Swimming takes state third

Heading into Saturday's NIAA State Swimming and Diving Championships, Douglas head coach Kirk Chiapella thought his boys' squad might have a shot at cracking the top four or five.

"We thought we were the second-best team in the north," Chiapella said. "We had some bad breaks over the course of the season, but we pulled it together through regionals and I honestly thought finishing in the top four at state would be the best we could do."

The Tigers, however, stepped up and surprised their coach.

Senior Andy Sturgess enjoyed a career day, placing third in the 50 and the 100 freestyle, leading Douglas to a third place team finish Saturday.

"We've been working for this all season," Chiapella said. "It was Andy's senior year and he really stepped up Saturday."

Sturgess set a new school record in the 50 free with a time of 22.16. He followed that with a 48.23 in the 100 free, just a shade off his 47.87 school record time set the previous week at regionals.

Chiapella said Sturgess hopes to attend one of the BYU campuses next year and will be contacting Cougar coaches soon.

Trevor Schaff took seventh in the 100 fly with a 57.97.

The 200 free relay team of Schaff, Hayes Wilson, Justin White and Sturgess took second with a time of 1:33.53. The 400 free relay squad made up of the same swimmers finished third with a season-best time of 3:26.22.

Steve Owens finished sixth in the diving competition, scoring 282.10 points for the top score from the north.

Douglas was able to fend off fourth-place Centennial, even though the Las Vegas school boasted three relay entries.

"For us to beat a team with three relays was big," Chiapella said. "It was a great end to the year, with two new school records and a strong team finish at state."

Although the girls' squad did not have any state qualifiers, Chiapella said he is eager to see what they can do over the next several years.

"We're hoping to build for next year," he said. "We've got a very young squad that could be in there next year."

n Joey Crandall can be reached at jcrandall@recordcourier.com or at (775) 782-5121, ext. 212.