Mingus Union boys and girls swim took a 1-1 record at Thursday’s dual meet against Prescott and Wickenburg, which included an incredibly competitive down-to-the-wire matchup with the Prescott Badgers.
Mingus was dominant against Wickenburg in all three matchups. The Marauders boys defeated the Wranglers 69-19, while the girls conquered them 79-10, for a combined score of 148-29.
“I’m satisfied,” junior Sean Hoggard said. “It’s still early in the season. We still got time to train and learn from our mistakes and get better at what we do.”
The matchup against Prescott was about as even as it gets. The Marauders held on for a razor-thin 48-46 win. The girls fell in another tight matchup 51-43, giving Prescott the close combined win with a 97-91 score.
“It was great competition,” Mingus head coach Gretchen Wesbrock said. “We’ve gone back-and-forth with Prescott over my time coaching here so it was awesome. We had some phenomenal times and a lot of time drops. The dual meets were great because they’re about school spirit and they’re about racing.”
The racing was intensely competitive. In what was perhaps the highlight race of the day, Mingus freshman Witten Armstrong scraped out the narrowest of victories in the boys 100-yard butterfly. He edged-out Prescotts’ Micah Buettner by just .6 of a second for a time of 1:03.25.
Despite winning the closest race of the day, Armstrong had no idea what happened until he touched the finish line.
“Right when I looked at the times, I’m like ‘oh wow,’” Armstrong said. “Overall I felt good.”
Armstrong also contributedto a huge win in the boys 200-yard freestyle relay in which Mingus won with a time of 1:43.87, swam by senior Landon Trezise, Armstrong, Hoggard and junior Hunter Cowgill. The Marauders’ second team placed third in the same race of four teams at 1:48.79.
“When one guy’s going fast we’re all going fast,” said Hoggard, who raced third in the relay and set personal-best times in all of his events. “It’s that collective sort of idea of improvement. We all get better.”
The Mingus girls earned a win in the 200-yard freestyle as well with a team time of 1:51.00. Junior Alessandra Kozlowski, senior Brooke Peterson, freshman Kenzie Fangman and senior Jade Bach combined for the effort with a blazing-fast time.
“It’s fun watching my senior girls,” Wesbrock said. “Brooke [Peterson] and Jade [Bach], they both [set personal bests] and it’s fun to see that this early in the season, and they’re excited. And I’m excited for them.”
Despite the superb team showing, personal bests are what each swimmer and coach latches onto most. And considering the scores, coach Wesbrock and the team were more than satisfied with the results.
“One of my captains walked up to me today and said ‘coach, I don’t care if we win or lose. Everyone has done so well,’” Wesbrock said. “I think that’s absolutely right.”
