With the swim season a month under way, a few local swimmers are making a big splash this year. Here's a region-by-region look at the top of Utah swimmers that are already dominating the scoreboards this year.
In Region 1, with nine schools from Davis and Weber counties, the race is on for dominance. Last year Viewmont was able to pull off the region win on both the boys and girls side, but was later beat at the state meet by Layton on the girls side and Davis on the boys' side.
The Layton girls look particularly strong behind the fast times of top swimmer Elizabeth Thompson, who has top-five times in every event. But Weber and Viewmont will be breathing down the Lancers' necks.
"Weber is particularly good on the girls' side," said Coach Craig Bjorklund, who coaches both Layton and Davis boys and girls. "On the girls' side, we look at them as some of our toughest competition."
Other strong top female swimmers from the region include Cassie Brewer of Viewmont, with her times in the 100 butterfly, and Ellen Acquistapace of Northridge in the 200 individual medley.
"I would not be surprised if the Davis boys come through," said Bjorklund. "They would really like to be on top and are working for it."
For the boys in Region 1, Davis's Alex Heder, Parker Simonsen and Zach Santella have top times in their events, while Corban Bothell, Mike Crandall and Ryan Kerr lead the Viewmont charge. Also watch for Weber's Tyler Condie and Drake Mendelson, Syracuse's Paul Crowley, Fremont's Ben Johnson and Layton's Matt Krambule.
"It'll be a battle with a lot of the boys' teams," said Weber Coach Bill Cruff. "There are a lot of good boys on a variety of different teams."
In Region 5, Ogden boys have dominated the state 3-A swim landscape for the past three years. With its move into 4-A and the loss of some key swimmers, it's going to be a claw-your-way-to-every-victory season for the Tigers. In its new region, Ogden will face tough competition from an already strong Mountain Crest team. Fourth on both the boys and the girls side at the state meet last year, Mountain Crest swimmers are already dominating state top 10 lists.
For the girls, junior Meghan O'Very has swam top-10 times in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, and 100 backstroke. She's joined by Elizabeth Watts as one of the top swimmers to watch. Watts has the fifth-best time in the 500 freestyle.
For the Mountain Crest boys, Jake Taylor and Timmy Bates are leading a strong team along with freshman William Watts. The Mountain Crest boys have two boys ranked in the top 10 in the state in every event but two.
Box Elder, while probably not a team title challenger, is led by top performances from Ogden Douglas and Kallin Raymond.
In Region 6, Bountiful boys and Woods Cross girls will be tough, but will have to face challenges from East and Highland. The Bountiful boys will be led by Kyler and Keeton Hodgson as well as Jacob Anderson. The Woods Cross girls look strong behind swimmers Kaitie Jowers, Lexi Strader, Rylee White, and Heather Cordon. Josh Johnson leads the Woods Cross boys.
In Region 11, Bear River girls and boys look good in the 3-A ranks behind Lisa Sorenson, Camille Ballard, and Sariah Stanley-Gray for the girls and Jacob Kerby, Jason Jennings, Alex Parkinson and Peter Wendal for the boys. The Ben Lomond boys have Talon Penman, who has swam the eighth fastest time in the 100 breaststroke and top 20 times in the 50 freestyle and 200 individual medley.
The region meets will held in late January, with the state meets in mid-February.
Comments