PROVO — Swim competitions seldom offer the type of drama exhibited during Saturday’s 3A state championships held at Brigham Young University.
Entering the final race of the day, the 400 yard freestyle relay, Union trailed Richfield in team points by just one, at 197-196 with Judge Memorial just behind at 192 total team points. Complicating matters was the fact Judge turned in the best preliminary time, making the final team outcome very much in doubt.
“I don’t think our boys knew exactly the situation, but we all knew it was going to be very close,” said Union coach Justin Schmidt. “Maybe it was a good thing they didn’t know, but they swam just like we expected, beat our best time by five seconds, and yeah, we got out there and got it done.”
The Cougars didn’t finish it first, but scored a second-place finish, which allotted them 17 points. Judge Memorial finished in first place in the relay, as expected for 20 team points, but came up just a single point short in the final team standings, as a result.
As for Richfield, a fifth place finish in the final team relay scored it just 13 team points, allowing both Union and Judge Memorial to pass them up in the final team standings.
“These are the type of situations you just love. I love it when anything comes down to the end, like this one did,” Schmidt said. “Our boys did it and I couldn’t be more proud.”
As remarkable the circumstances were in the final race, the fact the Cougars came out on top is even more so, all things considered. According to Schmidt, Union didn’t even field a swim team until three years ago, with the program very much starting from scratch.
“We had 14 swimmers when we started and 46 three years later, so yeah, the kids have really responded well,” Schmidt said. “All the credit goes to the boys and the work they’ve put in, along with the great community support we’ve received.”
Turns out, Union could be in good position to repeat given Schmidt loses just one swimmer off of this year’s team.
“We’re hoping to build something good here and we believe this is just the start,” Schmidt said.
In the girls competition it was Carbon coach Allie Chamberlain again making a plunge into the BYU swimming pool — a rite of passage for state championship coaches. Indeed the Dinos made it two championships in a row, beating out second-place Richfield 309-273.
“We had a lot of returning swimmers, some great new swimmers and I’m just so proud of all of them, and all their hard work,” Chamberlain said. “We knew we had a chance coming in, but you never really know for sure. Fortunately things worked out.”
Individual honors were given to Telos Academy’s Guil Ware, who was awarded swimmer of the year on the boys side and to Grantsville’s Hadlee Begay, who took the same honors in the girls competition.
3A State Championships
at Brigham Young University
Boys team scores
1. Union, 213; 2. Judge Memorial, 212; 3. Richfield, 210; 4. North Summit, 169; 5. Grand County, 135; 6. Millard, 129
Individual results
200 yard medley relay
1. Judge Memorial (Nico Morton, Buddy Yanelli, Ben Yarrish, Seth Overman), 1:43.17; 2. Union (Taylor Hawkins, William Bertoch, Dylan Hawkins, Carson Stewart), 1:49.74; 3. Emery (Dax Minchey, Elias Morris, Asher Beagley, Matthew Hanson), 1:50.21; 4. Richfield (Seth Huntsman, Dawson Christensen, Levi Maxfield, Grant Kling), 1:50.43; 5. Grand County (Arthur Hawks, Brendan Moore, Pat Pakkarato, Stryder Young), 1:50.88; 6. Millard (Garrett Spendlove, Nathan Despain, Kaeden Higgs, Kaleb Dearden), 1:52.06
200 yard freestyle
1. Patrick Bless, American Leadership Academy, 1:50.98; 2. Zane Thomas, Grantsville, 1:51.34; 3. Nico Morton, Judge Memorial, 1:51.69; 4. Levi Maxfield, Richfield, 1:53.34; 5. Carson Stewart, Union, 2:01.20; 6. Jake Ison, North Summit, 2:02.17
200 yard individual medley
1. Buddy Yanelli, Judge Memorial, 2:06.03; 2. Ben Smurthwaite, Grantsville, 2:12.25; 3. Pat Pakkarato, Grand County, 2:13.17; 4. Taylor Hawkins, Union, 2:13.95; 5. Luke Askilsrud, Wasatch Academy, 2:16.92; 6. Dawson Christensen, Richfield, 2:19.49
50 yard freestyle
1. Guil Ware, Telos, 21.69; 2. Lucas Erickson, Rowland Hall, 22.74; 3. Seth Overman, Judge Memorial, 23.34; 4. Logan Hansen, South Sevier, 23.43; 5. Grant Kling, Richfield, 23.94; 6. Matthew Goh, Rowland Hall, 23.96
100 yard butterfly
1. Lucas Erickson, Rowland Hall, 54.79; 2. Pat Pakkarato, Grand County, 56.24; 3. Ben Smurthwaite, Grantsville, 56.70; 4. Carson Skidmore, Morgan, 58.82; 5. Dylan Hawkins, Union, 58.97; 6. Asher Beagley, Emery, 1:01.25
100 yard freestyle
1. Guil Ware, Telos, 48.26; 2. Brennan Anderson, Delta, 52.19; 3. Shaffer Myers, South Summit, 52.23; 4. Shilo Monney, Altamont, 52.93; 5. Grant Kling, Richfield, 53.48; 6. William Bertoch, Union, 53.97
500 yard freestyle
1. Patrick Bless, American Leadership Academy, 4:58.24; 2. Nico Morton, Judge Memorial, 4:59.79; 3. Lefi Maxfield, Richfield, 5:12.21; 4. Carson Stewart, Union, 5:37.91; 5. Camden Chamberlain, Carbon, 5:40.99; 6. Gabe Ibanez, Carbon, 5:43.37
200 yard freestyle relay
1. North Summit (Jake Ison, Michael Townley, Liam Stephens, Cody Piotrowski), 1:36.43; 2. Richfield (Levi Maxfield, Parker Hunt, Mac Ogden, Grant Kling), 1:38.91; 3. North Sanpete (Alex Mower, Kaysen Smith, Stockton Bailey, Brigham Lewis), 1:39.12; 4. Morgan (Ben Gordon, Zach Earl, Paul Clayton, Carson Skidmore), 1:40.47; 5. Grand County (Dallin Stucki, Ricky Shumway, Brendan Moore, Camron Stotz), 1:43.98; 6. Millard (Garrett Spendlove, Jacob Despain, Ethan Larsen, Bodee Atkinson), 1:44.83
100 yard backstroke
1. Zane Thomas, Grantsville, 56.49; 2. Luke Askilsrud, Wasatch Academy, 58.16; 3. Taylor Hawkins, Union, 59.46; 4. Brennan Anderson, Delta, 1:02.01; 5. Arthur Hawks, Grand County, 1:02.04; 6. Dax Minchey, Emery, 1:03.54
100 yard breaststroke
1. Buddy Yanelli, Judge Memorial, 59.99; 2. Nathan Despain, Millard, 1:01.17; 3. Logan Hansen, South Sevier, 1:03.64; 4. Seth Overman, Judge Memorial, 1:04.83; 5. Carson Skidmore, Morgan, 1:06.52; 6. Matthew Goh, Rowland Hall, 1:07.24
400 freestyle relay
1. Judge Memorial (Seth Overman, Ben Yarrish, Nico Morton, Buddy Yanelli), 3:28.85; 2. Union (Carson Stewart, Taylor Hawkins, William Bertoch, Dylan Hawkins), 3:35.73; 3. North Summit (Jake Ison, Dixon Blonquist, Michael Townley, Cody Piotrowski), 3:38.29; 4. South Summit (Stuart Card, Treven Lassche, Hunter Zenger, Shaffer Myers), 3:39.59; 5. American Leadership Academy (Ezekiel Gomez, Matthew Atwood, Josh Lowe, Patrick Bless), 3:40.43; 6. Richfield (Parker Hunt, Dawson Christensen, Seth Huntsman, Mac Ogden), 3:41.72
Girls team scores
1. Carbon, 309; 2. Richfield, 273; 3. Rowland Hall, 199; 4. Emery, 190; 5. Judge Memorial, 179; 6. Summit Academy, 129
200 yard medley relay
1. Carbon, (Nicole Swasey, Tyrca Jaramillo, Sofia Crompton, Emily Jespersen), 2:02.00; 2. Emery (Cambrie Jensen, Haley Guymon, Kaelee Hooley, Abby Johansen), 2:02.36; 3. Judge Memorial (Emmy Hardin-Reynolds, Penelope Dalton, Grace Sherman, Sophie Ewing), 2:05.81; 4. Morgan (Jaycie Beckstrom, Mekinley Foy, Rachel Wheelwright, Cami Wilkinson), 2:08.42; 5. Richfield (Lucrezia Fenino, McKyla Hatch, Tessa Myler, Brittan Tait), 2:10.35; 6. Millard (Kenadee Warren, Bryn Rasmussen, Heidi Thurman, Devin Roper), 2:13.88.
