Mingus Union High School swimmers Gunner Tillemans and Sean Williams were the best of five Cottonwood Clippers high-points finishers Saturday, June 13, at the Bullhead City Invitational.
Tillemans, 14, and Williams, 17 — who will be a sophomore and senior, respectively, when they return to swim at MUHS in the fall — earned the highest amount of points among boys in their age groups out of a total of 288 swimmers.
Cottonwood swimmers Zoey Arwine, 12, and Rylie Burke, 14, also placed among the top three high-points finishers in their age groups as the Clippers placed fourth out of six teams in Bullhead City.
Their finish was a bold start to a summer season kicked off by 50 Clippers swimmers Thursday, June 11, with an unscored, “really fun” meet at a longer course pool in Anthem, head coach Daniel Nevarez said.
“The younger kids like the longer pool,” he said. “All the kids have been working hard in a season that started earlier than normal.”
Tillemans beat all other swimmers in his age group in five events, taking the 100-meter individual medley in 1:10.27 and was the only swimmer in his age group to finish the 50-meter butterfly in under 30 seconds.
He also swam the 13- and 14-year-old 50-meter freestyle in 00:26.87 and the 50-meter breaststroke in 00:39.19, winning both heats, and was the only swimmer in his age group to post a sub-40-second time in the 50-meter backstroke.
“He did a fantastic job,” Nevarez said. “He broke three pool records. All of the kids went above and beyond for three-and-half-hours in the scorching heat.”
For more photos and the full story, please see the Wednesday, June 17, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
