High school swimming: Judge Memorial boys, girls sweep 3A state titles, St. Joseph’s Will Jones sets two 3A state records

You can’t win a meet in the preliminaries, but in some ways Judge Memorial’s girls swim team did.

Even though Judge was the defending 3A state champ, it lost to Juan Diego in the region meet two weeks ago and after graduating so many key leaders from last year’s team, the swimmers had no expectation for success.

“We didn’t think we had a chance, and then after prelims we thought we can really do this,” said Judge Memorial senior Lanee Farr.

At the region meet two weeks ago Juan Diego beat Judge by 59 points, but by scoring out the preliminary results as if they were the finals, Judge’s swimmers were only one point behind Juan Diego.

That prelim success confirmed to Judge’s girls what coach Chad Starks had been trying to tell them all week leading up the state meet at BYU, that indeed they were capable.

“The girls came in not thinking they could do it and I just told them good solid starts, just be safe on the relays and go as hard as they could and they did it,” said Starks.

Judge Memorial’s girls tallied 234 points on Saturday at BYU, good enough to edge runner-up and tourney favorite Juan Diego, which finished with 226 points.

While the girls’ title was a surprise, Judge’s boys left little doubt about what the best program in 3A is as it won a third-straight state championship with a huge cushion over runner-up Canyon View, 392.5 to 242.

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“We just made a pact at the beginning of the season that we were going to put our heads down and grind, and that’s what we did. We swam against some really tough schools all year long, some bigger 5A, 6A schools and did really well against them,” said Starks, who took over as Judge head coach this season after serving as an assistant coach the previous five years.

Leading the charge for Judge’s boys was senior Nico Morton, who wrapped up his outstanding high school career with individual titles in the 100 freestyle and breaststroke. He also swam a leg in Judge’s two winning relay teams, the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay.

Judge’s 200 medley relay team set a new 3A state record with a time of 1:38.51.

Morton, who’s going to swim at the University of Denver, said there’s a lot of pressure swimming when you’re trying to 3-peat, but he said the underclassmen were key to the runaway title.

“What really stands out to me is we have a really incredible freshman class, I thought it was going to be a lot tighter,” said Morton.

Morton was one of three multi-event winners at the 3A boys state meet. Brothers Will Jones and Gabe Jones each won two events for St. Joseph. Will Jones winning the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke and sophomore Gabe Jones won the 200 freestyle and 100 butterly.

For Will Jones, it was a phenomenal meet in his final high school meet. The senior lowered his 3A state records in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke — which he set in the 3A preliminaries — and registered a top three time ever for both in the state of Utah.

His time of 1:50.03 in the 200 IM, ranks third behind only Lone Peak’s Jordan Tiffany and Olympus’ Evan VanBrocklin. He was hoping for a time of sub 1:50, but overall was pleased.

“Past few days I’ve been a bit sick, so I guess it could’ve gone better, but for the circumstances it went well,” said Jones. “I was pretty close to hitting what I wanted to.”

In the 100 backstroke, he posted a time of 49.37, which ranks only behind Tiffany and Olympus’ Ryan Garstang for best-ever performances.

Jones previously trained with VanBrocklin at his club swim team at Olympus and is thrilled to be posting times similar to the now University of Utah freshman.

“I trained with him at club since I was young, so getting up to him was a goal, and he’s obviously a great swimmer and he’s doing great things now,” said Jones, who will be swimming at the Naval Academy.

Jones along with his sophomore younger brother Gabe Jones drive to Olympus every morning at 4:15 to practice. After school two to three times a week, they drive back to practice again in the afternoon.

He said putting in that hard work is why he achieved the success he did on Saturday, and trying to make sure little brother doesn’t pass him up.

“Gabe will definitely be better than I am, but he definitely pushes me to get better cause I can’t let him get better than me,” said Jones.

