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Michael Primero swims in the 200 IM. Photo by Elyssia Aguilar SMHS
The Miner Swimmers hosted Arizona College Preparatory School on Thursday September 8. The Girls team scores were: Arizona College Prep 98 – San Manuel 69. The Boys scores were: Arizona College Prep 135 – San Manuel 35.
The much larger Arizona College Prep team was large enough to put the maximum number of swimmers in each event against the small Miner team, so the outcome of the meet was never really in question from the time the visiting team got off the bus. The Miners were swimming to win races and improve times.
Colbey Stratton swims the breast stroke. Photo by Elyssia Aguilar, SMHS
Wins were tough to find for the Boys. It was not until after the break Senior Michael Garcia won the 100 Butterfly. The only other win for the Boys Team was Senior Colbey Stratton winning the 100 Freestyle.
Darien Apuron swims the backstroke. Photo by Jayme Moore, SMHS
The Miner Girls did not back down and came out winning all 4 races before the break. The Medley Relay team of Freshman BaiLee Hill, Sophomore Gianna Sweeney, Sophomore Darien Apuron, and Junior Raya Woods won by a considerable margin. With very little rest between events, Raya Woods paced herself perfectly and came from behind to win the 200 Freestyle. Gianna Sweeney dominated the competition in the 200 Individual Medley to win by almost 30 seconds. In the always close 50 Freestyle, Sophomore Jasmine Smith was able to get her hand on the wall first for the win. At the break, the Miners were up 31-29, and it was looking like they may be able to pull of the impossible win. To start off the second half of the meet, Darien Apuron won the 100 Butterfly, Gianna Sweeney won the 100 Freestyle, and Raya Woods won the 500 Freestyle. Since the top 5 places are scored, even though the Miners won the first 7 races, they found themselves down by a few points because of the great depth of the Arizona College Prep team. Darien Apuron won the 100 Backstroke which was the only Miner win in the final four events.
Raya Woods was named Dynamite Swimmer of the Meet. Her come from behind victory in the 200 Freestyle and outstanding swim in the grueling 500 Freestyle earned the respect of her teammates.
Despite the scores, the coaches were optimistic about the results. Miner swimmers had many personal best times and swimmers showed that they are good enough to compete with anyone.
Miner swimmers will travel to Florence on Thursday, Sept. 15, for a meet against Florence High School beginning at 4 p.m.
Michael Primero swims the Butterfly in the 200 IM. Photo by Elyssia Aguilar, SMHS
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