The Grand County High School swimmers competed at the Tooele Invitational on Dec. 20 and 21, gaining more experience in a large meet against large schools as the season progresses. The GCHS boys finished seventh out of 11 teams, while the girls finished 10th. Of the 10 other schools, only Millard and North Summit were comparable in size to GCHS.
The GCHS Red Devils were led by junior Pat Pakkarato, who placed third in the 200-yard individual medley (2:17.73) and fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:10.51). GCHS also got top-10 individual finishes from Arthur Hawks and Dallin Stucki in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing eighth (1:06.39) and ninth (1:07.19) respectively. Stucki also finished 10th in the individual medley (2:31.35), while Hawks narrowly missed another top-10, taking 11th in the 100-yard butterfly (1:10.80).
Pakkarato and Stucki joined Camron Stotz and Stryder Young to finish fifth in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:45.65) and sixth in the 400-yard freestyle relay (4:00.07). Individually, Young took 12th in the 200-yard freestyle (2:17.20) followed by Stotz in 13th (2:17.92). The two switched finish order in the 500-yard freestyle relay, with Stotz in 10th (6:22.89) and Young in 11th (6:36.93).
In the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races, the Red Devils entered a number of young swimmers. In the 50, Luke Shafer led GCHS in 29th at 32.28, followed by Tagert Farnsworth in 36th at 33.60; Farnsworth also took 37th in the 100 at 1:15.25.
The girls’ top finish came from Josie Wakefield in the 100-yard backstroke, taking fifth at 1:13.51; Wakefield also placed ninth in the 100-yard freestyle (1:08.42). Zoe Warren had a pair of 10th place finishes, in the 100-yard backstroke (1:17.44) and the 100-yard butterfly (1:20.83).
In the breaststroke, Kyla Jackman placed 11th (1:27.75), adding to her 23rd-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle (2:52.14). Teammate Aly Bertoch placed 12th in the 500-yard freestyle (7:15.04) and 16th in the 200-yard freestyle (2:40.61). In the 50-yard freestyle, Zoe Campbell took 16th at 33.91 and Mekker Relph took 17th at 34.02.
The quartet of Wakefield, Warren, Bertoch and Jackman took ninth in the 200-yard freestyle relay (2:10.35) and were disqualified for an early take-off in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
The Red Devils are scheduled to return to the pool for a non-region dual with South Summit in Kamas on Friday, Jan. 3, at 2 p.m.
Pakarrato, Wakefield among top finishers
