Colony High School boys win state team title at swim and dive championships

Athletes from Colony, Wasilla and Palmer high schools participated at the ASAA/First National Bank State Swimming and Diving Championships at Bartlett High School in Anchorage Nov. 8-9, and the Colony Knights made history.

The Colony boys won the state team title for the first time in school history and broke several school records. Relay teams and individuals from Valley schools also placed in the top three for many events.

Colony High School’s Iver Gates, Isaiah Hulien, Kellan DenBleyker and Pierce McDonough placed first in the boys 400-yard freestyle relay and broke the school’s record. Gates, DenBleyker, Hulien and Thomas Smith placed second and set a new school record in a close race for the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:27:09.

“I think we did pretty great,” Gates said. “We snagged a state title and a new high school record. The boys laid down some awesome times and (I’m) just happy to be here with all these guys.”

“We broke all the men’s relay records this week, every single one from Colony,” DenBleyker said.

“It’s a great way to end the season,” McDonough said.

Hulien placed first in the Boys 100 butterfly for the Knights.

“I think I did pretty good, improved some things that I did wrong in prelims,” Hulien said. “I beat my best time from yesterday [prelims] by about 0.6 [seconds].”

Hulien said he plans to get back to his club season and training for out-of-state meets.

“Get right back on the grind,” Hulien said.

Colony senior Charlize McManus won first in girls 1 meter diving with a score of 456.25, setting her personal best. Teammates Claire Wallstrum, Samantha Grisham and Lyza Krozel placed third, fifth and sixth, respectively, with scores of 447.50, 364.70 and 363.55. Molly Athens from Palmer High School placed eighth.

“Today was stressful for me because it was really close competition,” McManus said. “I’m just relieved I was able to pull through. I’m really happy, I’m relieved, and I’m thankful. Just excited.”

Colony head coach Kaitlin Dault celebrated the team’s success at the state championships.

“They did great. They broke a ton of records,” Dault said. “A lot of the records have been up there since 2017 for the boys. Just really amazing to see them pull together as a team and be able to break those records.”

Dault pointed out that Colony has had a tough season of sick athletes and a lot of travel. But she is proud of how they were able to perform well in competition. Some athletes will be splitting into three club teams for the next few months. There will be 15 seniors graduating high school after this season.

“I’m really impressed with how all of the kids are really good teammates and really supportive of each other. It’s really nice to see everybody cheering and lifting each other up and helping them get to their next races,” the head coach said.

Wasilla senior Travis Thornton won first for the boys 1 meter diving with a final score of 486.25. Sophomore teammate Colter Gose placed fourth with a score of 367.55.

Palmer junior Kylie Benner placed second in the girls 200 freestyle. She attributed her success to her competition.

“Overall the competition this year was super awesome,” Benner said. “Truthfully, in swimming, competing is my favorite, not just racing. I think this race was super awesome as far as my competitors and they pushed me really hard.”

The Palmer girls team won the Academic Award for highest average team grade point average of 3.9.