FORT COLLINS • In his first three years at Pine Creek, swimmer Gregg Hutto had never finished better than 12th in a state meet race.At his final 5A meet, a stronger Hutto collected a pair of top-four finishes at Edora Pool Ice Center on Saturday. He credited the rapid rise to hitting the weights. From January through March, Hutto worked out multiple times per week at 5 a.m. to supplement his swim practices. He did it to escape the wake of his competition.“I realized everybody was getting faster, and I knew it wasn’t just because of their swimming,” he said.So much for senioritis. A motivated Hutto set a goal of a top-three finish at the state meet and achieved it. He placed third in the 100 freestyle and fourth in the 50 free.Hutto’s chances of winning the 100 free were shattered early as the champion set a new 5A state meet record of 45.28. Hutto came in at 47.82.In the 50 free, Hutto was fourth in 21.61, .80 behind the winner and .13 shy of All-American consideration time.Aurora’s Regis Jesuit won the 5A championship for the 15th straight year, while Hutto led the young Pine Creek program to 12th in the team standings. Hutto was also nominated for 5A swimmer of the year.“I’m really proud of him,” Pine Creek coach Steve Owsley said. “He has been a great mentor to the three sophomores that also [qualified for state]. It’s good for them to have someone to look up to.”Other top area individual finishers included Coronado’s Dylan Fabrizius (ninth, 200 free and 10th, 100 butterfly) and Rampart diver Tyler Knab (11th).

Photo by