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Alec Newman swims the breast stroke.
Jeanine Apuron | Apuron Photography
Miner Swimmers competed in the Southern Arizona Regional Qualifier Swim Meet in Oro Valley on Oct. 30-31. It was the final opportunity for the 24 teams from Southern Arizona to achieve qualifying times for the State Championship Meet to be held Nov. 6-7. Miner Swimmers looked sharp against the best swimmers in Southern Arizona.
The Girls finished in 10th place with 80 points and the Boys finished in 3rd place with 180 points. In the overall combined (Boys and Girls) team standings, the Miners finished in 4th place behind Catalina Foothills, Salpointe Catholic and Ironwood Ridge. Coaches were proud of the long list of teams that the Miners finished ahead of that included: Canyon Del Oro, Cienega, Tanque Verde, Pusch Ridge, Buena, Tucson, Sabino, Cholla, Sahuaro, Mountain View, Walden Grove, Rincon, Flowing Wells, Douglas, Sunnyside, St. Augustine, Sahuarita, Desert View, and Palo Verde.
Although the cold and rainy weather for preliminaries on Friday made conditions less than ideal, the Miners rose to the occasion and swam fast enough to qualify for 12 Championship Finals (top 8) and 10 Consolation Finals (9-16th place). With 24 teams present, earning a spot in the top 16 in any event is big accomplishment. As it has been all year, the strength of this team continues to show in the relays. In every relay event, the Miners advanced their A relay to the finals, and impressively in the Boys 200 Free Relay, both the A and B relays advanced.
On Saturday morning, Miners started things off with 9th place finish in the Girls Medley Relay followed by a 13th place finish in the Boys Medley Relay.
In the 200 Freestyle, 3 Miners finished in the top 16. Senior Taylor Woods finished 7th followed by fellow Senior Jacob Christian in 11th place and Junior Robert Sweeney in 16th place.
In the 200 Individual Medley (IM), two Freshman showed great potential in the all-around event. Gianna Sweeney finished 7th in the Girls 200 IM and Michael Primero-Predgo finished in 16th place in the Boys 200 IM.
In the 50 Freestyle, Junior Colbey Stratton showed some great speed on his way to 8th place finish.
In the Girls 100 Butterfly, Freshman Darien Apuron swam a sizzling time of 1:05.54 to shave a tenth of a second off the School Record on her way to a 4th place finish. In the Boys 100 Butterfly, Sophomore Will Newman won the event with a time of 53.81 which bettered the School Record by half a second while Colbey Stratton finished in 10th place.
Senior Taylor Woods finished 5th in the 100 Freestyle with some great closing speed.
It was the Boys 500 Freestyle that had two Miners in the Championship Finals. Jacob Christian and Robert Sweeney finished 6th and 8th respectively in the longest event in High School Swimming.
In the 200 Freestyle Relay, the Miner Girls team of Gianna Sweeney, Sophomore Raya Woods, Senior Rebekah Head, and Darien Apuron set new a School Record with a time of 1:56.11 beating the record previously held by Cierra Austin, Amara Apuron, Theresa Sweeney, and Nicole Primero-Predgo in 2012. The Girls Relay finished 13th. The Boys B relay team of Michael Primero–Predgo, Senior Alec Newman, Junior Michael Garcia, and Robert Sweeney finished a respectable 15th place. The Boys A Relay team of Colbey Stratton, Taylor Woods, Jacob Christian, and Will Newman swam the fastest relay in school history bettering the school record by nearly a second on the way to a 3rd place finish.
Darien Apuron swam a great 100 Backstroke to finish in 10th place. Will Newman won the 100 Backstroke in a school record time of 55.05, and looks ready to make his mark at the State Championship meet this upcoming weekend.
Gianna Sweeney looked in great form in the 100 Breaststroke on her way to a 7th place finish.
The Girls 400 Freestyle Relay team of Rebekah Head, Senior Mariela Canisales, Sophomore Elyssia Aguilar, and Senior Stephanie Morris all swam personal best relay legs to finish in 12th place. The Boys 400 Free Relay team of Stratton, Woods, Christian and Newman swam a outstanding race to finish 3rd (behind Catalina Foothills and Salpointe) to wrap up the competition for the weekend.
San Manuel High School was one of the smallest schools at the meet, in both size of school and number of swimmers, but the awesome performances puts them as one of the best teams in Southern Arizona. The 4th place combined team finish is a very impressive result and the 3rd place team score by the boys team is remarkable.
With 5 new school records, and some great individual and relay swims, the Miners look ready to compete in the Division II State Championship Meet. Will Newman is scheduled to compete with Automatic Qualifying Times in the 200 Individual Medley and 100 Backstroke. Additionally, several individuals have provisional qualifying times; Darien Apuron (100 Fly, 500 Free), Gianna Sweeney (200 IM, 100 Breaststroke); Jacob Christian (200 Free, 500 Free), Colbey Stratton (50 Free, 100 Fly), and Taylor Woods (100 Free, 200 Free). These swimmers will have to wait until seeding is done later in the week to determine if they made the cut. Unfortunately, the Girls Relays just narrowly missed the cut. However, all three of the Boys Relays will be competing. The Division II Swim Championship will be held at Skyline Aquatic Center in Mesa – Preliminaries begin at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, and Finals begin at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.
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