The Grand County High School swimming team competed against Carbon and Delta at the Desert Wave Pool in Price on Saturday, Jan. 20, in the final tuneup before the region championships. The Grand boys narrowly edged the Delta Rabbits for first place with 160 points. Delta scored 156 points, while host Carbon scored 141 points. For the girls, Carbon scored 229 points, while Grand scored 129 and Delta scored 13.
The Grand boys had a handful of top-five finishes to go along with two individual event wins – the 200-yard freestyle won by Braxten Pierce (1:56.46) and the 500-yard freestyle won by Connor Ainge (6:21.57). Ainge also placed second to Pierce in the 200-yard freestyle (2:14.46) as Grand had the top five finishers in the event. Joining Pierce and Ainge were Preston Barlow in third at 2:27.99, Trayken Robertson in fourth at 2:29.09 and Nathan Shafer in fifth at 2:31.09.
In the 100-yard backstroke, Grand had another finisher cluster, taking the third-through-sixth place finishes. Corbin Arbon was third at 1:08.48, while Alex Lacy was fourth at 1:09.33, Robertson was fifth at 1:15.38 and David Minor was sixth at 1:33.83. Arbon also placed fifth in the 50-yard freestyle at 25.74, followed by Tyler Moreau in seventh at 28.25 and Jarett Reidhead in ninth at 28.75.
Lacy also placed second in the 100-yard butterfly (1:06.41), while Dallin Stucki took third (1:13.04).
Moreau added a second-place effort in the 500-yard freestyle (6:30.35), ahead of Shafer in third (6:59.12). Reidhead finished fourth in the 100-yard freestyle (1:05.33) and Stucki finished third in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:22.37). Cody Johnston placed fourth in the breaststroke at 1:23.67.
“We had some good swims, some good time drops,” Grand swimming coach Brian Pierce said. “It’s good to see how we compare to Carbon as they’re a little bit bigger of a school than us.”
For the girls, Mary Kimmerle won both the 200-yard individual medley (2:30.33) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:07.75), while Kiersten Kimmerle took second in both the 200-yard freestyle (2:43.48) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:29.10).
Among other finishes by the girls, Corrie Kause took third in the 200-yard freestyle (2:50.32) and fourth in the 100-yard backstroke (1:30.72); Mona Taylor took fourth in the 50-yard freestyle (29.79) and third in the 100-yard freestyle (1:08.85); Brooklin Hugentobler took seventh in the 50-yard freestyle (32.12) and fifth in the 100-yard freestyle (1:15.73); Neelie Relph took eighth in the 50-yard freestyle (34.64); and Anika Scherer took fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:38.54) and 10th in the 50-yard freestyle (36.11).
Brian Pierce said the Red Devils’ goal and focus for the region meet is simply to qualify swimmers for the state meet.
“We’re still trying to put kids where they have the best chance to qualify for state,” Brian Pierce said. “We’re looking closely at things we can do to help them out.”
The Region 15 Swimming Championship is scheduled to take place on Thursday, Jan. 25, in Castle Dale.
Red Devils continue to gear up for region meet
“We had some good swims, some good time drops.”
