Mountain View set the tone for the boys' R2J City Meet when sophomore JJ Phillips surged ahead of Loveland in the final 50 yards of the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay, claiming the first of several event victories for the Mountain Lions on Friday at the Mountain View Aquatic Center.
Next Friday, the swim and dive teams at Loveland, Thompson Valley and Mountain View will converge on the Mountain View Aquatic Center to determine who the best team in the city is.
Mountain View swim coach Wietse Wullink looked out over the pool at the Mountain View Aquatic Center on Tuesday, where every lane was full, some with two swimmers, another with three.
He remembered just a few years ago, it wasn't like that at all.
Thursday's finals of the Class 4A state swim and dive championship meet featured a pair of local teams on the rise, with both Loveland and Mountain View making vast improvements from their performances last year.
With the state swim championships only two weeks away and conference meets even sooner, local swimmers got a chance to improve their times or meet state qualifying marks at the highly competitive Mustang Invitational last weekend at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton.