High school swimming: Lone Peak boys, Wasatch girls claim 6A state titles in record-breaking state meet

A pair of mini title droughts came to an end Saturday afternoon in BYU’s pool.

Wasatch’s girls team dominated the top podium all day to claim the 6A state title, its first since 2019, while Lone Peak’s boys team captured its first state title since a 4-peat from 2017-20 with a vary narrow win over Mountain Ridge

There was no shortage of excitement in the pool with seven new 6A records — three relays and four individuals.

Lone Peak senior Xander Berg touched the wall in the final relay of the meet — one of those state records — to officially clinch the Knights’ state title.

There was pressure going into that final race knowing his team needed a win or second-place finish, but it’s the type of pressure he’s worked years to achieve.

“That pressure is also a privilege. That pressure pushes you to work harder and to know that is a gift that you’ve been given to show off your abilities and to really compete and I think you do get those nervous feelings, but that’s just because you know you have to perform,” said Berg.

For Wasatch’s girls, it was a dominant meet from start to finish. The Wasps won all three relays and then six of eight individual events en route to their first state championship since 2019.

“It’s really been a culmination. We’ve had a great group of girls, very hardworking. They swim all different races, which has been nice for me we have somebody in every race, but just to win nine out of 11 races today, that was special,” said Wasatch coach Shawn Marsing, whose team along with Brighton swam up a classification this year.

Wasatch racked up 311 team points, with Skyridge finishing runner-up with 257 points and defending state champ Lone Peak in third with 251.5 points.

The Wasps knew they were the favorite heading into the meet, and senior Ana Diedrichs believes that pressure actually helped everyone swim better.

“It made us a little nervous, but honestly, I think it’s fueled us a lot, too, just being able to go out and race and believe in ourselves and just know that we’re there to do this and we can do it,” said Diedrichs.

Diedrichs (100 free, 100 back) and Kasenya Keller (200 free, 500 free) each won two events for the Wasps, while Paige Hicken won the 100 breaststroke and Reece Andrews won the 100 fly.

For Diedrichs, she finishes as a three-time 100 free state champion, having won the 5A state title the past two seasons.

“I’m feeling amazing about today. I’m so proud of myself and all my teammates. Everyone’s been swimming amazing, and I’m just very proud of it,” said Diedrichs, who was named the 6A swimmer of the meet for racking up the most NISCA points.

Her 100 back time of 54.73 was a new 6A state record. Andrews also set a new 6A record in the 100 fly with her time of 56.69.

“It speaks a lot to their quality and their character, their training. It’s hard to be No. 1 in a race and come through and to pull it off, and the way that they did it, they weren’t worried, they weren’t nervous,” said Marsing.

“They trusted the things that we had talked about in practices for years as they were growing up and pulled through.”

Syracuse sophomore LayLeigh Turner enjoyed another fantastic state meet, winning the 200 individual medley for the second straight year

While Wasatch’s girls title was locked up well before the final 400 freestyle relay, the boys race was very much in the air.

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Lone Peak led Mountain Ridge by seven points heading into the final race. Lone Peak knew a first- or second-place finish would be good enough to clinch the championship, but a third-place finish opened the door for the Sentinels to steal the title.

“I talked to them and I just said, ‘Just be safe on your exchanges and everything and go out there and have fun,’” said Lone Peak coach Calvin Smith. “I was confident that they could do it.”

Lone Peak won that final relay with a 6A record time of 3:10.19 to win the meet with 315 team points. Mountain Ridge finished second with 302 points, followed by American Fork in third with 247 points.

Berg teamed up with Jason Dumas, Asher Topham and Beck Johnson to set the 400 freestyle 6A record.

“Our seniors have been waiting a long time for this, and they’ve been working so hard the past four years,” said Smith.

“Look at Xander Berg, who’s been patiently waiting to win that 50 free for a really long time, but he’s worked so hard and he just really got in and did it today.”

Berg won both the 50 and 100 freestyles, the only individual state champ for the Knights. He finished third in both races last year to a pair of seniors.

Berg was also part of Lone Peak’s state record relay in the 200 freestyle along with Dumas, Seth Bellows and Johnson.

“We were watching the points the whole time, but I think I had a gut feeling that we could pull it out by that last relay,” Smith said.

