On Friday, Nov. 8, the Carbon High School swim team kicked off their season with their first meet of the year. The Dinos hosted Spanish Fork and Payson.
Carbon beat region rival Payson, but fell short to the region 4A Spanish Fork team. Spanish Fork has a much larger squad than the region 3A teams.
“Before this season started I was a little worried. We lost 20 swimmers from last season and I only knew of a few freshman that were coming in,” said Carbon swim coach Kamera Davis. “I was shocked to see the number of swimmers I ended up with. Some knew how to swim a little and some we have started from scratch with. All these swimmers have worked hard to learn and I am looking forward to a fun season.”
In the opening event, the Carbon teams placed second in the 200 medley relay for both girls and boys. The girls posted a time of 2:12.25. Brittney Willson, Sadie Crompton, Lauren Engar and Ali Heath each swam for Carbon. The boys team, comprised of Joseph Keller, Gabe VanDyke, Ryan Atwood and Joel Garff finished with a time of 2:02.35.
For the girl’s squad, Veronica Ibanez finished second in the 200 free with a time of 2:22.84. In the girls 200 Individual medley, Engar dropped seven seconds from last season, finishing third with a time of 2:41.20.
In the 100 butterfly, Ibanez finished first with a time of 1:14.08 and Engar took seven seconds off her time from last season, with a time of 1:16.65. Girls 100 free was very close with the top two finishers only two tenths of a second apart. Willson with the Carbon Dinos, narrowly defeated a Spanish Fork swimmer for the first place finish. Willson completed the race with a time of 1:03.26. Crompton finished the same event in fourth place with a time of 1:11.77.
The girls 50 free had Willson post her best time and finish second with a 28.74. Heath also posted her best time of 30.02 and finished in third place.
In the longest event of the night, the 500 free, Heath took second place with a time of 7:21.83 In the girls 200 backstroke, Susannah Ohlwiler beat her time from last season and finished in 1:21.91, taking second place.
For the Carbon boy’s squad, the 200 Individual medley was a very close and intense race. Garff finished first with a time of 2:29.08 and Keller placed second with a time of 2:29.58.
In the boys 100 breaststroke, Atwood posted his best time of 27.44 and finished in second place. This is the first season for Kaden Earl who finished fourth with an impressive time of 28.35 in the 50 free.
The 100 free was a photo finish with Garff posting a time of 54.60. He out touched his competitor by three tenths of a second. Earl finished in fourth place with a time of 1:06.29.
First time Carbon swimmer, Garrett Marsing took second with at time of 1:24.31 in the 100 breaststroke. Atwood took second in the 500 free with a time of 7:08.29.
Both the girls and boys 200 free relay teams garnered second place at the home meet. The girl’s team was comprised of Heidi Prettyman, Tati Larsen, Crompton and Ibanez. The boys team included Harry Torgerson, Connor Holyoack, VanDyke and Marsing.
In the final event of the night, both Carbon girls and boys placed second in the 400 free relay. The girls team comprised of Ibanez, Engar, Heath and Willson finished with a 4:23.64. The Carbon boys team included Keller, Atwood, Earl and Garff with a 4:09.26 finish.
“We are a young team with a lot of potential,” explained coach Davis. “I am looking forward to seeing how fast these times drop by the end of the season. Our next meet will be in Cedar City Nov. 15 -16. Our next home meet will be Dec. 10.”
