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Darien Apuron – Fly leg of the 400 I.M. Apuron Photography
The Arizona Senior State Championship Swim Meet was held March 3-6 at the Southwest YMCA Pool in Goodyear, Arizona. To swim at the meet, swimmers must achieve qualifying times at a USA Swimming Sanctioned Meet. The meet brings the best swimmers of any age to the Championship meet format which holds preliminaries in the mornings with the fastest 24 swimmers advancing to the finals in the evening.
Four San Manuel swimmers competed in the meet. Darien Apuron (14), Gianna Sweeney (14), Will Newman (16) and Jacob Christian (17) completed in the meet representing 3 different swim clubs.
This was the first time that Darien Apuron attended the Senior State Championship Meet and she was the first swimmer to represent the San Manuel Sea Lion Swim Team at the meet. She swam some of the toughest events, achieving a personal best time in the 400 Individual Medley (IM) to place 84th, survived a tough 200 Butterfly to finish in 77th place, and improved her best time by over 30 seconds in the 1650 Freestyle for a time of 19:49.3 and a 31st place finish.
Swimmers from San Manuel all started as Summer Sea Lions, Gianna Sweeney (F.A.S.T) – Will Newman (T.J.C.C) – Darien Apuron the 1st Sea Lion to compete at Senior State. Not Pictured Jacob Christian (F.A.S.T) Apuron Photography
This was the first time attending the meet for Gianna Sweeney and Jacob Christian who represented the Flying Fish Arizona Swim Team (FAST) from Oro Valley. Sweeney swam personal best times in nearly every race which included the 1000 Freestyle (55th place), 200 Breaststroke (65th place), 100 Breaststroke (55th place) and was a member of three FAST relay teams – the 200 Free Relay (17th place), the 200 Medley Relay (24th place), and the 400 Free Relay (22nd place). Christian swam the 500 Freestyle to a personal best time of 5:12.73 to place 70th. Christian was also a member of the FAST 400 Free Relay that finished in 17th place and achieved a Sectional Championship Qualifying time.
Will Newman swims with the Tucson Jewish Community Center (TJCC) swim team and has attended Senior State in previous years. This year he had a grueling schedule, swimming the maximum allowed 6 individual events. Newman swam the 1000 Freestyle (30th place), 200 Breaststroke (51st place), 100 Butterfly (26th place), 500 Free (64th place), 400 IM (32nd place) and the 200 Backstroke (13th place). Additionally, Newman swam on TJCC Relays – the 200 Free Relay (13th place), the 200 Medley Relay(9th place),the 400 Free Relay (28th place) and the 800 Free Relay (15th). Newman had already qualified for Sectionals in the 100 and 200 Butterfly and added the 200 Backstroke, along with 3 Relays.
The Sectional Championship Meet will be held at University of Texas in Austin on March 31 – April 3. The meet is for swimmers in the Four Corners Section (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah) of the Western Zone that meet the Qualifying Time Standards. Will Newman and Jacob Christian will be the first swimmers from San Manuel to attend this meet.
Even though three USA Swimming Clubs are represented by the swimmers who attended the Senior State Championships, all four swimmers got their first taste of competitive swimming as a Sea Lion, participating in San Manuel‘s summer swimming program put on by Community Schools. Registration for the summer swim team in San Manuel will begin in a couple of weeks. Check the Sea Lion website (sealionsswimteam.com) or contact Alex Gort for more information at 896-2190.
There are news or informational items frequently written by staff or submitted to the Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner, Superior Sun, Pinal Nugget or Oracle Towne Crier for inclusion in our print or digital products. These items are not credited with an author.
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