The Grand County High School swimming team placed first in the boys division and third in the girls division at the four-team Grand Invitational on Friday, Dec. 8, in Moab.
Grand had several individual victories and personal bests in both divisions, including a new school record in the 200-yard freestyle relay, an event in which they took second place.
The quartet of Corbin Arbon, Tyler Moreau, Connor Ainge and Braxten Pierce shaved about eight-tenths of a second off the previous school record, swimming a 1:41.08, but still took second to Hurricane’s quartet, which swam the event in 1:39.89. The same four Grand swimmers competed in the 400-yard freestyle relay, placing third at 3:58.45.
Grand swimming coach Brian Pierce said he set the meet up so those four swimmers could swim together.
“We set it up that way,” he said. “We’ve got a couple other guys we could put in there. In the relays, you don’t qualify the swimmer, you qualify the time. Then you can put whoever you want in there at state.”
Overall, the boys took first with 372 points, followed by Emery with 285, Hurricane with 195 and Gunnison Valley with 119. Emery took first in the girls division with 458 points, followed by Hurricane with 331, Grand with 217 and Gunnison with 66.
“It was a good meet,” Brian Pierce said. “We had the whole team, which is nice because we can put together a lot of relays and score more points.”
In the girls division, Mary Kimmerle won both of her individual events, swimming the 200-yard freestyle in 2:09.20, more than 13 seconds ahead of second place; and swimming the 500-yard freestyle in 5:56.59, the fastest time of either gender and the only one under six minutes at the meet.
Kimmerle also swam in the 200-yard freestyle relay with Brooklin Hugentobler, Grace Johnston and Neelie Relph, placing second at 2:08.03; and the 400-yard freestyle relay with Relph, Hugentobler and Kiersten Kimmerle, placing third at 4:51.07.
Hugentobler had a pair of top-five individual races, taking second in the 50-yard freestyle at 30.64, and fifth in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:12.97. Kiersten was right behind her in sixth at 1:12.99, while also finishing fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:31.94. Anika Scherer placed seventh in the breaststroke at 1:41.96 and 13th in the 50-yard freestyle at 34.29.
For the boys, Braxten Pierce placed first in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:53.86 and second in the 100-yard butterfly at 1:04.16; and Dallin Stucki placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:24.17, followed by Cody Johnston in second at 1:24.28.
Stucki also placed fifth in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:37.36, just behind Alex Lacy in fourth at 2:35.14. Lacy placed fourth in the 100-yard backstroke as well, with a time of 1:11.32.
Arbon placed second in the 50-yard freestyle at 25.98 and second in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:10.84. In the 50-yard event, he was followed by Moreau in third at 26.23, Trayken Robertson in fifth at 28.44, Jarett Reidhead in seventh at 29.24 and Duncan Clark in ninth at 32.17.
Ainge placed third in the 200-yard freestyle at 2:17.84 and fourth in the 100-yard freestyle at 58.99. Moreau followed in sixth at 1:00.34 and Johnston placed ninth at 1:07.16. In the 200-yard medley, the quartet of Robertson, Johnston, Stucki and Richard Shumway placed second at 2:17.87.
Brian Pierce said that at this point of the season, the swimmers are starting to focus on specific events after spending the early part of the season qualifying in as many events as they could.
“Right now we’re looking at their times and where they fall in the top 50, and we’re comparing them to other teams’ swimmers and trying to guess what events they’ll be in so we can put guys in the events where they’ll have their highest finishes,” he said.
The Lady Red Devils basketball team was also in competition, falling 47-45 to Monticello on Tuesday, Dec. 5. The game was close throughout as the teams were separated by three points or less at the end of every quarter. Veda Gritts had 15 points and nine rebounds, while Hannah Owen had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Mercedes Zunich also had nine points and four rebounds.
The Devilettes drill team was scheduled to begin competition at the Salt Lake Valley Classic in Draper on Saturday, Dec. 9, but canceled the trip because about half the team was sick with the flu, Grand County High School Athletic Director Ron Dolphin said. The drill team’s next competition is Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018, at the Central Valley Classic in Richfield
The swim team is scheduled to compete at the Tooele Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 15 and 16. The girls basketball team was scheduled to host Pinnacle Academy on Tuesday, Dec. 12, and are next scheduled to play at Green River on Thursday, Dec. 14, at 7 p.m., followed by a game at Monticello on Tuesday, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m., and The Las Vegas Invitational on Wednesday, Dec. 20 through Saturday, Dec. 23. The boys basketball team was scheduled to play at Monticello on Tuesday, Dec. 12, followed by the Cortez Invitational in Cortez, Colorado, on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 15 and 16. Grand also plays at Green River on Wednesday, Dec. 20, at 7 p.m.
Girls basketball team falls to Monticello in nail-biter; Drill team cancels first competition
“It was a good meet … We had the whole team, which is nice because we can put together a lot of relays and score more points.”
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