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http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/feb/26/boys-swimming-all-eyes-legacys-schmul/
Boys swimming: All eyes
on Legacy’s Schmuhl
Pat Rooney
Published February 26, 2009 at 6:50 p.m.
Steve Schmuhl is cognizant of all
the eyes that are going to be focused on him during the upcoming
months.
Such scrutiny is the price of success. After making a strong claim
to assume the mantle as the state’s top individual swimmer
last season, Schmuhl, a sophomore from Legacy High School, is ready
to embrace the pressure that will be an inevitable byproduct of his
status this season.
“I’m excited for the high school season because
it’s different,ý Schmuhl said. “I like the media
attention and I like the pressure. I can always perform better when
there is more pressure.ý
Schmuhl proved as much at the Class 5A state meet last year,
winning two events as a freshman to make his mark as the heir
apparent to former Heritage All-American Mark Dylla as
Colorado’s dominant individual swimmer. With Dylla’s
shadow having now receded even further and Schmuhl no longer
needing to compete with former Regis Jesuit star Jay Kim, the
sophomore will carry a huge target on his back this season.
Schmuhl set new classification records during each of his state
title victories last year. Schmuhl won the 200 freestyle in 1
minute, 40.03 seconds, earning All-Colorado honors in the event and
taking nearly a full second off the former 5A record of 1:41.00,
set by Longmont’s J.D. White in 2002.
Schmuhl was nearly as impressive while collecting his win in the
100 freestyle, out-touching former Heritage standout Conor Brennan
to take first with a 5A record time of 45.61 seconds. Some
additional bad news for those opponents out-touched by Schmuhl last
year is that he has added another inch to his rangy 6-foot-5 frame
since last season.
Plenty of time remains in Schmuhl’s prep career, and perhaps
it is too soon to wonder if he can repeat the success of Dylla, who
captured a record eight individual state titles during his career.
But Schmuhl, a dominant freestyler by trade, has already set the
pace, and he hinted he might follow Dylla’s lead and attempt
to capture state titles in several events as his career
unfolds.
Granted, that is a lot of pressure to put on a sophomore’s
shoulders. But, as Schmuhl so proudly states, he wouldn’t
have it any other way,
“I really liked (swimming) from the start and always had the
desire to keep getting better,ý Schmuhl said. “I want
to do the 200 freestyle again, but we’ll see what other
events I do. I think the 500 free is really fun to do, and so is
the 100 butterfly and the 100 breaststroke. But, at least in the
breaststroke, there are other guys that are better than me at that
right now.ý
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