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Taylor Woods – Breast Stroke leg of Medley Relay
Jeanine Apuron | Sea Lions
Will Newman – Fly leg of Medley Relay
Jeanine Apuron | Sea Lions
Jacob Christian – Free Relay
Jeanine Apuron | Sea Lions
On Thursday, Oct. 9, the Miner swimmers traveled to Amphitheater High School to compete against Tanque Verde, St. Augustine and Amphitheaters High Schools. The Miner Girls finished second in the four way meet: Tanque Verde 89, San Manuel 66, St. Augustine 63, and Amphi 20. The Boys looked solid in every event and won the meet by a large margin: San Manuel 103, Tanque Verde 61, St. Augustine 36, Amphi 1.
The Miner Girls were unable to win an event, but finished second in both freestyle relays which was enough for them to edge past St. Augustine in the final scores.
The Miner Boys continued their winning ways. Not only did they win a majority of the events, they had more second place finishes than any other team. In three consecutive races Miners finished first and second. In the 50 Freestyle, Colbey Stratton edged Tayler Woods for the win, leaving the rest of the field several seconds behind. In the 100 Fly, Will Newman and Colbey Stratton both beat a talent competitor. In the 100 Freestyle, Taylor Woods got to the finish slightly ahead of Jacob Chirstian who were both 10 seconds ahead of all the other swimmers.
The Thursday meet helped improved the win-loss record for the Miners, but it is how well swimmers do in the state qualifying invitational meets that determines how the team stacks up against others in Arizona. The Miners attended the Tiger Invitational held at Marana High School on Saturday, Oct 11. The meet featured 19 teams, most of them from much larger schools than San Manuel. The Miners competed against teams from Barry Goldwater, Buena, Cienega, Deer Valley, Desert Christian, Desert View, Green Fields, Marana, Mountain View, Palo Verde, Sabina, Salpointe, Sunnyside, Tanque Verde, The Gregory School, The Odyssey Institute, and Walden Grove. The Miners made some big waves at the meet. The Girls finished 11th which put them in the middle of the pack which is very respectable for a small school against some of the swimming giants. The Boys left an impression on many at the meet with a third place finish – only Deer Valley and Buena were better than Miners on Saturday.
The distinctive miner swim cap showing a pick and shovel in school colors, spent quite a bit of time at the front of some very big races. In the opening event, the Boys Medley Relay, the Miners had earned the number four seed and hoped to make a statement. As Will Newman took an early lead in the Backstroke leg, it looked like the Miners might have a chance to win. Solid swims by Taylor Woods on the Breaststroke leg and Colbey Stratton on the Butterfly leg left the Miners neck and neck with Buena (Sierra Vista) as Jacob Christian entered the water. Jacob swam the best split of his life, but it wasn’t enough to hold of Buena. The relay had bettered the school record by over a second and made a statement that the Miners have something special this year. In the next event, Jacob Christian and Robert Sweeney both were in final heat (fast heat) and had some great swims to place fourth and 10th respectively.
The following event, Will Newman lined up for the 200 IM, seeded second. Newman took almost a 5-yard lead after the Butterfly and Backstroke legs (his best strokes). As the favorite closed the gap on the Breaststroke leg, it became evident it was going to be an exciting finish on the Freestyle leg. The much bigger swimmer from Deer Valley hit a great final turn that gave him the fraction of second he needed to win the race.
The next event was the 50 Freestyle with almost 100 competitors. With both Taylor Woods and Colbey Stratton finishing in the top eight places (fourth and fifth). It began to look like the Miners were one of the better teams at the meet.
After the diving break, Miner swimmers stepped up for the 100 Butterfly. With three swimmers finishing in the top 12 (Newman, Stratton and Michael Garcia) and another exciting near win by Will Newman, the team looked like it did not have a weakness.
After Miners, not placing in the 100 Free, 500 Free or 200 Free Relay, it was Michael Garcia and Jacob Christian that finished 14th and 15th in the Backstroke to keep points coming. Taylor Woods added a ninth place finish in the Breaststroke to finish off the individual events.
When the pysch sheet came out with the seedings, the Miners were seeded first in the Boys 400 Free relay. After a great meet, a win in the final relay would be the frosting on the cake. But things do not always go as seeded, with two of the relay swimmers just finishing individual events, the relay ended up finishing third.
Head Coach Alex Gort was excited about the meet outcome, “Miner Girls finished in the middle of the pack, and the Boys third place overall finish against schools five to 10 times as large as San Manuel is something to be proud of. Virtually every swimmer achieved best times at the meet and poised to great things at the championship meets over the next three weeks.”
Miner swimmers are looking forward to the final dual meet at Coronado High School (Scottsdale) on Thursday, Oct. 23 at 4 p.m.
There are news or informational items frequently written by staff or submitted to the Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner, Superior Sun, Pinal Nugget or Oracle Towne Crier for inclusion in our print or digital products. These items are not credited with an author.
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