i have colors for op/opers/vo/notify/ignore/away and regular users
First of all, put op/voice/regular/ignore/notify into your address book without worrying about looping. That saves some checks. That leaves you with only needing to check opers (I assume you mean ircops?) and away. Note that you can also color nicks based on idle time (not really away, but similar).
For the away and ircop status, you'd probably still have to /who everyone. Still, that cuts down on your need to check things, which should help.
