Members of the Grand County Swim team displayed confidence, competence and substantial improvements at a home meet Friday, Nov. 15 at the Moab Recreation and Aquatic Center. Gunnison Valley, Hurricane, Richfield participated in the meet.
“Everybody had a great day. It was a good swim all around,” coach Brian Pierce said after the meet.
Pat Pakkarato led the way and took first in the boys 200-yard individual medley, and the 100-yard fly, which he came from behind to win. Camron Stotz picked up first in the 500-yard free; Stryder Young scored second place in that event. Stotz also took second in the 200-yard freestyle. Ricky Shumway took fourth in the 200-yard freestyle.
Brendan Moore won first in the 100-yard breaststroke. Arthur Hawks took second place in the 100-yard backstroke and missed out on a first place finish by a fraction of a second.
As a team, Moore, Pakkarato, Hawks and Stryder Young took first place in the 100-yard and bested the second place finisher by more than 12 seconds.
Second place in the girls breaststroke went to Kyla Jackman. Zoe Warren won third place in the 50-yard freestyle. Aly Bertoch placed fifth in the 100-yard freestyle; Mallory Maughan placed eighth in that event.
In team action, Warren, Bertoch, Kiersten Kimmerle and Josie Wakefield worked hard to win second in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Warren chugged away and narrowly fended off a swimmer from Richfield, which brought the raucous crowd alive.
Julia Crane swam the 50-yard and the 100-yard freestyle for the Red Devils and beat both of her seed times. Meeker Relph dropped her time in the 50-yard by more than two seconds. Brayden Larsen and Conor Duniway both shaved time off their 100-yard freestyle scores. According to Pierce, 26 new personal records were broken on Friday.
The Red Devils swim team is scheduled to attend a meet at Carbon High School in Price on Tuesday, Nov. 26.