When the 2019-20 boys swimming season got under way in early December, Garden City High School coach Brian Watkins knew he had a solid corps of returners, along with some promising freshmen who had competitively swam during the AAU summer seasons.
What he might not have realized, though, is what the overall impact of two of those freshmen were going to have on his suddenly-resurrected boys swim program, one that had been abandoned in the early 1990s after a successful run in the 1980s.
One of those freshmen – Kobe Otero – made the biggest splash of all, albeit his rookie teammate – Devin Chappel and sophomore Joel Contrarez– also have had a major impact on the success of the Buffaloes team this season.
With talented juniors in Connor Cupp, Jeremiah Bunce and Esai Morales, the Buffs had just two seniors who played prominent roles – Lane Durst and Nathan Morren.
The culmination to this date for Otero came on Feb. 13 when the Buffaloes hosted the Western Athletic Conference championship meet and came away with the team title, scoring 399 points to runner-up Great Bend’s 332 points.
In the process, Otero won two individual events – the 200-yard individual medley (2:10.89) and the 100-yard backstroke (58.47) and then swam the first leg of the winning 200-yard medley relay (backstroke) and the third leg of the gold-medal 400-yard freestyle relay (3:31.20) unit.
For his efforts, Otero was voted WAC Swimmer of the Year.
Heady stuff, especially for a freshman who had many questions about how the 2019-20 season would unfold.
“WAC was an awesome day, being at home with family, teammates, classmates,” Otero said. “It was just to be in that atmosphere where there was a lot of energy.”
For the most part, WAC wasn’t the ultimate accomplishment or goal for Otero and his teammates – that was getting as many qualifiers (individually and relay) to the Class 6A state meet as possible was upper most on the list of goals.
“We just never were thinking about WAC that much,” Otero said. “It wasn’t the highest priority. But the day we had the meet at home, it was important to do as well as we could. We just wanted to make sure to get as many of our times qualified for state.”
While he considers the backstroke his best of the four different strokes, Otero said the 200-yard individual medley has strengthened his three other strokes – butterfly, breaststroke and freestyle.
“The back is just one of the easiest because you can breathe the whole time when you’re racing the event,” Otero said. “The butterfly is the hardest for me. It takes the most energy because you’re rotating your arms, you’re pulling water with both arms and you’re kicking. You’re using everything your body has and it just takes a lot of energy and power. You have to hold your breath between strokes.”
Otero also said the breaststroke was not an easy one for him due to the fact it requires a lot of lower body work.
“It takes a lot of energy out of my legs, and my kick is kind of weak right now,” Otero said. “You really have to work your arms and need a fast recovery for this stroke. The freestyle is the easiest stroke by far, but you’re swimming it after the other three so in some ways it’s just being mentally strong at the end.”
While happy with his freshman season, and with the state meet just around the corner (Feb. 21-22 in Topeka), Otero said he feels like he can do better.
“I think just a few of the meets where the competition was really tough showed me what I need to improve on,” Otero said. “Some of the meets weren’t as strong as I thought they might be. I know I could have trained harder, so that’s something that I’ll work on for next year. I’m proud of myself and my teammates and my coaches. We’ve worked pretty hard and we’ve got a good group who will only get better in the next year.”
The individual highlight of the WAC meet came when Otero bested his Great Bend nemesis Tyler Stein, whom he had not beaten all year. In the 100-yard backstroke, Otero clocked a state-qualifying time of 58.47 seconds and teammate Morales followed in 59.45 while Stein was a distant third in 1:02.78.
“That was really a big event, so many people cheering me on,” Otero said. “I just got a lot of energy from my coaches and teammates.”
The learning curve for his high school career involves more training, not giving up in any race, be a good teammate and be motivated at all times, Otero said.
“We have a lot going for us, with the freshmen and our juniors,” Otero said. “Next year, I think we’re just gonna kill it. Our team’s gonna be really good.”
For the moment, Otero and his teammates will bask in the satisfaction of repeating as team champions in the WAC, but working more toward a greater level of success at the state meet.
“The WAC is meaningful, but it’s state where we want to be more competitive as a team,” Otero said.
But make no mistake, Otero made a big, big splash onto the high school scene in his freshman season at Garden City. The results speak for themselves.
Brett Marshall is the retired Sports Editor of The Garden City Telegram (2008 to 2018) and was formerly the sports editor at The Dodge City Daily Globe (1975-1977). He also worked on newspapers in Fort Scott, Hutchinson and Salina.
