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WEEK OF MAY 30, 2024
VOLUME 97 | ISSUE 26
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OLYMPIC SPLASH
The cost of gas is about to spike in Colorado EPA is forcing the state to switch to reformulated gas as ground-level ozone hits ‘severe’ during the summer BY MICHAEL BOOTH THE COLORADO SUN
Ben Sampson, a former Ralston Valley swimmer from Arvada, swims for Colorado Mesa University above. Sampson, 21, is the COURTESY PHOTO oldest Coloradan from the state at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Indianapolis from June 15-23.
Area high school swimmers headline the roster of Coloradans qualified for U.S. Olympic trials BY JOHN RENFROW JRENFROW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Between slews of different strokes, roughly 320,000 competitive swimmers across America come up for air unsure of their placings as they compete against other swimmers and themselves. The athletes can only hope with bated breath that their score is Olympic-worthy when they breach
for the final time. Only about 800 will make it. Just seven swimmers registered to Colorado clubs emerged victorious, officially qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Indianapolis on June 15-23. Two are high schoolers from the Denver metro area. Douglas County High School’s Mila Nikanorov and Cherry Creek High School’s Charlotte Wilson headline the group. Both (recently graduated) seniors are first-team all-state Colorado swimmers and multiple Class 5A state champions. Both also swam club for Highlands Ranch Athletics. “Ever since I was 13, it was something that I wanted to do. It was a big goal,” Nikanorov, an Ohio State
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commit, said. “I had smaller goals to keep track of the progress and not make it seem unreachable. I really pride myself in knowing that I stuck with something for at least four years. I got my first trials cut when I was 17.” To qualify for the trials, athletes must post a qualifying time standard. The necessary qualifying times to earn a trip to Indianapolis are at www.usaswimming.org/. Because of the registry process for the team trials, athletes may have been born in Colorado but are currently training elsewhere, so they won’t be on this list. Here is the list of registered Coloradans who qualified, according to USA Swimming: SEE SWIMMING, P2
Keep an eye on gas prices in the next few weeks, Colorado, and you can watch a major policy battle play out between an extremely irritated Gov. Jared Polis and officials enforcing the federal Clean Air Act. Colorado has a big problem with toxic ground-level ozone in the nine-county northern Front Range area that the Environmental Protection Agency has declared in “severe” violation of Clean Air Act ozone limits. When an area hits “severe,” the Clean Air Act requires all gas stations in that area to begin selling “reformulated” gas during the summer ozone season, beginning June 1. Reformulated gas, according to the EPA, can cut back on ozonecausing emissions because it’s denser and doesn’t evaporate as quickly in hot weather. Polis argues it will shoot Colorado gas prices up by 50 cents a gallon or more. But the EPA says its studies show the impact is only a few cents. What’s the reality? Let’s pop the hood and take a look. Are Colorado gas prices already going up?
Yes, but. The EPA says reformulated gas has already made its way to the pumps because of the timing of gas distribution. SEE GAS, P6
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