PROVO — You shave four seconds off your personal best, and the result is likely to yield big results.
Such was the case for Pleasant Grove's Devin Bunnell, who took home gold for the boys 200-yard freestyle in the 5A state swimming championships on Thursday. The sophomore beat Viewmont's Zachary Julien by a little more than a full second, impressing the crowd, and himself.
"It was the best race of my life," Bunner said. "I have a great coach who (prepared) me great...everything worked out great."
Bunner led throughout but felt his competition catching up during the last lap. Fortunately he was able to out-kick his pursuers for the surprise win.
"I just put my head down during that last little bit," Bunner said. "I tried to go as fast I could. I didn't don't how fast I was going to go, so when I saw how fast I did — I was so happy."
If Bunner beating his qualifying time by more than four seconds was impressive, Cottonwood's Rhyan White's final race improvement was at least as much.
White edged out Brighton's Rachel Butler by a slim .02 seconds to take home the gold in the 200-yard individual medley.
"I saw her coming (during) the breaststroke, and I know she's really good on freestyle, so I was like, 'I really, really need to try super hard on this,'" White said of the final stretch and working to maintain a lead over the much taller Butler. "I have to take two strokes for every one she takes, so I was just spinning my arms (as fast as I could.)"
Other big winners on the first day of competition included Viewmont's Mariah Maile, who took gold in the 200-yard freestyle and West's Fane Wolfgramm, who won out in the 50-yard freestyle. Lone Peak took home gold in the 200-yard freestyle relay while Cottonwood's Blayze Kimble and Christian Simon were champions in the 200-yard IM and the 50-yard freestyle, respectively.
The day's races began with the Brighton girls 200-yard freestyle relay team outlasting Cottonwood to take home gold and get the Bengals off to a fast start.
"It was a lot of anxiety going in, and I really didn't think we could win, but we did it," said senior Anna Hibbard, who was one of the three seniors swimming in their last freestyle relay. "This was big for us, but more importantly I think it really helps our team get off to a great start in the team competition."
As for the team competition, defending champion Sky View, leads the girls competition with 125 points, through four events. Brighton (95.5) and Cottonwood (95) are the closest competition as teams set to compete in seven more races on Friday.
As for the boys side it's Lone Peak (114.5 points) leading the way, following by defending champion Viewmont (68) and Pleasant Grove (64.) The boys will also resume races on Friday at BYU.
Day one results
Girls results
200-yard freestyle relay: 1. Brighton (Rachel Butler, Ava Binder, Brooke VanBrocklin, Anna Hibbard), 1:49.80; 2. Cottonwood (Rhyan White, Emma Walker, Hannah Dibb, Grace Steward), 1:50.50; 3. Sky View (Brynn Gibbons, Alexa Walters, Abigail Israelsen, Emily Speth), 1:50.53; 4. West (Fane Wolfgramm, Julia Sherman, Vivienne, Colbert, Arcadia Chomjak), 1:51.76; 5. Fremont (Teneille Troescher, Lizzie Drake, Kyrie Sutherland, Olyvia Mayer), 1:55.15; 6. Riverton (Rachel Johansen, Skyler Lyon, Kara Johansen, Lexi Sorensen), 1:56.24; 7. Lehi (Kaylee Richards, Skylar Peterson, Erin Byrne, Grace Sturgill), 1:57.79; 8. American Fork (Jessie Patterson, Bree Gilmour, Riyanna Day, Madi Child, 1:58.36
200-yard freestyle: 1. Mariah Maile, Viewmont, 1:51.86; 2. Megan Brimhall, Sky View, 1:53.96; 3. Natalie Davis, Lone Peak, 1:58.28; 4. Emily Speth, Sky View, 1:59.53; 5. Kaylee Richards, Lehi, 2:00.20; 6. Jessica Lloyd, Cottonwood, 2:00.36; 7. Shelby Graves, American Fork, 2:00.97; 8. Hannah Roberts, Bingham, 2:01.39
200-yard individual medley: 1. Rhyan White, Cottonwood, 2:05.53; 2. Rachel Butler, Brighton, 2:05.55; 3. Kyrie Sutherland, Fremont, 2:11.44; 4. Kenzie Chesler, Lone Peak, 2:12.00; 5. Millie Miggin, Sky View, 2:13.69; 6. Hannah Dibb, Cottonwood, 2:15.96; 7. Ava Binder, Brighton, 2:16.27; 8. Gretchen Hyer, Jordan, 2:17.34
50-yard freestyle: 1. Fane Wolfgramm, West, 24.02; 2. Alexa Walters, Sky View, 24.55; 3. Lexi Stimpson, Sky View, 24.90; 4. Katelyn Price, Cottonwood, 25.06; 5. MJ Maile, Viewmont, 25.13; 5. Anna Hibbard, Brighton, 25.13; 7. Arcadia Chomjak, West, 25.34; 8. McKenna Fowler, Westlake, 25.58
Boys results
200-yard freestyle relay: 1. Lone Peak (Josh Ries, Ben Verdejo, Braden Tiffany, Jake Mickelson), 1:36.04; 2. Brighton (Fa'alataitaua Fitisemanu, Jack Binder, Chase Miyagishima, Eric Wagner), 1:36.42; 3. Sky View (Jake Walters, Spencer Conley, Bryant Israelsen, David Johnson), 1:41.25; 4. Viewmont (Zachary Julien, Tyler Ashby, Zachary Sannar, Austin Chiles), 1:41.36; 5. West (Zerin Wolfgramm, Youlmin Choi, Mitchell Simmons, Kiyan Mohebbizadeh), 1:42.61; 6. Riverton (Sam Raubenheimer, Shane Reeves, Conner Kochevar, Adam Strong), 1:42.69; 6. Weber (Brock Mott, Adam Mortensen, Caleb Richardson, Jonah Simmons), 1:42.69; 8. American Fork (Joe Harding, Cy Dunkley, Connor Moore, Dylan Stauffer), 1:42.89
200-yard freestyle: 1. Devin Bunnell, Pleasant Grove, 1:42.43; 2. Zachary Julien, Viewmont, 1:43.54; 3. Mitchell Simmons, West, 1:44.12; 4. Chase Miyagishima, Brighton, 1:45.61; 5. Landon Stalnaker, Bingham, 1:46.94; 6. Dallin Bunnell, Pleasant Grove, 1:47.15; 7. Ryan Jarrett, Mountain Crest, 1:47.19; 7. Bryant Karratti, Lone Peak, 1:47.19
200-yard individual medley: 1. Blayze Kimble, Cottonwood, 1:55.48; 2. Zachary Sannar, Viewmont, 1:57.31; 3. Colin Dailey, Cottonwood, 1:58.95; 4. Payson Cunningham, Syracus, 1:59.01; 5. Jordan Tiffany, Lone Peak, 2:00.12; 6. Ben Verdejo, Lone Peak, 2:00.57; 7. Joe Harding, American Fork, 2:00.97; 8. Connor Moore, American Fork, 2:02.03
50-yard freestyle: 1. Christian Simon, Cottonwood, 21.45; 2. Kimble Petersen, Westlake, 21.67; 3. Josh Ries, Lone Peak, 21.71; 4. Ryan Jarrett, Mountain Crest, 22.09; 5. David Johnson, Sky View, 22.53; 6. Kade McLeod, Pleasant Grove, 22.56; 7. Tyler Nelson, Copper Hills, 22.61; 8. Andrew Simonsen, Davis, 22.80