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Taylor Woods contributed to the team’s success. Levi Schifferns | SMHS
Darian Apuron in her win in the Butterfly. Levi Schifferns | SMHS
Last week, proving that having the home pool advantage, the Miner swim teams showed that they can definitely swim with the big fish.
On Tuesday, Sept. 22, the Miner Swimmers hosted a three-way meet against North High School (from Phoenix) and Walden Grove High School (from Sahuarita). Despite the fact that both schools are many times larger than San Manuel High School, the Miners won both the Girls and Boys Meets. The final scores for the Girls teams were: San Manuel 79, North 70, Walden Grove 65. The Boys scores were: San Manuel 103, Walden Grove 53, and North 47.
The Miner Girls won seven events out of the 11 events contested. The Medley Relay team of Rebekah Head, Gianna Sweeney, Darien Apuron and Raya Woods started things off with a win. Walden Grove won the 200 Freestyle and 200 Individual Medley (IM). Then it was a duo of outstanding Freshman Girls that got the Miners winning individual events. Gianna Sweeney outouched the competition in the always close 50 Freestyle, followed by a convincing win by Darien Apuron in the 100 Butterfly. Both Freshman went on to win their second individual events later in the meet; Apuron won the 100 Backstroke and Sweeney won the 100 Breaststroke. Sophomore Raya Woods swam a personal best time on her way to win the 400 meter Freestyle by a huge margin. Walden Grove collected wins in the 100 Freestyle and 200 Free Relay, while North kept earning points throughout the meet with its outstanding depth. The stage was set for the final relay to determine the meet outcome. The same group of Miner Girls that won the opening relay (Head, Sweeney, Apuron and Woods) won the 400 Free Relay and clinched the meet for the Miners.
The Miner Boys looked solid also winning seven out of the 11 races, while showing strength in their team depth. After getting beat in a close 200 Medley Relay, the Miners went on to win the next five events. Senior Jacob Christian won the 200 Freestyle while Freshman Michael Primero-Predgo finished second. Sophomore Will Newman won the 200 IM by a large margin while Senior Alec Newman finished third. In both sprint events, the 50 and 100 Freestyle, Junior Colbey Stratton lead the 1-2 finish with teammate Senior Taylor Woods. Will Newman won the 100 Butterfly with Junior Mikey Garcia finishing third. Even though a swimmer from North HS won the 400 Freestyle, the Miners earned more points in the event by virtue of the 2-3 finish by Jacob Christian and Junior Robert Sweeney. The Miners went on the win both the 200 and 400 Freestyle Relays with the team of Stratton, Christian, Woods, and Will Newman.
Coach Alex Gort was pleased with the way the Miners swam at the meet.
“The Miners look great for this point of the season,” Gort said. “This team has tremendous potential as we approach the State Qualifying meets over the next month.”
The Boys advance to a record of 6-1 on the season, while the Girls record improved to 2-5.
The Miners hosted a dual meet against Immaculate Heart High School on Tuesday, Sept. 29, at the San Manuel Pool. Results from the meet were unavailable at press time. On Thursday, Oct. 1, the Miners will travel to face Salpointe High School and Marana High School at the Marana High School Pool at 4 p.m.
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