The Emery High School swim teams easily cruised past six other schools to clinch the Southern Divisional Championship Thursday afternoon at the Emery County Aquatic Center in Castle Dale.
Scoring first-place finishes in seven of the 11 events, the Emery boys team accumulated 333 points to out pace second place Grand’s 215. Millard finished in a distant third with 183 points, followed by Delta, Wasatch Academy and Gunnison.
Though the Lady Spartans recorded just one first place nod the team used depth scoring and seven second place finishes to gather 350 points, to top second place Grand by 55. Millard again finished third, followed by Gunnison and Delta. Beaver and Wasatch Academy rounded out the field of seven.
The Emery boy’s 400 yard free relay team provided extra excitement to the championship performance by breaking the state record in the event. Keldan Guymon, Daryl Guymon, Garret Stilson and Nate Gilbert finished 19.44 seconds ahead of second place Millard with a time of 3:31.22 to break the previous record.
The boy’s 200 yard medley relay also claimed first-place by topping Millard. Keldan Guymon, Daryl Guymon, Stilson and Gilbert finished in 1:47.67. Millard ‘s second-place finish came in 1:55.15, followed by Grand in third.
Gilbert added to his impressive showing with first place finishes in the 50 and 100 yard free. Finishing the 50 with a time of 23.34, the Emery senior manged to hold off Delta sophomore Smalls Fife who finished in 24.72. Gilbert’s 100 performance put him ahead of Delta freshman Brennan Anderson by 2.20 seconds.
Daryl Guymon also recorded two individual victories, easily defeating the competition in the 100 yard fly and 100 yard breaststroke. Guymon topped Grand sophomore Alex Lacy by 10.20 seconds in the 100 yard fly, and Millard’s Nathan Despain by 4.06 seconds.
Emery senior Garret Stilson defeated teammate Deegan Minchey in the 200 yard free by 5.77 seconds to give the Spartans another first place nod. Sophomore Parker Stilson finished fifth in the event, giving Emery three top five finishes.
The lone top finish for the Lady Spartans came in the 400 yard free relay as Alexis Johansen, Erin Oliverson, BriAnne Bass, and Katie Carter cruised past Grand by 29.88 seconds. The Lady Spartans did the majority of their damage throughout the meet with depth scoring.
With the Southern Divisional meet now complete, the Spartans will take a week off from the pool before returning for the state championship meet on Thursday, Feb. 9 at Brigham Young University.
Click below for a complete list of Thursday’s results:
2ASouthDivisionresults