The Mingus Union High School boys and girls swim teams gave themselves a high boost of confidence with state qualifying times and shattering personal records when they competed in the 24th annual Brophy/Xavier Invitational Swim Meet on Saturday, Sept. 29, in Phoenix.
This invitational was the first of three state qualification meets MUHS is participating in this season and took place at the Phoenix Swim Club pool where Arizona’s Olympians train. It was open to any Arizona high school swim team, and over 40 schools participated, including big Division I schools who are powerhouses in the pool.
The Marauders went head-to-head with some top-flight competition, and came out with a total of 11 provisional qualifying times in the 22 events, with three girls and two boys swimming provisional qualifying times individually and all six relay teams swimming provisional qualifying times. This means that they are more than on the right track for the state competition.
“There were a lot of schools, so a lot of pressure,” senior swimmer Ryan Adams said. “But our team does really well under pressure.”
The swimmers also came out with 33 personal records: five in relays and 28 individually.
“Every major team in the state was represented, and it was an intimidating environment,” Assistant Coach Tyler Novak said. “But our kids took full advantage of that and dropped times everywhere.”
“The boys and girls relay teams started the day with qualifying times in the first events and ended the day with qualifying times in the last events,” Head Coach Brendon Kenney said. “So it was an all-around good day for us. We had the best times across the board.”
The girls relay team members are Leah Mount, Monica Soliz, Shannon Knowles, Emily Dorris and Taylor Helgeson.
The boys relay team includes Sean Williams, Ryan Adams, Dylan Wilber and Caleb Furey.
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Oct. 3, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