“Our kids moved up all across the board. We had some really great swims yesterday and set ourselves up for some great swims today.”

Along with Berg, the other multi-event boys champion was Brighton senior Luan Barnard.

He won the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke, and also helped Brighton open the meet with a new 6A record time of 1:34.98 in the 200 medley relay.

Barnard’s time of 47.72 was a new 6A backstroke state record, but slightly shy of his overall and 5A record of 47.53 from last season.

“My goal was to go 46, but ended up going 47.7, which was still a pretty good time for me and I’m super happy that I was able to win and able to get a record at the same time,” said Barnard.

“Even if I didn’t break my record from last year, I’m still pretty happy about it.”

The Ute commit also set a 100 freestyle 6A record with his opening 100 meters in the 400 free relay with a time of 44.90. It was an outstanding way to wrap up a tremendous high school career.

“The past four years have been so much fun, and now that it’s going to change and it’s kind of scary in a way, but in a way it’s also kind of exciting to be able to move on from here and go swim in college and experience new things,” said Barnard.

6A girls state swim meet

At BYU

Team scores

1. Wasatch, 311
2. Skyridge, 257
3. Lone Peak, 251.5
4. Brighton, 230
5. Mountain Ridge, 189
6. Corner Canyon, 120
7. Farmington, 106
8. Syracuse, 94

Individual results

200 medley relay

1. Wasatch (Elsie Malinka, Grace Cannon, Reece Andrews, Kasenya Keller), 1:46.81
2. Skyridge, 1:52.46
3. Lone Peak, 1:53.76
4. Brighton, 1:54.19
5. Farmington, 1:55.36
6. Mountain Ridge, 1:56.90
7. Herriman, 2:01.81
8. Corner Canyon, 2:07.77

200 freestyle

1. Kasenya Keller, Wasatch, Jr., 1:54.21
2. Sarah Favero, Lone Peak, Jr., 1:59.14
3. Kara Moir, Skyridge, Sr., 1:59.59
4. Waimea Barlow, Weber, Sr., 2:00.51
5. Ellie Sintay, Skyridge, Jr., 2:00.70
6. Liberty Harris, Layton, Jr., 2:01.14
7. Crystal Baker, Mountain Ridge, Fr., 2:03.18
8. Sarah Glancy, Copper Hills, So., 2:06.80

200 IM

1. LayLeigh Turner, Syracuse, So., 2:08.73
2. Paige Hicken, Wasatch, Jr., 2:12.29
3. Elsie Crowell, Farmington, Jr., 2:13.53
4. June Johnson, Lone Peak, Fr., 2:16.97
5. Evie Powers, Brighton, So., 2:17.63
6. Victoria La Roche, Skyridge, So., 2:18.62
7. Alexandra Lund, Riverton, Sr., 2:18.67
8. Addison Baker, Mountain Ridge, Fr., 2:20.84

50 freestyle

1. Meadow Tatum, Mountain Ridge, Jr., 24.13
2. Reece Andrews, Wasatch, Sr., 24.67
3. Berkeley Hansen, Corner Canyon, So., 24.93
4. Aoibheann Bradley, Brighton, Jr., 24.94
5. Eva Moeller, Syracuse, So., 25.01
6. Eliza Bexfield, Mountain Ridge, Fr., 25.11
7. Grace Cannon, Wasatch, Sr., 25.22
8. Anastyn Kennard, Lone Peak, So., 25.31

100 butterfly

1. Reece Andrews, Wasatch, Sr., 56.69
2. Alyssa Soderquist, Lehi, Sr., 57.70
3. Avery Dyer, Westlake, Jr., 1:01.08
4. Jane Beardall, Skyridge, Jr., 1:01.09
5. Victoria La Roche, Skyridge, So., 1:01.10
6. Autumn Kendall, Cedar Valley, Jr., 1:01.73
7. Valerie Guzman-Delahoz, Brighton, Sr., 1:02.26
8. Evie Hershkop, Lone Peak, Sr., 1:03.15

100 freestyle

1. Ana Diedrichs, Wasatch, Sr., 51.67
2. Meadow Tatum, Mountain Ridge, Jr., 53.97
3. Anastyn Kennard, Lone Peak, So., 54.28
4. Berkeley Hansen, Corner Canyon, So., 54.32
5. Waimea Barlow, Weber, Sr., 54.43
6. Eliza Bexfield, Mountain Ridge, Fr., 55.47
7. Millie Neidig, Bingham, So., 55.90
8. McKenna Garlick, Lone Peak, Jr., 56.40

