Zoey Arwine, 11, broke sister Hannah’s 50-yard team butterfly record as 21 swimmers finished in the top three of their age groups to lead the Cottonwood Clippers to a big win Saturday, July 26, at the Verde Valley Invitational.
Mingus Union High School swimmers Sean Williams and Gunner Tillemans positioned themselves for a big fall with the Marauders boys swim team, each scoring 80 points to capture high-points awards in the 13- to 14-year-old and 15- to 18-year-old age groups, respectively.
Tillemans already has Clippers assistant coach Monica Soliz and junior Caleb Furey excited about the prospects.
“Caleb Furey, Sean Williams, I know they’re stoked about it,” Soliz said. “He could swim the 100 free, 100 fly just like Sean. He was usually on the relay teams and would do really well in those events.”
“Gunner and Sean took it [to] the next level,” Clippers head coach Daniel Nevarez agreed. “Everyone did great but a few that caught my eye throughout the day were Evan Doerksen, Gary Rogers and Luke Fangman.”
Fangman won the 50-yard breaststroke and finished second in the 100-yard individual medley among all 9- and 10-year-olds at the invitational, while fellow 9-year-old Doerksen finished runner-up in the 50-yard butterfly and third in three other events.
Although Rogers swam the 50-yard breaststroke in just over 43 seconds to finish second, he “had the best race of the whole meet,” Nevarez said.
On the opposite end of the experience pole, Taylor Delaney, 8, also scored 80 points to take high-points honors in the age group for girls 8 years old and under. 7-year-old Grayson Edwards had 71 points on the boys’ side to sweep the age group.
Rylie Burke, 13, won three events to get high points in the girls 13- to 14-year-old age group, winning the 50-yard freestyle by breaking the 30-second mark for the first time.
For the full story, please see the Wednesday, July 30, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
