A total of 30 Cottonwood Clippers swimmers opened the competitive portion of their summer recreational season third Saturday, June 11, behind the winner and host Bullhead City Barracudas.
Dallin Gordon, 14, finished runner-up in two events, while Landon Trezise swam the 50-meter backstroke in 00:47.37 to finish second, leading the boys team to third out of six teams.
“It was windy and hot, but we had a great turnout from every team,” said Gretchen Wesbrock, Clippers head coach. “It was such a good learning meet with lots of parent support.”
Gordon and Trezise were the third-highest scorers among boys 13 to 14 years old and 11 to 12 years old, respectively, while Aleana Cricks had four third-place finishes to become the third-best high-point scorer in her age group.
“Lots of improvement on times from multiple swimmers,” said Wesbrock, who hopes to bring at least 30 more Clippers to the Sedona Splash, her second competitive meet as head coach, beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday, June 18. “It was great, especially in the first meet of the season, that their pool is 25 meters longer than ours and yet kids were still dropping time from last season.”
Like Mingus Union High School sophomore Fletch Fangman, who aged up in time to lead a 200-meter freestyle relay team to third place among 15- to 18-year-olds behind Bullhead City and the Sandsharks club team from nearby Needles, Calif.
“After the meet, he was excited,” Wesbrock said. “He was saying he couldn’t wait to go up against the same kids at the Kingman Invitational.”
But that will come Saturday, June 25 — two meets after the Clippers visit the Sedona Community Pool and their closest competitor, the Sedona Swim Team.
“I’m hoping that we’ve got more swimmers, seeing what the kids were able to do this weekend,” Wesbrock said. “Meet was awesome.”
In the 50-meter breaststroke, Gordon finished fourth behind the only two Sedona swimmers to travel to the meet, Zach Dana and winner Andrew Tate. Gordon also came up short to Tate by less than four-and-a-half seconds total in the 50-meter butterfly and freestyle, as well as the 100-meter individual medley.
Xander Warner, 7, whose older sister, Emma, also swims for the Sedona Swordfish, impressed Wesbrock in her first meet. As did Logan Newell, who finished fourth in a mixed 100-meter freestyle relay with 8-year-old teammates Danielle Ihrman, Quinn Wright and Trezise’s little brother, Avery.
Even Wesbrock’s 5-year-old daughter, Gracie, scored in the 25-meter backstroke and freestyle for the Clippers.
“She’s our youngest kiddo,” Wesbrock said. “She swam all four strokes, got disqualified in two but that’s part of the process. It’s great to see our kids coming together so well.”
