Avon Swim Team brings home hardware from Midwest All-Star Championships in Des Moines

Brian and Andrew Molloy, Breck and Tyson Boyd and Tennyson Sipes know what it takes to bring home the hardware: swim fast. The five Avon Swim Team members collected numerous wins and runner-up finishes at the USA Swimming Midwest All-Star Championships in Des Moines, Iowa last month, a meeting of the best youth (10-and-under, 11-12 and 13-14-years-old) swimmers from Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and North and South Dakota. In the process, they helped Team Colorado come away with a dominant victory.

Team Colorado dropped 933 points — almost 700 more than runner-up Team Missouri Valley. Before getting to the laundry list of individual accolades, a brief refresher.

Coach Meghan Hershey’s top group main goal through its six fall meets was qualifying for Midwest All-Stars, accomplished by either securing the No. 1 state ranking in a single event at season’s end or by finishing in the top-10 in the all-around performance points list, as accrued by performances at USA Swimming competitions. In previous years, the most she’s ever had make Team Colorado is one athlete.

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“And that was a big deal,” the coach said last fall.

This year, Avon’s club had the most male representation on Team Colorado outside of the 250-plus member University of Denver-supported Hilltoppers. Now, back to the trophies.

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Andrew Molloy was dominant in a myriad of races en route to finishing second overall in the 11-12-year-old high points award. He was a three-time individual champion on the weekend, topping the 35-40-athlete fields in the 100-yard individual medley, the 100-yard butterfly and the 50-yard breaststroke — the event in which he was ranked No. 1 in Colorado. He was also runner-up in the 100-yard breaststroke. In both breaststroke races, all three Avon swimmers — Molloy, Sipes and Tyson Boyd, also racing in the 11-12-year-old age group — finished in the top five.

Molloy also was fourth in the 50-yard butterfly, sixth in the 50-yard freestyle and a member of Team Colorado’s 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard medley relay wins.

Sipes also finished 16th in the 50-yard backstroke, 10th in the 100-yard freestyle, eighth in the 200-yard freestyle and sixth in the 500-yard freestyle.

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Tyson Boyd was the king of the distance events, finishing second in both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyles. He showed range and versatility, too, placing sixth in the 100-yard individual medley and fourth in the 200-yard individual medley.

In the 13-14-year-old age group races, Brian Molloy placed fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke, ninth in the 200-yard breaststroke, eighth in the 200-yard individual medley, 10th in the 50-yard freestyle and 17th in both the 100 and 200-yard freestyles.

Breck Boyd was a three-time silver medalist — in the 500-yard freestyle and both the 100 and 200-yard backstrokes. He also placed fourth in the 100-yard freestyle, fifth in the 200-yard freestyle and seventh in the 400-yard individual medley. Boyd joined his Team Colorado comrades to win the 400-yard freestyle relay and place second in the 400-yard medley relay team.

 “Their passion for the sport and desire to work hard is amazing and the key to their success in and out of the pool,” Hershey stated of her athletes.

“They each bring their own strengths to the table, and work with one another to make each other stronger in the pool. I am so proud of them and their work ethic. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for them.” 

The Avon Swim Team’s season continues with the upcoming state meet as well as other high-level events throughout the month of March.