Jake Eccleston, Chase Mueller On Record Watch At Colorado Boys HS State Championships

2023 Colorado Swim & Dive State Championships

• May 11-13, 2023
  • Class 4A: May 11-12
  • Class 5A: May 12-13
• Thornton, Colorado
• Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center
• SCY (25 yards)
• Meet Central
• 4A Psych Sheets
• 5A Psych Sheets

Jake Eccleston and Chase Mueller are in position to smash a few Colorado high school (CHSAA) records this weekend at the state championships in Thornton, as the two highly-touted recruits headline the meet slated for the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center from Friday to Sunday.

Eccleston, a member of the 2022-23 U.S. National Junior Team who announced his commitment to the University of Louisville earlier this year, comes into the 4A Championships as the defending champ in both the 100 breaststroke and 200 IM, and has made significant improvements since winning the 2022 titles as a sophomore.

Mueller, an NC State commit, won 5A titles in the 100 back and 200 IM last year, but will be taking on the 200 free and 500 free this year for Columbine High School.

4A PREVIEW

Eccleston will lead Windsor High School into battle at the 4A Championships, as he’s essentially a lock to earn repeat titles as the top seed in the 200 IM by eight seconds and the #1 ranked swimmer in the 100 breast by nearly four.

Eccleston set the 4A state record last year in the 100 breast in 55.04, but is coming off of setting a massive lifetime best of 53.52 at the Speedo Sectionals in Federal Way in March, putting him more than a second under the existing overall CHSAA record of 54.67 set by William Goodwin in 2019.

In the 200 IM, Eccleston set a PB of 1:47.54 at Winter Juniors – West in December, putting him in position to take down the 4A record of 1:48.93 set by Daniel Carr in 2015. The overall record sits at 1:46.27, established by Danny Kovac in 2018.

Other defending champions in the mix this weekend will be the Discovery Canyon duo of Adam Pannell (200 free) and Taylor Wagner (500 free), along with Wheat Ridge’s Andy Peterson (100 back), all seniors.

Another Wheat Ridge senior, Joaquin Contreras-Fallico, comes in as the top seed in both the 100 back (48.74) and 100 free (46.77) after finishing as the runner-up last year in the 100 back. Contreras-Fallico, who is committed to the University of South Dakota for next season, has made significant improvements since last year, having dropped two seconds since last year’s state meet.

Cheyenne Mountain come in as the defending team champions, having claimed the 2022 title by 30 points over Silver Creek.

5A PREVIEW

Mueller comes in as the top seed at the 5A meet in the 200 free and 500 free. His seed times distance him from the rest of his competitors by a wide margin, but those times are nowhere near what he produced at Winter Juniors – West in December.

Mueller swam to best times of 1:34.66 in the 200 free and 4:16.52 in the 500 free five months ago, and if he approaches those this weekend, he’ll smash the existing CHSAA records of 1:35.72 (Luke Miller, 2019) and 4:26.20 (Jared Markham, 2011), respectively.

Last year, Mueller won the 100 back (47.28) and 200 IM (1:47.68) for Columbine.

The 2022 winner in both the 200 and 500 free, Jack Ballard, has since graduated and spent the past season as a freshman at the University of Minnesota.

Another swimmer looking to win two individual titles for the second straight year is Chatfield senior Tristen Davin, who won the 50 and 100 free last season. Davin will go head-to-head with Mueller in the 200 free this year, coming in seeded fifth at 1:42.87, while in the 100 free, he’ll seek a repeat title as the #2 seed behind Cherry Creek junior Colin Mikulecky.

Arizona commit Mitch Oliver comes in seeking a title defense in the 100 breast, but will have a tall task as he comes in seeded fourth with Chatfield senior Joshua Corn (54.83) and Smoky Hill junior Daniel Yi (54.98) both entered under 55 seconds.

Oliver owns a best time of 55.54, set in March 2022.

Oliver is also among the top seeds in the 100 fly, coming in ranked fourth with Cherry Creek junior Brodie Johnson leading the field at 49.24. Last year’s 100 fly champ, Carter Ruthven, is not in the field this week.

Johnson is coming off setting a PB of 48.79 at the Austin Sectionals in March.

In the team race, Regis Jesuit is the defending champion after ending Cherry Creek’s run of two consecutive titles in 2022.