Senior Darien Apuron (Photo Courtesy Apuron Photography)
Miner Swimmers competed in the Red Wolf Relay Meet at the Sahuarita Aquatic Center on Saturday, Sept. 22. Most of the events at the meet were Relays. Two individual events were held – the 200 Individual Medley (IM) and the 500 Freestyle. An Automatic Time system was used that allowed lead off swimmers on each relay to qualify for the State Championship Meet if a fast enough time was achieved. San Manuel, along with Douglas, Walden Grove, Sahuarita, The Gregory School and Tanque Verde High Schools were the six teams that competed at the meet. The San Manuel Boys finished in 5th place with 142 points, and the Girls finished in 2nd place (behind Tanque Verde HS) with 211 points.
Miner Swimmers won 4 events at the meet. The Girls 4 x 100 Medley Relay team of Darien Apuron, Star Chavez, BaiLee Hill, and Jasmine Smith won with a time of 5:45.35. Each swimmer swam at or near their fastest time of the season to hold off a good Douglas team. Darien’s lead off time on the Backstroke Leg (100 Backstroke) was a 1:06.34 which is a school record (bettering her own record of 1:06.81 set Sept. 6) and has earned her a #2 ranking on the State Division III Leaderboard for the 100 Backstroke.
The Boys won the 4 x 100 Butterfly Relay. The team of Evan Apuron, Jayden Smith, Hunter Hill, and Daniel Garcia won with a time of 5:23.20. Evan’s lead off split time of 53.38 broke a School Record (53.81) set by Will Newman in 2015. Evan’s time has earned him the #1 ranking on the State Division III Leaderboard for the 100 Butterfly.
Darien won the 500 Freestyle in decisive fashion with a very good time of 5:52.77. She took an early lead and extended it as the race went on to win by more than 18 seconds.
Evan won the 200 IM, also by a large margin, with a sizzling time of 2:04. 07. He won by 16 seconds against a very competitive field.
“I have always believed being successful requires grit. The Miners showed plenty of it at the meet.” Coach Alex Gort said. “The Girls 4 x 100 Medley Relay showed we can compete with anyone in all four strokes. It is a proud moment for a school of our size to have a Boys 4 x 100 Butterfly Relay that can swim like they did. Watching those boys dig deep on the last 25 yards of each leg was truly the definition of grit.”
Miner Swimmers will travel to Coolidge on Thursday, Sept. 27, to swim against Coolidge High School and Cholla High School. The meet begins at 4 p.m.