The Long Course Arizona Senior State Championship Swim Meet was held July 26-29 at Phoenix Country Day School. Darien and Evan Apuron both qualified and participated at the meet. Senior State is open to swimmers of any age that achieve the very tough qualifying times. Over 500 Swimmers participated at the meet. Many of the top spots are filled with college-aged swimmers. The Championship meet format holds preliminaries in the mornings with the fastest 24 swimmers advancing to the finals in the evening.
Darien Apuron (photo courtesy of Apuron Photography)
This was the fourth time that Darien Apuron (17) competed in Senior State. Darien swam her best time in the 100 Meter Butterfly (1:11.50) to finish in 79th place and improve her own team record. Darien also competed in the 400 Meter Individual Medley (IM). The 400 IM is the grueling all-around event, which competitors swim 100 Meters of the each of the 4 competitive strokes (Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Freestyle). To be good at the 400 IM, swimmers must be good at all the strokes and have the endurance to complete the long race. Darien achieved a personal best time of 6:00.49, which is also new team record, on her way to a 50th place finish.
Evan Apuron (photo courtesy of Apuron Photography)
As a 15 year old, Evan Apuron was one of the youngest male swimmers at the meet. Knowing how hard it is to qualify for finals, Coach Alex Gort put him in his best 6 events (the max allowed), hoping he would find a way to earn a spot in the finals in some of the events. During his first morning of competition, he had an exhausting race schedule, but found a way to earn spots in the finals of all three of his events (100 Meter Breaststroke, 100 Meter Butterfly, and 400 Meter IM). In finals on the first evening, Evan finished in 15th place in the 100 Breaststroke (1:10.30), 23rd place in the 100 Butterfly (59.10) and 13th place in the 400 IM (5:01.65).
Since the top 16 places score points, the Sea Lions achieved another new milestone for the team – scoring points at the Senior State Championship.
Evan went on to continue the weekend with excellent results. He finished 18th in the 200 Meter Butterfly (2:16.93), 23rd in the 200 Meter Breaststroke (2:38.63) and 11th in the 200 Meter IM (2:15.21). Evan’s times were good enough to break team records in every event he swam. He broke records previously held by Colbey Stratton and Andres Valenzuela as well as bettered some records he already held.
The Sea Lions finished the meet with 12 points which was good enough to put them in them 21st place in the final standings (out of 41 teams in Arizona).
Coach Alex summarized the meet.
“I am very proud of how Darien and Evan swam at the meet. Darien had a great meet; she achieved personal best times in both her races and moved up several places from where she was seeded. Evan had an exceptional meet, earning a spot in the finals in every event he swam. To perform well while swimming an exhausting schedule in the very hot weather, Evan showed a lot of character and grit. This was a good experience for Evan and will help him swim his best in future Championship Meets.”
Sea Lions practice at the Mammoth Pool between 4:30 and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Anyone interested in joining the swim team is welcome to stop by the pool, check the website sealionsswimteam.com or call Alex or Wendy Gort at 896-2190. All ages and abilities are welcome.