500 freestyle

1. Kasenya Keller, Wasatch, Jr., 5:16.27
2. Ellie Sintay, Skyridge, Jr., 5:17.33
3. Liberty Harris, Layton, Jr., 5:23.27
4. Kara Moir, Skyridge, Sr., 5:23.39
5. Gabriela Zurias, Brighton, Jr., 5:26.65
6. Sarah Favero, Lone Peak, Jr., 5:27.17
7. Crystal Baker, Mountain Ridge, Fr., 5:28.75
8. Darcee Smith, American Fork, So., 5:28.99

200 freestyle relay

1. Wasatch (Ana Diedrichs, Elsie Malinka, Paige Hicken, Grace Cannon), 1:39.70
2. Lone Peak, 1:40.99
3. Brighton, 1:41.30
4. Mountain Ridge, 1:43.02
5. Skyridge, 1:43.22
6. Syracuse, 1:44.31
7. Layton, 1:44.54
8. Bingham, 1:45.07

100 backstroke

1. Ana Diedrichs, Wasatch, Sr., 54.73
2. Elsie Crowell, Farmington, Jr., 58.84
3. Alyssa Soderquist, Lehi, Sr., 58.89
4. June Johnson, Lone Peak, Fr., 59.68
5. Kalia Hasselbach, Lehi, Sr., 1:00.09
6. Jane Beardall, Skyridge, Jr., 1:00.69
7. Darcee Smith, American Fork, So., 1:01.54
8. Jane Elder, Brighton, So., 1:01.63

100 breaststroke

1. Paige Hicken, Wasatch, Jr., 1:05.77
2. Grace Cannon, Wasatch, Sr., 1:07.08
3. LayLeigh Turner, Syracuse, So., 1:08.77
4. Avery Dyer, Westlake, Jr., 1:09.02
5. Lexi Bassett, Skyridge, Jr., 1:09.40
6. Jacie Nielson, Farmington, Jr., 1:10.68
7. Chloe Bowman, Skyridge, Jr., 1:11.14
8. Halle Hanson, Lone Peak, Jr., 1:12.78

400 freestyle relay

1. Wasatch (Ana Diedrichs, Reece Andrews, Paige Hicken, Kasenya Keller), 3:35.46
2. Lone Peak, 3:39.06
3. Mountain Ridge, 3:43.64
4. Skyridge, 3:46.10
5. Brighton, 3:48.33
6. Corner Canyon, 3:48.96
7. Bingham, 3:50.12
8. Lehi, 3:51.45

6A boys state swim meet

At BYU

Team scores

1. Lone Peak, 315
2. Mountain Ridge, 302
3. American Fork, 247
4. Wasatch, 222
5. Brighton, 186
6. Skyridge, 117
7. Cedar Valley, 95.5
8. Riverton, 95

Individual results

200 medley relay

1. Brighton (Luan Barnard, Berrett Judkins, Andrew Shuper, Leo Cal), 1:34.98
2. American Fork, 1:36.51
3. Mountain Ridge, 1:36.76
4. Westlake, 1:39.11
5. Skyridge, 1:41.16
6. Lone Peak, 1:41.17
7. Syracuse, 1:42.07
8. Wasatch, DQ

200 freestyle

1. Luan Barnard, Brighton, Sr., 1:39.85
2. Benson Mortensen, Wasatch, So., 1:41.78
3. Sam Petersen, American Fork, Jr., 1:44.85
4. Porter Wilde, Westlake, Jr., 1:46.23
5. Bridger Scott, Mountain Ridge, Sr., 1:47.72
6. Ethan Olson, Mountain Ridge, Sr., 1:48.04
7. Asher Topham, Lone Peak, Jr., 1:49.19
8. Brody Schvaneveldt, Riverton, Jr., 1:50.53

200 IM

1. Ethan Brown, Mountain Ridge, Jr., 1:54.62
2. Brayden Stoddard, Wasatch, Sr., 1:55.35
3. Leo Cai, Brighton, Fr., 1:56.94
4. Beck Johnson, Lone Peak, Jr., 1:57.66
5. Noah Christensen, American Fork, Jr., 1:57.88
6. Oakley James, American Fork, Jr., 1:58.78
7. Davis Chase, Lone Peak, Fr., 1:59.46
8. Andrew Shupe, Brighton, Jr., 2:10.15