Other individual winners for the boys were Richfield’s Grant Kling (50 freestyle) and Canyon View’s Jacob Grimshaw (500 freestyle).

For the girls, the lone multi-event winners were Layton Christian sophomore twins, Pinar Donmez and Nehir Donmez. Pinar Donmez won the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, while Nehir Donmez won the 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle.

Pinar Donmez’s time of 1:04.54 in the 100 breaststroke set a new 3A state record, breaking the older record of 1:05.51 which was set back in 2017.

Other girls individual winners were Juan Diego’s Audrey Weller (200 IM), South Summit’s Allison Henneuse (50 free), Grand’s Mackenzie Mayer (100 free) and Juan Diego’s Isabella Hategan (100 back).

Judge’s girls didn’t have an individual winner on Saturday, but it had two runner-up finishes in relays and then sophomore Delaney Dolan recorded runner-up finishes in both the 200 and 500 freestyle. Freshman Sophie Dupont and sophomore Amelia Conner both earned key third-place finishes as well.

Every point mattered for Judge’s girls, and as the meet wore on they started to prove their coach right.

“Last two weeks have been all about telling the girls they’re good enough,” said Starks.

3A girls state swim meet

At BYU

Final team scores

1. Judge Memorial, 234
2. Juan Diego, 226
3. Carbon, 182
4. Ogden, 181
5. Emery, 154
6. Millard, 122
7. Union, 116
8. Grand, 104

200 medley relay

1. Juan Diego (Isabella Hategan, Audrey Weller, Lyla Sylvia, Piper Fennell), 1:55.65
2. Judge Memorial, 2:00.23
3. Emery, 2:02.44
4. Ogden, 2:02.89
5. Millard, 2:04.00
6. Canyon View, 2:05.23
7. Morgan, 2:07.56
8. Rowland Hall, 2:11.36

200 freestyle

1. Pinar Donmez, Layton Christian, 1:55.01
2. Delaney Dolan, Judge Memorial, 2:06.39
3. Sophie DuPont, Judge Memorial, 2:09.80
4. Lyla Sylvia, Juan Diego, 2:10.01
5. Sienna Scholes, Union, 2:13.13
6. Montana Gough, South Sevier, 2:13.41
7. Mary Armantrout, Grantsville, 2:15.02
8. Ellie Hanson, Carbon, 2:17.00

200 individual medley

1. Audrey Weller, Juan Diego, 2:13.59
2. Grace Holman, Juab, 2:21.69
3. Amelia Conner, Judge Memorial, 2:28.43
4. Soleil Grimshaw, Canyon View, 2:30.41
5. Cyan Schatz, Ogden, 2:35.59
6. Thaia Tsandes, Juan Diego, 2:41.79
7. Riley Gough, South Sevier, 2:41.88
8. Kadee Dow, Grantsville, 2:46.34

50 freestyle

1. Allison Henneuse, South Summit, 25.61
2. Mackenzie Mayer, Grand, 25.88
3. Stella Hunter, Ogden, 26.02
4. Alyssa Chamberlain, Carbon, 26.47
5. Avah Kling, Richfield, 26.77
6. Lizzy Despain, Millard, 27.08
7. JayDee Schena, Beaver, 27.31
8. Megan Graham, Ben Lomond, 27.36

100 butterfly

1. Nehir Donmez, Layton Christian, 59.46
2. Isabella Hategan, Juan Diego, 1:02.42
3. Aubrey Guymon, Emery, 1:03.53
4. Sydni Lauer, Parowan, 1:03.63
5. Montana Gough, South Sevier, 1:04.93
6. Cecelia Hyman, Rowland Hall, 1:05.47
7. Lyla Sylvia Juan Diego, 1:05.96
8. Riley Gough, South Sevier, 1:08.86

