Cottonwood Colts boys swimmers finish second, girls fourth at state meet
Feb 27, 2019 03:54PM ● By Brian ShawStock photo. The Cottonwood swim teams finish in the top five at state. (Pixabay)
By Brian Shaw | [email protected]
Last year, the Cottonwood Colts boys swim team took second at the Utah 5A state swimming championships.
Fast forward to 2019 and the Colts did the same thing, finishing just behind their region rival Brighton for the second straight year.
Cottonwood was led by senior Blayze Kimble—more on him in the adjoining profile here at the City Journals.
The Colts boys were able to keep things close to Brighton thanks in large part to victories in both the 200-medley relay and the 400-freestyle relay.
In the first team event, Cottonwood edged Skyline's four-man team by just .21 of a second to take the 200-medley relay gold medal.
On that team, Chase Dailey swam first, followed by the senior Kimble—then Martin Anders and Aidan Salisbury rounded out the Colts' winning foursome. It was also the Colts first 200 medley victory in three years making the taste all the more satisfying.
In the 400-freestyle relay, Cottonwood led off the race with Chase's brother Colin Dailey—followed by Chase.
Jacob Ricci swam third, leaving Kimble to swim the anchor leg in the hopes of pulling off a repeat performance (the Colts also took home the gold in the 400 free last year).
What really helped Cottonwood this year, however—in addition to Kimble and company’s heroics in the pool—were some surprise performances individually.
Everyone who follows swimming knows Kimble was in search of an historic three-peat at this year's 5A state championships in two individual events, namely the 200-individual medley and 100 breaststroke.
But, Colt swimmer Martin Anders surprised many by winning the 100 butterfly in spite of only turning in the 10th best time in Class 5A in events leading up to the state tournament.
Colin Dailey nearly pulled off his own shocker, finishing second in the 100 freestyle despite not having a top 20 time in Class 5A all season long. He also finished fifth in the 500 free.
In all, it was a total team effort for Cottonwood, whose team totals in points this year eclipsed that of even last year's state title-winning boys squad.
On the girls side, the 2019 5A state championships weren't as kind to a Cottonwood team that lost legendary swimmer Rhyan White to graduation in May 2018.
White is now swimming and diving at Alabama for the Crimson Tide. As for the Colts at state, they finished fourth overall—a far cry from the team title they hoisted in 2018.
That said, the Colts ladies turned in some nice individual performances. Emma Walker won a title in the 100 breaststroke and finished second in the 200 IM.
Jessica Loyd finished third in the 200 free and came in second place in the 500 free. Madison Cutler took home a second place finish in the 100 butterfly and Quinn Stephenson finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke.
As a team, the Colts finished second in the 400-medley relay. But, with a young team that will only gain experience from this year's event, look for Cottonwood to contend yet again at next year's state swimming championships.