200 yard freestyle
1. Hadlee Begay, Grantsville, 1:58.57; 2. Aubri Kling, Richfield, 2:09.83; 3. Annalee Thompson, Richfield, 2:11.43; 4. Kacee Barrett, Carbon, 2:14.04; 5. Kaitlyn Caldwell, South Summit, 2:17.12; 6. Alora Lynn, Summit Academy, 2:17.61
200 yard individual medley
1. Grace Smith, Rowland Hall, 2:13.70; 2. Kylie Hansen, Maeser Prep, 2:21.82; 3. Haley Guymon, Emery, 2:22.46; 4. Grace Holman, Juab, 2:31.36; 5. Marisol Mikesell, Richfield, 2:33.08; 6. Saskia Boer, Summit Academy, 2:33.22
50 yard freestyle
1. Gen Jones, Wasatch Academy, 25.06; 2. Kaelee Hooley, Emery, 26.23; 3. Tessa Richins, North Summit, 26.26; 4. Thalyn Lyman, Carbon, 26.48; 5. Hope Christensen, North Sanpete, 26.92; 6. Isabelle Louis, Rowland Hall, 27.13
100 yard butterfly
1. Rachel Wheelwright, Morgan, 1:03.30; 2. Grace Sherman, Judge Memorial, 1:03.47; 3. Kaelee Hooley, Emery, 1:06.57; 4. Sofia Crompton, Carbon, 1:07.07; 5. Katie Moore, Rowland Hall, 1:10.26; 6. Tessa Myler, Richfield, 1:11.98
100 yard freestyle
1. Aubri Kling, Richfield, 57.08; 2. Kacee Barrett, Carbon, 57.64; 3. Alexis Kling, Richfield, 58.44; 4. Tessa Richins, North Summit, 58.83; 5. Tyrca Jaramillo, Carbon, 1:00.55; 6. Hope Christensen, North Sanpete, 1:01.06
500 yard freestyle
1. Hadlee Begay, Grantsville, 5:16.12; 2. Kylie Hansen, Maeser Prep, 5:35.70; 3. Emmy Hardin-Reynolds, Judge Memorial, 5:54.07; 4. Annalee Thompson, Richfield, 6:02.24; 5. Kaitlyn Caldwell, South Summit, 6:04.44; 6. Alora Lynn, Summit Academy, 6:04.54
200 yard freestyle relay
1. Richfield (Aubri Kling, Annalee Thompson, Marisol Mikesell, Alexis Kling), 1:45.52; 2. Carbon (Thalyn Lyman, Haylie Powell, Sofia Crompton, Kacee Barrett), 1:47.45; 3. Rowland Hall (Ella Vitek, Katie Moore, Isabelle Louis, Grace Smith), 1:50.86; 4. North Summit (Tessa Richins, Rachel Stanford, Harley Hellander, Ellizabeth Zwahlen), 1:52.99; 5. Morgan (Rachel Wheelwright, Jaycie Beckstrom, Mekinley Foy, Cami Wilkinson), 1:53.78; 6. Emery (Abby Johansen, Alejandra Garcia, Danielle Simmons, Sydney Carter), 1:56.25
100 yard backstroke
1. Gen Jones, Wasatch Academy, 1:04.30; 2. Emmy Hardin-Reynolds, Judge Memorial, 1:06.32; 3. Rachel Wheelwright, Morgan, 1:06.38; 4. Marisol Mikesell, Richfield, 1:07.34; 5. Josie Wakefield, Grand County, 1:07.40; 6. Ella Vitek, Rowland Hall, 1:08.41
100 yard breaststroke
1. Grace Smith, Rowland Hall, 1:10.22; 2. Grace Holman, Juab, 1:10.57; 3. Haley Guymon, Emery, 1:11.71; 4. Tyrca Jaramillo, Carbon, 1:14.34; 5. Nicole Swasey, Carbon, 1:14.77; 6. Delaney Deutschlander, Parowan, 1:16.55
400 freestyle relay
1. Richfield (Aubri Kling, Annalee Thompson, Marisol Mikesell, Alexis Kling), 3:56.28; 2. Carbon (Kacee Barrett, Thalyn Lyman, Emily Jespersen, Tyrca Jaramillo), 4:02.18; 3. Emery (Haley Guymon, Cambrie Jensen, Sydney Carter, Kaelee Hooley), 4:03.30; 4. Rowland Hall (Ella Vitek, Katie Moore, Isabelle Louis, Grace Smith), 4:03.67; 5. Millard (Heidi Thurman, Jocelyn Dean, Devin Roper, Aimee Thurman), 4:17.92; 6. Summit Academy (Nyah Runia, Alora Lynn, Bailey Barlow, Saskia Boer), 4:21.01