100 freestyle

1. Mackenzie Mayer, Grand, 56.65
2. Allison Henneuse, South Summit, 57.18
3. Avah Kling, Richfield, 57.71
4. Stella Hunter, Ogden, 57.93
5. Alyssa Chamberlain, Carbon, 58.56
6. Mia Crompton, Carbon, 1:00.07
7. Sydney Carter, Emery, 1:00.69
8. Lanee Farr, Judge Memorial, 1:01.13

500 freestyle

1. Nehir Donmez, Layton Christian, 5:32.01
2. Delaney Dolan, Judge Memorial, 5:37.18
3. Melody Lake, Emery, 5:55.19
4. Cyan Schatz, Ogden, 6:00.77
5. Mary Armantrout, Grantsville, 6:03.39
6. Sienna Scholes, Union, 6:03.97
7. Sydni Lauer, Parowan, 6:10.69
8. Evie Halk, Carbon, 6:15.58

200 freestyle relay

1. Ogden (Stella Hunter, Bailee Anderson, Erika Hains, Kamryn Kennedy), 1:49.24
2. Carbon, 1:49.38
3. Richfield, 1:50.93
4. Grand, 1:51.78
5. Union, 1:53.08
6. Judge Memorial, 1:53.14
7. Juan Diego, 1:54.61
8. Morgan, 1:55.15

100 backstroke

1. Isabella Hategan, Juan Diego, 1:03.83
2. Sarah Puertas, Maeser Prep, 1:05.63
3. Aubrey Guymon, Emery, 1:06.38
4. Grace Gordon, Morgan, 1:06.80
5. Sophie DuPont, Judge Memorial, 1:07.60
6. Cecelia Hyman, Rowland Hall, 1:07.67
7. Tessa Bartlett, Rowland Hall, 1:08.71
8. Annicka Lovell, Canyon View, 1:09.66

100 breaststroke

1. Pinar Donmez, Layton Christian, 1:04.54
2. Audrey Weller, Juan Diego, 1:07.38
3. Grace Holman, Juab, 1:09.12
4. Amelia Conner, Judge Memorial, 1:11.10
5. Lizzy Despain, Millard, 1:14.75
6. Emma Listgarten, Wasatch Academy, 1:17.64
7. Kadi Dearden, Millard, 1:18.02
8. Brielle Sill, Morgan, 1:18.88

400 freestyle relay

1. Juan Diego (Lyla Sylvia, Isabella hategan, Julia Cunningham, Audrey Weller), 3:55.68
2. Judge Memorial, 3:59.52
3. Emery, 4:02.80
4. Carbon, 4:04.10
5. Union, 4:11.95
6. Grand, 4:12.30
7. Millard, 4:16.65
8. Richfield, DQ

3A boys state swim meet

At BYU

Final team scores

1. Judge Memorial, 392.5
2. Canyon View, 242
3. Juan Diego, 215
4. Ogden, 176.5
5. Union, 152
6. Grand, 125.5
7. Rowland Hall, 119
8. Carbon, 112

200 medley relay

1. Judge Memorial (Benji Gillespie, Nico Morton, Matt Eagar, Livi Galaviz), 1:38.51
2. Canyon View, 1:43.93
3. St. Joseph, 1:44.94
4. Ogden, 1:45.79
5. Juan Diego, 1:47.63
6. Grand, 1:48.51
7. Union, 1:48.74
8. Richfield, DQ

200 freestyle

1. Gabe Jones, St. Joseph, 1:45.23
2. Kurt Morgan, Canyon View, 1:48.39
3. Benji Gillespie, Judge Memorial, 1:49.23
4. Boston Bennett, Union, 1:52.52
5. Gabe Ibanez, Carbon, 1:54.76
6. Ethan Bishop, Millard, 1:55.82
7. Cameron Goss, Union, 1:57.24
8. Brooks Mortensen, Ogden, 1:58.14

