Marauders swimmers came away with some hardware from the Arizona Interscholastic Association Division III state meet on Saturday, Nov. 4, at Phoenix Country Day School’s Dady Aquatic Center.
The boys 200-yard freestyle relay was Mingus Union High School’s lone state champion, with senior Gunner Tillemans taking second in the 50-yard freestyle in school record-breaking time, 22.05 seconds. Tillemans was also third in the 100-yard freestyle, blazing another school record in the preliminaries on Friday, Nov. 3, in 48.05 seconds to take the top qualifying spot.
In the finals, he finished in 48.88 seconds. In total, the boys broke five school records.
Junior Fletch Fangman broke an eight-year-old school record in the 100-yard butterfly during preliminaries in 55.93, and was a hair slower in the A final to take eighth [56.17 seconds].
In addition to Tillemans and Fangman, sophomore Andrew Peterson and junior Dallin Gordon combined to win the state title in the 200 freestyle relay, in 1:32.60. It was another school record.
Peterson, along with junior Casner Wessel-Dudley, sophomore Joseph Calhoon and sophomore Luke Ritter, formed the 200-yard medley relay that took 14th overall in 2:07.12.
Gordon took 12th in the 200-yard freestyle, dropping time from his preliminary race that qualified him 13th. He was also 12th in the 500-yard freestyle despite adding nearly three and a half seconds from his prelim time.
Fangman came back in the 100-yard breaststroke, winning the B final for ninth overall in 1:05.97. Finally, the same four who raced in the 200 freestyle relay took fourth in the 400-yard freestyle relay [3:27.78], breaking an 11-year-old school record.
On the girls side, none of the three Marauders who swam individual events qualified for an A final, but did reach the B final in multiple events.
Sophomore Zoey Arwine took 12th overall in the 100 butterfly in 1:03.53, dropping almost two seconds from her prelim time in the finals. Arwine was the second alternate in the 50 freestyle.
Junior Rylie Burke went faster in her two finals races, in the 50 and 100 freestyle. In the 50, Burke took 11th, outtouched by Sedona Red Rock High School junior Zoe Porteous by one-onehundreth of a second [26.04].
Burke was 10th in the 100, finishing in 56.42 seconds, more than a one-second time drop from the prelims.
Sophomore Emma Warner was 11th in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 breaststroke. Warner improved on her 12th-place qualifying time of 2:28.26, going 2:27.79 in the final of the 200 individual medley. In the breaststroke, she went 1:13.59.
Arwine, Burke, Warner and senior Emily Grasso swam in the A final of the 400 freestyle relay and 200 freestyle relay. In the former, they took fifth overall in 3:58.52, while they were eighth in the latter [1:48.40].
The 200-yard medley relay was formed by Grasso, freshmen Charlie Green and Tiana Lodico and sophomore Emma Mohr. They took 15th in 2:23.05.
Sprint freestyle was the Marauders’ strength during the year, but will face a heavy loss in Tillemans. With only three departing seniors, the team will be in position for another strong season in 2018.
The boys team scored 139 points for fourth overall, while the girls were 10th with 84 points.
