Grand swim teams fall to Logan to begin season

The Grand County High School boys and girls swim teams began their season at home on Friday, Nov. 3, as each fell to much-larger Logan in a head-to-head meet.

Mary Kimmerle was an event winner for the girls, placing first in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:30.28, and also in the 500-yard freestyle at 6:08.72, a personal record by more than six seconds, coach Brian Pierce said.

In the 200-yard freestyle, newcomer Corrie Kause placed third at 3:06.68. Kause also placed third in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:30.35. Brooklin Hugentobler and Mona Taylor battled for team supremacy in the 50-yard freestyle, with Hugentobler coming out on top by a hair at 32.20 ahead of 32.34. Taylor got the upper hand in the 100-yarder, though, outracing Hugentobler with a 1:13.89, while Hugentobler swam a 1:14.46. At 1:31.42, Kiersten Kimmerle placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke.

For the boys, Nathan Shafer swam the 200-yard individual medley in second place at 2:34.60. At 31:51, Preston Barlow was the top Grand finisher in the 50-yard freestyle, while Cody Johnston (1:13.02) was Grand’s leader in the 100-yard freestyle. Barlow (1:30.98) was also tops in the backstroke for the Red Devils, while Johnston was Grand’s only backstroke competitor, swimming a 1:29.50.

“Overall, we had a good first meet of the season,” Pierce said. “Many of our swimmers were missing from the meet due to state marching band, football and mountain biking.”

Pierce said the meet gave the Red Devils an idea of where they fit in to the landscape this season.

“This meet was a great benchmark for the rest of the season, giving us a good indication of where we are as a team and what we need to work on in the future,” he said.

Grand’s next meet will be the Cedar City Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 10 and 11. It will be a much different contest with several schools in Grand’s classification (3A), in addition to higher-classification schools.

Red Devils to compete in Cedar City this weekend