200 individual medley

1. Will Jones, St. Joseph, 1:50.03
2. Benji Child, Judge Memorial, 2:08.11
3. Rhys Runnels, Judge Memorial, 2:10.09
4. Nick Hren, Grand, 2:11.56
5. Dalton Rivkind, Ogden, 2:11.63
6. Stetson Batty, Union, 2:15.35
7. Joseph Shami, Juan Diego, 2:16.40
8. Sam Despain, Canyon View, 2:17.75

50 freestyle

1. Grant Kling, Richfield, 22.21
2. Hayden Hansen, South Sevier, 22.56
3. James Keddington, South Summit, 22.66
4. Joshua Andersen, North Sanpete, 22.93
5. Liam Boyle, Rowland Hall, 23.03
6. Levi Galaviz, Judge Memorial, 23.41
7. Zachary Meehan, Juan Diego, 23.50
8. Jacob Grimshaw, Canyon View, 23.53

100 butterfly

1. Gabe Jones, St. Joseph, 51.50
2. Matt Eagar, Judge Memorial, 53.90
3. Benji Child, Judge Memorial, 54.83
4. James Keddington, South Summit, 55.28
5. Sam Despain, Canyon View, 56.48
6. Joseph Shami, Juan Diego, 57.71
7. Rhys Runnels, Judge Memorial, 57.93
8. Cameron Goss, Union, 58.45

100 freestyle

1. Nico Morton, Judge Memorial, 47.38
2. Kurt Morgan, Canyon View, 48.27
3. Grant Kling, Richfield, 48.95
4. Liam Boyle, Rowland Hall, 50.12
5. Nathan Belnap, Ogden, 50.15
6. Boston Bennett, Union, 50.32
7. Charlie Gleason, Juan Diego, 51.67
8. Joshua Andersen, North Sanpete, 51.74

500 freestyle

1. Jacob Grimshaw, Canyon View, 5:14.19
2. Ethan Bishop, Millard, 5:14.45
3. Levi Galaviz, Judge Memorial, 5:17.18
4. Ethan Cannon, Canyon View, 5:17.75
5. Gabe Ibanez, Carbon, 5:20.21
6. Jack Talboys, Judge Memorial, 5:27.14
7. Nick Bittmenn, Canyon View, 5:28.30
8. Jack Bulf, Juan Diego, 5:38.74

200 freestyle relay

1. Ogden (Nathan Belnap, Touchapone Singta, Dalton Rivkind, Ty Willey), 1:33.71
2. Judge Memorial, 1:33.78
3. Juan Diego, 1:34.13
4. Rowland Hall, 1:35.71
5. Carbon, 1:36.88
6. South Summit, 1:37.80
7. Canyon View, 1:38.43
8. Emery, 1:39.40

100 backstroke

1. Will Jones, St. Joseph, 49.37
2. Benji Gillespie, Judge Memorial, 52.36
3. Matt Eagar, Judge Memorial, 55.48
4. Nathan Belnap, Ogden, 55.70
5. Tagert Farnsworth, Grand, 58.99
6. Brooks Mortensen, Ogden, 58.99
7. Tyler Lehman, Rowland Hall, 59.57
8. Joe Anderson, Canyon View, 1:02.05

100 breaststroke

1. Nico Morton, Judge Memorial, 57.20
2. Charlie Gleason, Juan Diego, 1:03.45
3. Hayden Hansen, South Sevier, 1:03.85
4. Sam Cowan, Judge Memorial, 1:03.88
5. Thomas Shakib, Rowland Hall, 1:04.11
6. Stetson Batty, Union, 1:08.07
7. Nick Hren, Grand, 1:08.66
8. Kade Larsen, Emery, 1:08.74

400 freestyle relay

1. Judge Memorial (Frank Sankovitz, Benji Gillespie, Levi Galaviz, Nico Morton), 3:19.25
2. Canyon View, 3:29.63
3. Richfield, 3:31.53
4. Carbon, 3:32.22
5. Juan Diego, 3:35.03
6. Grand, 3:37.09
7. Union, 3:39.75
8. Ogden, 3:40.20