50 freestyle

1. Xander Berg, Lone Peak, Sr., 21.47
2. Jason Dumas, Lone Peak, 21.55
3. Tyler Cedor, Mountain Ridge, Sr., 21.75
4. Carston Chamberlain, Cedar Valley, Sr., 21.82
5. Dylen Graff, Wasatch, Sr., 21.94
6. Seth Bellows, Lone Peak, Jr., 22.25
7. Tate Johnson, Corner Canyon, Sr., 22.34
8. Bridger Isbell, Mountain Ridge, Sr., 22.37

100 butterfly

1. Easton Adams, Weber, Sr., 50.24
2. Beck Johnson, Lone Peak, Jr., 51.32
3. Brayden Stoddard, Wasatch, Sr., 52.46
4. Jake Ikemiyashiro, Mountain Ridge, Sr., 52.67
5. Emmett Stirling, Wasatch, Jr., 52.93
6. Noah Christensen, American Fork, Jr., 54.05
7. Eli Hall, Mountain Ridge, Sr., 54.08
8. Kyle Robinson, American Fork, Sr., 54.60

100 freestyle

1. Xander Berg, Lone Peak, Sr., 46.50
2. Benson Mortensen, Wasatch, So., 46.62
3. Connor Clark, Skyridge, Sr., 47.16
4. Jason Dumas, Lone Peak, Sr., 47.69
5. Jack Smart, Farmington, Jr., 48.45
6. Tyler Cedor, Mountain Ridge, Sr., 48.53
7. Ethan Olson, Mountain Ridge, Sr., 48.67
8. Bridger Isbell, Mountain Ridge, Sr., 50.51

500 freestyle

1. Brody Schvaneveldt, Riverton, Jr., 4:51.90
2. Sam Petersen, American Fork, Jr., 4:52.25
3. Zander George, Cedar Valley, Jr., 4:56.64
4. Bridger Scott, Mountain Ridge, Sr., 4:58.63
5. Van Haney, Lone Peak, Sr., 4:59.57
6. Asher Topham, Lone Peak, Jr., 5:00.65
7. Jake Combe, Lone Peak, So., 5:00.83
8. Jake Ikemiyashiro, Mountain Ridge, Sr., 5:04.56

200 freestyle relay

1. Lone Peak (Jason Dumas, Seth Bellows, Xander Berg, Beck Johnson), 1:25.21
2. Mountain Ridge, 1:28.13
3. Wasatch, 1:28.36
4. American Fork, 1:31.22
5. Cedar Valley, 1:31.62
6. Skyridge, 1:31.63
7. Syracuse, 1:31.81
8. Westlake, DQ

100 backstroke

1. Luan Barnard, Brighton, Sr., 47.72
2. Oakley James, American Fork, Jr., 52.93
3. Eli Hall, Mountain Ridge, Sr., 53.55
4. Luke Nelson, American Fork, Jr., 54.50
5. Tyce Morrill, Riverton, Jr., 54.66
6. Emmett Stirling, Wasatch, Jr., 55.34
7. Spencer Hendry, Wasatch, Sr., 56.55
8. Jake Combe, Lone Peak, So., 56.73

100 breaststroke

1. Porter Wilde, Westlake, Jr., 57.82
2. Connor Clark, Skyridge, Sr., 57.84
3. Ethan Brown, Mountain Ridge, Jr., 57.85
4. Conner Fellingham, American Fork, So., 57.97
5. Leo Cai, Brighton, Fr., 58.25
6. Berrett Judkins, Brighton, Fr., 58.59
7. Zack Stevens, American Fork, Sr., 59.31
8. Sam Lillian, Corner Canyon, Sr., 1:00.61

400 freestyle relay

1. Lone Peak (Jason Dumas, Asher Topham, Beck Johnson, Xander Berg), 3:10.19
2. Mountain Ridge, 3:11.89
3. Brighton, 3:12.33
4. Wasatch, 3:15.60
5. American Fork, 3:17.92
6. Corner Canyon, 3:21.36
7. Weber, 3:22.71
8. Farmington, 3:22.80