the points this year. Last year, we just dominated and this year it was a whole different story.

"After the 200 free, I wasn’t really happy. So to come back and win the 500 it was a really big deal for me."

Menezes followed in the footsteps of her older sister, Natasha, who was a double-champion in last year’s meet.

"She was a big inspiration for me," Michelle Menezes added.

Class 5A

swimming and diving

Championship results

Team scores – 1. Cherry Creek 267, 2. Fairview 240, 3. Regis 226, 4. Grandview 213, 5. Rampart 150, 6. Arapahoe 138, 7. Mountain Vista 106, 8. Chatfield 105, 9. Boulder 81, 10. Poudre 76, 10. Littleton 76, 12. Lewis-Palmer 63, 13. Legacy 46, 14. Air Academy 41, 15. Highlands Ranch 40, 15. Heritage 40, 17. Fort Collins 37, 18. Monarch, 18. Brighton 35, 20. Wheat Ridge 34, 21. George Washington 32, 22. Dakota Ridge 29, 23. Lakewood 25, 24. Thornton 22, 25. Bear Creek 20, 25. Pomona 20, 27. Smoky Hill 17, 28. Loveland 16, 29. Green Mountain 15, 29. Durango 15, 31. Ponderosa 14, 32. Denver East 13, 33. Arvada West 11, 34. Chaparral 9, 35. Pine Creek 7, 36. Palmer 6, 37. Eaglecrest 5.

200 medley relay – 1. Cherry Creek, 1:49.88; 2. Grandview, 1:50.01; 3. Rampart, 1:50.35; 4. Boulder, 1:51.86; 5. Fairview, 1:51.91; 6. Arapahoe, 1:52.28; 7. Regis, 1:52.33; 8. Mountain Vista, 1:52.49.

200 freestyle – 1. Julie Giehl, Fairview, 1:52.27; 2. Michelle Menezes, Cherry Creek, 1:52.52; 3. Kyla Dahlquist, Mountain Vista, 1:53.42; 4. Loren Brandon, Cherry Creek, 1:55.84; 5. Jackie Cromer, Lewis-Palmer, 1:56.07; 6. Stephanie McNicol, Regis, 1:56.29; 7. Maddie Gamble, Poudre, 1:56.50; 8. Carolyn Pasque, Arapahoe, 1:56.96.

200 individual medley – 1. Maiya Otsuka, Chatfield, 2:07.14; 2. Christine Wixted, Grandview, 2:11.81; 3. Morgan Kimminau, Cherry Creek, 2:11.87; 4. Mikella Zgliczynska, Fairview, 2:12.25; 5. Kelsey Clarke, Rampart, 2:12.35; 6. Kaeli Kluesner, Arapahoe, 2:13.60; 7. Paige Newell, Araphoe, 2:14.11; 8. Kyrene Clarke, Rampart, 2:14.39.

50 freestyle – 1. Samantha Dole, Highlands Ranch, 24.16; 2. Kristin Schmid, Regis, 24.25; 3. Jenna Gregoire, Rampart, 24.57; 4. Jessica Moon Air Academy, 24.73; 5. Laura Kollar, Fort Collins, 24.76; 6. Jessica Schlaak, Thornton, 24.81; 7. Vanessa Pollitt, Regis, 24.85; 8. Katie Thompson, Durango, 25.02.

1-meter diving – 1. Cori Swango, Pomona, 458.15; 2. Courtney Fieldman, Cherry Creek, 431.10; 3. Olivia Covey, Grandview, 415.95; 4. Kacie Miller, George Washington, 406.65; 5. Kelly Cook, Bear Creek, 383.50; 6. Bethany Ambrozic, Arapahoe, 380.10; 7. Casey Cerny, Fairview, 377.70; 8. Raleigh Williams, Arvada West, 371.70.

100 butterfly – 1. Maiya Otsuka, Chatfield, 58.45; 2. Lauren Rigg, Fairview, 59.18; 3. Olivia Martens, Grandview, 59.43; 4. Breann Fuller, Brighton, 59.58; 5. Katie Keller, Cherry Creek, 59.93; 6. Jessica Moon, Air Academy, 1:00.01; 7. Sophie Lucas, Fairview, 1:00.13; 8. Vanessa Pollitt, Regis, 1:00.26.

100 freestyle – 1. Samantha Dole, Highlands Ranch, 52.70; 2. Kyla Dahlquist, Mountain Vista, 52.76; 3. Jenna Gregoire, Rampart, 53.03; 4. Kristin Schmid, Regis, 53.09; 5. Brittney Martinez, Grandview, 53.24; 6. Jackie Cromer, Lewis-Palmer, 53.78; 7. Carolyn Pasque, Arapahoe, 54.07; 8. Laura DuPuis, Legacy, 54.10.

500 freestyle – 1. Michelle Menezes, Cherry Creek, 5:03.39; 2. Julie Giehl, Fairview, 5:05.00; 3. Loren Brandon, Cherry Creek, 5:06.88; 4. Stephanie McNicol, Regis, 5:09.17; 5. Olivia Martens, Grandview, 5:14.19; 6. Alyssa Swanson, Regis, 5:14.46; 7. Maddie Gamble, Poudre, 5:14.75; 8. Heidi Culver, Green Mountain, 5:17.20.

200 freestyle relay – 1. Regis, 1:39.20; 2. Fairview, 1:39.53; 3. Cherry Creek, 1:39.62; 4. Chatfield, 1:40.11; 5. Littleton, 1:40.64; 6. Grandview, 1:41.21; 7. Heritage, 1:42.69; 8. Lewis-Palmer, 1:42.99.

100 backstroke – 1. Breann Fuller, Brigthon, 58.05; 2. Lindsay Zeberlein, Mountain Vista 58.72; 3. Michelle Price, Poudre, 59.07; 4. Brittney Martinez, Grandview, 59.42; 5. Tally Latcham, George Washington, 1:00.50; 6. Morgan Kimminau, Cherry Creek, 1:00.71; 7. Taylor Kitayama, Fairview, 1:00.79; 8. Kelsey Clarke, Rampart, 1:02.00.

100 breaststroke – 1. Emily Kuhr, Dakota Ridge, 1:04.91; 2. Annie Perizzolo, Smoky Hill, 1:05.91; 3. Kyrene Clarke, Rampart, 1:06.75; 4. Christine Wixted, Grandview, 1:06.79; 5. Kristen Hughes, Lewis-Palmer, 1:07.10; 6. Kelly Mathews, Denver East, 1:07.56; 7. Addie Johnson, Mountain Vista, 1:07.66; 8. Kylie Rathbone, Lakewood, 1:07.74.

400 freestyle relay – 1. Regis, 3:34.51; 2. Grandview, 3:35.00; 3. Chatfield, 3:36.43; 4. Cherry Creek, 3:38.51; 5. Poudre, 3:40.86; 6. Fairview, 3:41.08, 7. Rampart, 3:41.60; 8. Mountain Vista 3:41.93.

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