Evan Apuron secures a state championship for San Manuel in the Men’s Butterfly. This is the first state title for San Manuel. Photo by Vince Apuron
The Division III High School State Championship Swim Meet was held at the Phoenix Country Day Aquatic Center in Paradise Valley on Nov. 2-3. The Miners qualified three swimmers in individual events and a relay team for the meet.
Preliminaries were held on Friday afternoon to determine who would advance to the Finals on Saturday afternoon.
Senior Darien Apuron advanced to the Championship Finals (1st– 8th) in the 100 Butterfly and Consolation Finals (9th -16th) in the 100 Backstroke with great races. In Finals, Darien swam a very fast time of 1:01.68 in the Fly to finish in 5th Place. Darien went on to finish in 13th place in the Backstroke with a time of 1:05.65. Darien accounted for all 18 of the Miner Girls Team points, good enough to place the team in 24th place (out of 60 teams in Division III).
Senior Michael Primero-Predgo swam a School Record time of 23.47 in Prelims of the 50 Freestyle to advance to the Consolation Finals. His 100 Freestyle also qualified for the Consolation Finals. Michael went even faster in finals, improving his School Record mark to 23.36 on his way to a 13th place finish. His time of 52.08 in the 100 Freestyle finals was a season best that earned him 14th place.
Michael Primero-Predgo (Photo by Apuron Photography)
Sophomore Evan Apuron advanced to the Championship Finals in both the 100 Butterfly and 100 Breaststroke with tremendous swims on Friday. On Saturday, Evan became State Champion in the 100 Butterfly, winning with a time of 51.13 (a School Record). In the 100 Breaststroke, Evan broke the 1 minute barrier with a time of 59.95 to finish in 3rd place.
Senior Daniel Garcia and Freshman Hunter Hill joined Evan and Michael on the 200 Freestyle Relay team and advanced to the Consolation Finals. With a season best time of 1:39.38, the Miner Relay finished 13th with great mix of experience, youth and age. Daniel began swimming just over two years ago, and is the perfect example of how far someone can go in the sport of swimming with hard work and dedication. Hunter made an immediate impact on the team as a Freshman and gained some valuable experience for the future. Michael came through as a senior when his team needed him most. Evan works hard all year to be the best, and with two years of High School Swimming still ahead of him, he has a very bright future.
The San Manuel Boys 200 Free Relay Team (Photo by Apuron Photography)
The Miner Boys earned 49 points as a team to finish in 18th place (out of 61 teams in Division III).
Coach Alex Gort was delighted with the Team’s performance at the meet
“Having Evan become the first Miner Swimmer to be crowned as State Champion was a very special moment,” the coach said. “On top of that, every Miner Swimmer achieved swimming milestones. Darien earned her first top 8 State finish, Michael got to swim in Finals of both his individual events, and Evan broke a minute in the Breaststroke. Having Hunter and Daniel on a relay team at State was a great way to end another successful season of Miner’s Swimming.”
Congratulations to all our swimmers on a fantastic season.
Darian Apuron (Photo by Apuron Photography)