Spectrum Article on the Swim Season

WASHINGTON CITY - Coach Missy Bahr's Mountain View swim team, having disposed of Dixie and Snow Canyon on Friday, repeated the process Saturday at the Washington City Community Center pool, where they out-pointed Desert Hills, Pine View and Hurricane.

Scored as 10 separate dual meets, the Bruins beat everybody in both the boys and girls divisions, including their traveling companions, the first-year team from Timpanogos.

The point scoring, which accrued primarily from Mountain View's team depth, was overshadowed by the individual efforts of the Pine View pair of Shayne Beckstrand and Mitch Hutchings, along with Courtney Freed and Tim Senholtz, both of Desert Hills. Mountain View won only three individual events and one relay on the 22-race card.

Sophomore Hutchings, who swam a strong butterfly leg on the winning Panther medley relay team, was back in the water a few minutes later cruising to victory in the 200-yard freestyle, winning in 1:54.38 over Trent Talbott of Timpanogos and Josh McPhie of Desert Hills. He also won the 100 back in 59.03 and also swam a quick 50 free on the third-place Pine View 200-relay quartet.

Beckstrand uncorked an impressive sprint double, winning the 50 free in 26.45 over Bruin Devri Atoa, with Hurricane's Kaylee LeBaron third ahead of the Desert Hills duo of Madison Wawryzniak and Emily Jesgarz. She then overpowered Tessa Trimble of Desert Hills, and 20 other swimmers, in the 100 free in 58.35.

"The 50 went great," Beckstrand said, "but in the 100 I got water in my left goggle on the dive and I couldn't see a thing out of that eye. I always breathe bilaterally, but I couldn't because of the water in my eye. I had to breathe just on my right side and it felt weird"

Shayne, who already ranked fifth in the 3A state standings in the 50 freestyle, shaved a tenth of a second off her previous best. Her 58.35 clocking in the 100 propelled her into the top 10 in the state rankings.

"Ater being sick and not swimming all summer my body doesn't want to do things like it used to, so I guess I'm a sprinter and backstroker now," she said.

Freed and Senholtz also scored double victories, and in the same races. Freed won the girls' fly and breast stroke and Senholtz mirrored those wins with a power-packed pair of performances on the boys' side of the ledger.

Freed won her fly on cruise control in 1:07.17, 15 seconds faster than her closest pursuer and then came back to capture the 100 breast in 1:14 over teammates Anna Karatti and Amelia Draney. Senholtz' scintillating 55.42 fly shot him into the top spot in the 3A state standings ahead of Park City's Dusty Ragland, and his surprising 1:05.65 breast stroke time ranks him third in the state standings. He also chipped in a 51.30 100 anchor leg on the Thunder's triumphant 4x100 free relay team, as well as an opening 23.47 leg on the winning 4x50 free relay.

Tim's clocking in the breast stroke was five seconds faster than his listed seed time, but he explained he had actually done a 1:07 in a USA swim meet in Harriman last week.

"The time was surprising," he said, "but both the fly and the breast felt good."

Other local winners included Amelia Draney of Desert Hills in one of her specialties, the 200 IM; Desert Hills' Clark Corry in the 50 free; Kyle Buck of Pine View in the 100 free; the Thunder's John McPhie in the 500 free; and Desert Hills' Lindsey Child in the girls' 100 back.

Individual heat winners among Southern Utah swimmers included Payton Carter in the 200 free; Jefferson Beatty, Desert Hills, 200 IM; Mallory Roberts of Pine View, 50 free; Spencer Whitehead, Desert Hills, 50 free and 500 free; Koby Sullivan, Pine View, 50 free; Desert Hills' Ben Powell, 100 fly; Jesi Nelson, Pine View, 100 free; Zach Rowe, Desert Hills, 100 free; Desert Hill's Tyson Child, 100 back; Zoe Smith and Makai Smith, Desert Hills, in the 100 breast.

"I was really proud of my kids today," said coach Dani Caldwell, who mentors the Desert Hills, Pine View and Hurricane squads. They really came together as a team. Of course they'll probably hate me now. I've told the varsity swimmers they have to practice for an hour after the meet's over."