PROVO — Day one of the 3A state swimming championships is in the books, and to no one's surprise, Park City is out to a healthy lead in both the boys and girls competition. So dominant are the Miners, year in and year out, that the only surprises come when the program misses out on a gold medal during individual competitions.
Park City earned six of the eight gold medals awarded on Friday, coming up just short of earning a clean sweep.
The first swimmer to edge out Park City competition was Hurricane's Ryan Bunn.
Entering the 200-yard freestyle, Bunn was one of the favorites, although he held the no. 2 seed to Park City's Alex Yokubison. The Hurricane sophomore started off strong and had just enough left to stave off Yokubison at the end, although it wasn't easy.
"My legs started to die out — I couldn't really feel them," Bunn said, adding that he felt "dead" toward the end of the race and could "barely get out of the pool."
Whatever Bunn had left proved enough, however, as he edged out the hard-charging Yokubison with a time of 1:45.62 to the Park City senior's 1:45.71.
Also upsetting the Miners during day one was Ridgeline's Karson Christensen, who nudged out Park City's Dennis Djunic by a mere 0.11 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle.
"It always feels good to have a super competitive race and then to come out on top — it just feels great to have gold hanging around my neck," Christensen said. "I wanted this so bad, and I put in a lot of work. So to get this just feels amazing."
Despite the two setbacks, the Miners should be just fine entering the final 14 events, given their massive lead in both competitions. The Miner boys scored 130 team points after Friday's races, good enough for a commanding 41.5 point lead over nearest competitor Cedar City (88.5.)
As dominant as the Park City men were, the girls were even more so. Leading off with a state record-breaking performance in the 200-yard medley relay, the Miner girls swept all four competitions and head into day two with 179 team points — almost doubling second place Desert Hills (92.)
3A day one results
Girls results
200-yard medley relay: 1. Park City (Emma Strong-Conklin, Joelle Hess, Katie Hale, Rozie Selznick), 1:47.13; 2. Desert Hills (Sarah Hansen, Taylor Porter, Abby McCoy, Trinity Schimbeck), 1:55.98; 3. Dixie (Ashlee McBride, Samari Nelson, Hailey Greer, Alina Barnes), 2:00.10; 4. Stansbury (Becki Clonts, Cambri Curtis, Kally Morris, Caroline Wilson), 2:02.05; 5. Snow Canyon (Ashley Noelle Burton, Nicole Christensen, Stephanie Dansie, Sydney White), 2:02.61; 6. Carbon (Megan Swasey, Sadie Crompton, Veronica Ibanez, Amanda Liu), 2:02.62; 7. Ridgeline (Savannah Christensen, Lindsay Rigby, Amiah Orth, Mauri Banham), 2:05.12; 7. Cedar City (Siena Osborn, Sierra Newbold, Abby Brown, Hannah Wankier), 2:05.12
200-yard freestyle: 1. Elise Beller, Park City, 1:57.11; 2. Abby Whittington, Juan Diego, 2:00.63; 3. Alina Barnes, Dixie, 2:02.27; 4. Trinity Schimbeck, Desert Hills, 2:02.69; 5. Nicole Christensen, Snow Canyon, 2:02.88; 6. Emma Strong-Conklin, Park City, 2:03.38; 7. Hailey Checketts, Ridgeline, 2:03.75; 8. Sydney Senn, Park City, 2:03.78
200-yard individual medley: 1. Joelle Hess, Park City, 2:09.19; 2. Katelyn Gross, Cedar City, 2:14.27; 3. Jessi Beyer, Park City, 2:17.39; 4. Tori Geller, Logan, 2:18.14; 5. Stephanie Dansie, Snow Canyon, 2:18.58; 6. Sarah Hansen, Desert Hills, 2:19.24; 7. Hailey Greer, Dixie, 2:21.50; 8. Hali Weaver, Park City, 2:25.22
50-yard freestyle: 1. Rozie Selznick, Park City, 23.80; 2. Kristen Gross, Cedar City, 24.58; 3. Aspen Bonzo, Cedar City, 25.38; 4. Mya Ottenschot, Desert Hills, 25.70; 5. Savannah Thomas, Grantsville, 26.29; 6. Becki Clonts, Stansbury, 26.40; 7. Bella Buchanan, Park City, 26.74; 8. Grace Sorensen, Ridgeline, 27.04
Boys results
200-yard medley relay: 1. Park City (Quentin Tyler, Cole Peterson, Alex Yokubison, Dennis Djunic), 1:41.01; 2. Cedar City (Carson Brown, Garrett Dotson, Jedd Kjar, Calvin Brown), 1:41.82; 3. Juan Diego (William Anderson, Alexander Gustat, Ian Pascual, Evan Stolfa), 1:43.50; 4. Logan (Jimmy Healy, David Kim, Connor Waterman, Elijah McFarland), 1:44.19; 5. Bear River (Alec Chournos, Garret Buttars, Cutler Ellis, Cameron Christensen), 1:44.46; 6. Dixie (Nathan Hook, Garrett Grossman, Tucker Hathaway, Christian Rettie), 1:45.18; 7. Ridgeline (Matthew Ekstrom, Spencer Hunsaker, Karson Christensen, Tiler Zwygart), 1:46.05; 8. Desert Hills (Keegan Wawrzyniak, Talon Shakespear, Gavin Crawford, Ashton Anderson), 1:47.06
200-yard freestyle: 1. Ryan Bunn, Hurricane, 1:45.62; 2. Alex Yokubison, Park City, 1:45.71; 3. JR Gustat, Juan Diego, 1:49.54; 4. Tucker Hathaway, Dixie, 1:51.47; 5. Matt Whipple, Park City, 1:52.86; 6. Zaxton Hillman, Stansbury, 1:52.89; 7. Trevor Larson, Desert Hills, 1:53.45; 8. Garrett Grossman, Dixie, 1:53.53
200-yard individual medley: 1. Cole Peterson, Park City, 2:00.26; 2. Alec Chournos, Bear River, 2:01.65; 3. Garrett Dotson, Cedar City, 2:05.15; 4. Alexander, Gustat, Juan Diego, 2:05.81; 5. Payton Plumb, Desert Hills, 2:06.94; 6. David Kim, Logan, 2:08.48; 7. William Anderson, Juan Diego, 2:10.52; 8. Leon Weingartner, Cedar City 2:10.83
50-yard freestyle: 1. Karson Christensen, Ridgeline, 22.01; 2. Dennis Djunic, Park City, 22.12; 3. Noah Ashton, Desert Hills, 22.52; 4. Connor Waterman, Logan, 22.95; 5. Calvin Brown, Cedar City, 22.98; 6. Joe Davis, Stansbury, 23.13; 7. Daken Steele, Hurricane, 23.18; 8. Braxton Higgs, Ben Lomond, 23.28
Email: bgurney@desnews.com
Twitter: @BrandonCGurney