Greeley West swimmer stands tall in victory

Greeley West's Clark Tappy had some growing to do both in and out of the swimming pool.

Now he stands tall both in and out of the water.

The Spartans junior stood above everyone at the Northern Conference East Swimming and Diving Championships in both the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly as he won both events in state qualifying times, 22.84 and 56.20 seconds, respectively. He also was part of two winning relays. His performance helped the Spartans capture the team title with 546 points at the Greeley Recreation Center, outdistancing second-place Greeley Central with 392.

When Tappy started swimming in the seventh grade, he was only 5-feet tall and weighed 120 pounds. He took up swimming to lose weight.

"I wasn't heavy, but I was short and stubby," Tappy said.

Because of his size, he didn't have a lot of confidence in the pool. Greeley West teammate Keaton Brown, who won both the 100 freestyle (49.56) and the 100 backstroke (56.09) on Saturday, went to Brentwood Middle School with Tappy. He said that in middle school he didn't even know if Tappy could do a flip turn.

It wasn't until his freshman year at West, working under Greeley West coach Colin Shaha, that Brown really started seeing Tappy's potential to be a good swimmer. He barely missed state, by one-hundreth of a second, in the 100 butterfly as a freshman.

Last summer, something amazing happened. He started to grow. A lot. Now he's 6-3, 180 pounds. His teammates, who used to be taller than Tappy and always joked with him about it, now have to look up at him.

"I teased him and now I am still getting it back," Brown said.

Tappy said his growth spurt has helped him in the pool because he "has a little more reach than anybody else." Shaha said his success has more to do with his work ethic and growing confidence in the pool.