Local swim teams make a splash at state meet

In its inaugural season, the Yuma Catholic girls swim team place 8th at the AIA state DIII meet

YUMA, Ariz. ( KECY-KYMA-TV ) - In Yuma Catholic's debut season for girls swimming led by head coach Myriah Frabasilio, the Lady Shamrocks made an immediate splash. Yuma Catholic added to their remarkable season at the AIA DIII state meet by setting multiple personal and team records.

The Lady Shamrocks placed 8th overall with only four girls at the state meet. Team members include freshmen Ryan Webb, Rylee Doak, Raegyn Doak and senior Olivia Jones.

 

The Lady Shamrocks placed eighth overall in the 200 yard medley relay and ninth in the 400-freestyle relay out of 33 teams.

Individually, Ryan Webb took 2^nd place in her 50 free and 4^th place in her 100 back. Raegyn Doak placed 7^th in both her 200 IM and 500 free. Rylee Doak placed 8^th in her 500 free and 11^th in her 200 free. 

Congratulations are also in order for the Kofa boys and girls swim teams for their success this past weekend at the State Championships. 

"The season plan worked well and came to a great conclusion this year," Kofa head coach Bill Packham said. "The kids all dropped time at the end of the season, and there were some personal and relay bests at state.  This is the most swimmers that have been to state from Kofa in several years." 

David Nye came 8th in state for the 50 free and 10th place in the 100 fly.  Kieran Paxton finished 5th in 50 free.  Jacob Rouff finished 17th in the 200 IM.  

"Our relay teams were successful as well," Packham said.

  The girl's 200-meter freestyle finished 17th, which includes Elena Packham, Matteah Wilkins, Itzyana Huskey, and Kieran Paxton.  

The girls 200 meter medley (finished 21st) and 200 freestyle (finished 17th) relay team (So. Elena Packham,  Jr. Matteah Wilkins, Sr. Itzyana Huskey, Sr. Kieran Paxton). 4x100 girls relay (So. Elena Packham,  Jr. Matteah Wilkins, Sr. Itzyana Huskey, So. Reagan Simpson)
The boys 200 meter medley (finished 21st) and 200 freestyle (finished 20th) relay team (Jr David Nye, Jr. Jacob Rouff, So. Jayven Wynn and Sr. Jack Wilkins).  4x100  boys relay (Sr. Ivan Lee, So. Jayven Wynn, Jr. Edgar Rodriguez and Sr. Jack Wilkins)

"Deciding factor," Packham said. " The weather was great, the kids had a good taper week. The competition was amazing." 

Cibola also had a nice showing at the state meet with some records falling on the boys side.

"The boys swam so well today," Head coach Mark Dusek said. "I can’t say enough about their effort and attitudes they displayed today. It was night and day from yesterday! There is so much talent at this level and to have our boys be right there with the other swimmers is amazing. Next year will be even better as all of the boys we brought to state are coming back! We’re proud of all of our kids and excited to see their continued growth!

Boys top performers:

200 yard medley relay - Ryan Dusek, Ethan Jantzi, Gavin Logan, Jesse Malmquist - Fourth place. Received a medal. 1:37.95 (new school record). 

200 freestyle - 6th place - Gavin Logan - 1:42.87 (school record). 

50 freestyle - 7th place - Jesse Malmquist - 22.09

100 Freestyle- 15th place - Nicolas Acero - 49.63

500 yard Freestyle- 9th place- Gavin Logan - 4:41.74 (new school record). 

100 yard backstroke - 9th place - Jesse Malmquist - 54.69

100 yard breaststroke – 13th place - Ethan Jantzi- 1:01.24

"The boys finished ninth out of 31 teams," Dusek said. "We only brought eight boys, and only five swam for points today. That says a lot about the talent we have on this team! We also had an unfortunate DQ yesterday ( Friday ) in one of our relays so we would have finished higher had that not happened."

Girls top performers:

Girls 200 yard medley relay - Lilly Nguyen, Miah Duarte-Olivas, Emma Jantzi, Behnaz Miller - 15th 1:58.49

Miah Duarte-Olivas - 10th in 100 Breaststroke. 1:08.17

"The girls finished 24th out of 28 teams," Dusek said. "The girls ended on the highest note they could have. We had two girls (Duarte-Olivas and Nguyen) who were also alternates for the finals by fractions of a second. We joke if their nails were longer they’d be in the finals, but no one on our team should hang their heads. We swam well all season! There are future Olympians in our division who the girls swam against. They weren’t intimidated and we’re just very proud of them."