The GCHS swimming team competed in a five-team meet at South Summit on Jan. 3, where the Red Devils won the girls division and took second in the boys division. Meanwhile, the GCHS girls basketball team won its first game of the season on the same day while the wrestling team competed at the 3A duals in Richfield.
Swim Team
At the swim meet, the GCHS girls scored 420 points, while host South Summit was a distant second at 229, American Leadership Academy had 69 and Delta had 56. For the boys, South Summit was the winner with 494 points, while GCHS had 411, Delta had 233, ALA had 224 and Juab had 37.
“Both teams swam well,” GCHS coach Brian Pierce said. “The first meet after the holiday moratorium is always a challenging meet for the kids. We had some fast swims and the teams placed well overall.”
GCHS won the 200-yard medley in both divisions to kick off the day, as the quartet of Josie Wakefield, Kiersten Kimmerle, Zoe Warren and Neelie Relph swam to a 2:25.78. For the boys, Dallin Stucki, Brendan Moore, Arthur Hawks and Camron Stotz swam a 1:58.84.
In the 200-yard freestyle race, Stryder Young took third for the boys at 2:19.77, while Aly Bertoch (2:41.75), Kimmerle (2:44.46) and Zoe Campbell (2:51.87) took fourth through sixth in the girls race.
In the 200-yard individual medley, Stucki took third at 2:41.86, before the 50-yard freestyle saw Stotz take sixth at 27.45. For the girls, Wakefield swam to third at 30.83 before Neelie Relph (34.15) edged Mekker Relph (34.20) in a photo finish for fifth and sixth place.
In the 100-yard freestyle, McKenna Thorberg took second at 1:23.96 for the girls and Ricky Shumway took fourth at 1:06.67 for the boys. Young won the 500-yard freestyle at 6:27.57, just ahead of teammate Stotz in third at 6:29.15. For the girls, Bertoch took second in the race, swimming a 7:19.03, missing first place by less than a second.
The girls won the 200-yard freestyle relay at 2:07.04 with the same team from the medley, while the boys took second in their race at 1:54.55 with Young, Stucki, Moore and Stotz. Following that, Wakefield won the girls 100-yard backstroke and Hawks won the boys, swimming 1:13.46 and 1:07.56. Stucki took third for the boys at 1:09.05. In the breaststroke, Moore won for the boys with a 1:12.98 and Campbell took second for the girls at 1:32.85. Campbell, Bertoch, Mekker Relph and Mallory Maughan swam unopposed in the 400-yard freestyle relay and the boys group of Young, Shumway, Duncan Clark and David Minor took third at 4:52.40.
Next up for the swim team is another trip to Cedar City from Jan. 10 to 11 as they near the final stretch of their season.
“This week we are looking forward to getting back into a solid, consistent workout schedule and gearing up for the Cedar Invitational this weekend,” Pierce said.
Basketball
The GCHS Lady Red Devils got their first win of the year on Jan. 3, edging Tintic in a barn-burner 38-34 behind 21 points, nine steals and three blocks from Josalyn Murphy. The following day, GCHS played a pair of road games, losing the first 52-23 to Gunnison Valley and 77-34 to North Sevier. The outcomes have the Lady Red Devils at 1-8 heading into their region opener at Richfield on Friday, Jan. 10.
Wrestling
For the wrestling team, wins were few and far between at the 3A Duals in Richfield on Jan. 3 and 4, as GCHS lost to each of its opponents: Union 54-18; South Sevier 78-6; Summit Academy 54-30; Richfield 66-12; San Juan 36-18; Delta 61-12; Carbon 60-18 and Juab 75-5. After hosting San Juan on Tuesday, Jan. 7, the grapplers next compete at the Gunnison Valley Invitational on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 10 and 11.
Girls basketball team picks up first win; wrestlers compete in 3A duals
