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Making waves with the San Manuel High School Swim Team. Jeanine Apuron | Miner
After several weeks of practices, the Miner Swim Team opened the season last week at a triangle meet between Canyon State Academy and Tempe Preparatory Academy.
The Miner Boys team tied Tempe Prep with each team earning 72 points. Both Boys teams finished ahead of Canyon State Academy (50 points). Tempe Prep finished ahead of the Miner Girls 101 to 68 (Canyon State is a boys only school).
As is the custom in Arizona High School Swimming, the boys swim first during even years (2014 is an even year). To start things off, the boys Medley Relay was closely contested. Even though Tempe Prep won the race, the Miner relay team of Will Newman, Taylor Woods, Colbey Stratton, and Robert Sweeney set a new school record with a time of 1:59.59, beating the record previously held by Jordan Peasley, Wayne Newman, Martin Seballos, and PJ Mortensen (2011) by two tenths of a second.
Some of the Miner strengths showed during the meet. Junior Theresa Sweeney won the 200 and 500 Freestyle showing off her great finishing speed in the 200 to come from behind. Senior Jazelle Sanchez won the 50 Freestyle and looked solid in the 100 Butterfly. Junior Taylor Woods won the 100 Freestyle and looked great in the 100 Breaststroke. Sophomore Colbey Stratton won the 50 Freestyle and set a new school record in the 100 Butterfly with a time of 1:08.22 (previous record held by Colten Smith since 2010). Freshman Will Newman made his high school swimming debut with wins in the 200 IM (2:14.55) and 500 Freestyle (5:21.36), the toughest events in high school swimming. Newman’s times were fast enough to break school records in both events that were previously held by his older brother Wayne.
While the front line had some great swims, Head Coach Alex Gort was pleased with the number of personal best times the team had as a whole. “At this point in the season, it is about training and getting better each week.”
The Miners travel to Scottsdale on Sept. 10 to participate in a triangle meet against Scottsdale Preparatory Academy and Scottsdale Christian Academy at 4 p.m. at the McDowell Mountain Ranch Aquatic Center.
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