ARVADA — If Barrett Kerrigan had concerns ahead of his final individual prep swim, he maintained one heck of a poker face.

The Cheyenne Mountain senior entered the 500 freestyle seeded fourth, but Kerrigan exited the pool Saturday at Arvada Aquatics Center with his third consecutive championship. 

Kerrigan clocked in at 4 minutes, 36.79 seconds in the 500 to cap his career with another title in the race and, for the first time, earned the 200 freestyle title. Kerrigan finished first in the 200 with a time of 1:40.46 for the double title at the 4A state boys’ swimming and diving championships. 

“Sophomore and junior year I won the 500 but this year I set my sights on winning both of my individual events,” Kerrigan said.

After Friday’s prelims, that opportunity appeared to be in jeopardy. Kerrigan clocked a 4:46.03 in the 500, which was more than 10 seconds slower than his seed time of 4:36.79. It also marked Kerrigan’s third slowest time of the season. 

But this isn’t his first water rodeo and Kerrigan, as he’s shown two times before, knows the proper approach to his best race.

“Barrett knew what he was doing,” Cheyenne Mountain coach Kate Doane said. “He swam prelims to get himself ready to go for finals and he had confidence — he always has confidence — and he got it done.” 

Kerrigan said his 500 prelim time was “slower than I wanted” but knew he could improve that in the finals.

“I knew I needed to focus on the nutrition aspect of it,” Kerrigan said. “In the prelims, I was a little tired because I hadn’t eaten in a while and (Saturday) we worked on that and I went a lot faster.” 

As he did for the 200. In the meet’s second race, Kerrigan had a seed time of 1:42.48, but touched the wall at 1:43.81 on Friday. In Saturday’s finals, Kerrigan notched a career-best time to win his second championship. 

There won’t be a team banner for the Red-Tailed Hawks as they finished eighth with 182 points, but Kerrigan, who scored 48 points, will leave behind a legacy at Cheyenne Mountain. 

And Kerrigan, who was named 4A Swimmer of the Year by the Colorado High School Activities Association at the event, said he’s honored to join an elite bunch of Red-Tailed Hawk swimmers and divers.

“I’m happy with how I’ve done my four years,” Kerrigan said. “I hope that somebody comes along from Cheyenne Mountain and takes my records one day.”

Cooper Lutze finished eighth in diving for the Red-Tailed Hawks with a score of 410.10 and Jacob Birkby, who earned 22 individual points, placed eighth in the 100 backstroke for his highest individual placement. Cameron Green finished ninth in diving with a score of 403.20. Derek Jain placed 19th in diving at 308.50.

Eler Huang finished with nine points for the Red-Tailed Hawks and Townes Doane added six points for Cheyenne Mountain.

Lewis-Palmer nearly finishes top five

The Rangers ended the meet with 214.5 points Saturday for sixth place. Had the Rangers scored two more, they would’ve finished fifth.

One year after scoring 98 points for 13th, Lewis-Palmer secured the highest 4A team placement for any Pikes Peak region school and nearly had an individual champion. 

Carson King placed second in the 200 IM at 1:54.38 and trimmed 0.12 seconds from his prelim time of 1:54.50. King also earned a team-high 40 points at the meet and earned fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke at 59.30. 

Noah DiStefano scored 35 points for the Rangers and placed fifth in the 50 free at 21.20 and sixth in the 100 free at 47.82.

For relays, the Rangers’ 400 freestyle quartet capped the afternoon with a fifth-place finish and a time of 3:15.73 to give Lewis-Palmer its best placement of its state relay teams.

Area 5A schools quiet at VMAC

Pine Creek registered the highest score of any Pikes Peak region team at Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center for the 5A competition.

The Eagles finished with 31 points and placed 24^th out of 31 teams that scored in Thornton. Sam Castillo accounted for 22 points and finished 10^th in the 100 free at 47.45, the best placement of his individual swims.

Fountain-Fort Carson placed 29^th and finished with seven points, all via diver Troy Bystrom who placed 14^th and scored 370.85 points. Doherty’s Tobin Murphy also secured all the Spartans’ points at the meet and finished with five to help his school place 30^th overall. His 18th-place finish and time of 4:56.92 in the 500 free was his best performance of the event.

Note: This story has been updated with 5A results.