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Swimming medals at the state championships aren't handed out until Saturday.

But participants in those 11 boys and girls events who take Friday's preliminary rounds lightly won't have as much to celebrate 24 hours later.

How things go that first day also will go a long way in determining the team championship, especially in the girls meet.

Four-time defending champion Millard West will be pushed by several teams, including Omaha Westside and Lincoln Southwest.

On the boys side, Omaha Creighton Prep is the favorite to win its sixth consecutive state title after rebuilding from last year's squad that set the all-time record for most points in a state meet.

"Last year was such a senior-dominated team that the rest of the guys didn't feel a ton of pressure to carry much of the load," Junior Jays coach Tom Beck said. "This season, we felt more pressure to develop our younger kids pretty quickly and get everyone feeling they had to carry their weight.

"Everybody, including those younger guys, did a great job of improving throughout the year, especially at the Metro (Conference) meet. That forced everybody to step up."

Competition in the 75th boys and 39th girls meets begins Thursday with 1-meter diving. The boys diving championship is expected to be a battle between the past two champions.

Erik Gustafson of Lincoln Southeast is the defending champion, and Addison Boschult of Ralston/Omaha Gross won the gold medal in 2010. Both seniors have posted regular-season 11-dive scores of more than 500 points.

The girls competition will feature three divers who are all within 20 points of each other, led by Elizabeth Howorth of Elkhorn/Elkhorn South with a season-best score of 459.95.

In a season where points have been evenly distributed in meets, coaches have put extra emphasis on the prelims.

"This year, there are a lot of kids who haven't been in this position for us before who are now expected to do some remarkable things," Millard West coach Tracy Stauffer said. "Every event is pivotal because this meet might not be over until the last event on Saturday."

One of Stauffer's more interesting lineup moves was placing junior Erin Oeltjen in the 200-yard individual medley instead of the 100 butterfly, the event in which she's the defending state champion. Oeltjen also will swim the 100 backstroke.

"Having Erin in the IM made better sense for our team," Stauffer said. "She's trained really hard since this summer for the IM. It's not a gamble, but if she wants to win that event, she really has to step up.

"Erin likes challenges, and she's excited about swimming that event."

Westside coach Doug Krecklow also spent a lot of time figuring out his lineup before the Feb. 14 deadline. He believes that the three relays ultimately will decide the meet.

"You've got to have a lot of confidence with your relays," Krecklow said. "I wanted to make sure we could score well in all three relays, and that had some input in how we set up our people in the last couple of events."

Three of the four swimmers Krecklow listed for the Warriors 400 freestyle relay could have gone in the 100 backstroke or 100 breaststroke, he said. But because of the overall strength of those events from a variety of teams, he put swimmers in events earlier in the program.

"Seven of the top 12 breaststrokers didn't swim in the Metro Conference meet," Krecklow said. "There are a whole bunch of kids at 1:09 or better. I just decided it was to our benefit to go with events where I thought we would be stronger."

Both Stauffer and Krecklow agree that how things go on Friday will have a bigger-than-usual impact on Saturday's swims because the talent isn't concentrated in just two or three programs.

"Nobody has a lock on anything," Krecklow said. "The team that swims best on Friday is going to put itself in the best position for Saturday."

Contact the writer:

402-618-4113, alexsdad@mail.com

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