Cedar High girls, Crimson Cliffs boys win Region 10 swimming championships

Written by Jeff Richards
January 30, 2023

WASHINGTON CITY — The Cedar High girls and the Crimson Cliffs boys teams claimed Region 10 swimming championships over the weekend.

Swimmers compete in Region 10 championship meet, Washington City, Utah, Jan. 27, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

In the two-day meet staged on Friday and Saturday at the Washington City Community Center, Cedar and Crimson claimed the top two spots in both the girls and boys meets, with each school edging the other by just a few points.

The Cedar girls finished with 391.5 team points, while runner-up Crimson Cliffs finished with 390.

“Every race mattered,” said Cedar head coach Megan Moses. “All of our swimmers worked so hard. We had some JV swimmers stepping up and scoring points for the team also.”

Meanwhile, the boys championship was decided by just five points, with Crimson Cliffs scoring 416 points to Cedar’s 411. Crimson head coach Mary Ellen Cox said that she and assistant coach Braiden Hustead were proud of the Mustang boys for winning their second-straight region crown.

“We are proud of them for swimming their best and pulling off another win with such a close margin of points,” Cox told St. George News. “All the swimmers on our team should be proud of what they accomplished.”

Following are highlights from the various individual and relay events, focusing on the top-three finishers:

Girls

Cedar’s Aspen Simper won both of her individual events, taking first in both the 200 freestyle and the 500 free. She set personal bests in both races, cutting 3.64 seconds in the 200 free, finishing in 2:01.66 and dropping 8.09 seconds in the 500 free to finish in 5:28.14.

Swimmers compete in Region 10 championship meet, Washington City, Utah, Jan. 28, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

“I’m proud of Aspen achieving her goal of breaking her (personal record) in the 500,” Moses said of Simper, who is a senior. “She’s been talking about that for a while and has trained so hard to get to that point.”

Also placing first in region for both of their individual events were Pine View junior Sorina Rom, who won the 100 free and the 100 breaststroke, and Desert Hills freshman Chesney Bonner, who won the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke.

Rom’s winning time of 1:08.63 in the 100 breast was 1:08.63, a personal best by 0.42 seconds. Finishing second in that event was senior Emma Brown of Desert Hills, who finished in 1:13.46. Snow Canyon junior Bree Broadhead placed third in the 100 breast. The Thunder’s Brown also finished second in the 200-yard individual medley, a race that was won by Crimson Cliffs freshman Claire Daley in a time of 2:16.90. Taking third in the 200 IM was another freshman, McKenzie Mugleston of Snow Canyon.

Daley also placed second in the 100 free with a time of 56.37, while freshman Dylan Romprey took third in the 100 free with a time of 58.14.

Meanwhile, freshman Kate Walker of Crimson Cliffs won the 50 free in a time of 26.07. She also placed second to Bonner in the 100 fly. Bonner’s winning time in the butterfly race was 59.90 seconds, while Walker finished in 1:01.50. Dixie’s Brinley Greer took third in the 100 fly.

Coming in second in the 50 free was Cedar senior Sydney Selinger, who posted a time of 26.32, while third-place finisher Peyton Perry of Crimson Cliffs took third in 26.50. Selinger also took third in the 100 back. Bonner’s winning time in the 100 backstroke was a personal-best 59.76, while Cedar’s Oliva Price placed second in 1:02.36 and Selinger’s third-place time was 1:03.95.

Price, a junior, also posted a third-place finish in the 200 free, behind teammates Simper and Addison Taylor. Taylor also placed second in the 500 free, while senior Maddie Henry of Crimson Cliffs took third in the 500 free.

The Desert Hills girls won the 200 medley relay, while Cedar won the 200 free relay.

Then, in the last event of the meet, the third-seeded Crimson Cliffs Mustangs won the 4×100 freestyle relay, with Walker, Henry, Perry and Daley each clocking personal-best times on their respective legs to finish in 3:50.18, an improvement of 7.82 seconds. 

Desert Hills took second in that same 400 free relay, while Cedar placed third earning just enough to put them ahead of the Mustangs by 1.5 points in the final standings.

Boys

Josh Walker paced the Crimson Cliffs Mustangs to the region title by winning both of his individual events. Walker, a junior, took first in both the 200- and 100-yard freestyle races. Walker’s winning time in the 200 free was 1:46.77, while Dixie teammates David Leon-Moreno and Damon Erickson placed a respective second and third in that race. In the 100 free, Walker posted a winning time of 48.36, with Cedar’s Justin Granado taking second in 50.45 and Crimson’s Bronson Plumb taking third in 51.12.

Swimmers compete in Region 10 championship meet, Washington City, Utah, Jan. 27, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Dixie junior Andrew Carlile also won both of his individual events, taking first in the 50 free and the 100 fly. His time in the 50 free was 22.84 seconds, with Plumb taking second in 23.05 and Cedar’s James Smith placing third in 23.38. Carlile’s winning time in the 100 butterfly was 53.22, while Cedar senior Andrew Sagers placed second in 54.77, followed by Desert Hills freshman Solmun Pak, who took third in 56.24.

Later on Saturday, Pak won the 100 back in a time of 55.67, with Crimson’s Kala Cabana placing second in 57.34 and Cedar’s Granado taking third in 58.01.

Dixie’s Leon-Moreno, a junior, was the only swimmer to complete the 500 free in under five minutes, winning the race in 4:58.91 — a personal best by just over two seconds. Coming in second was Cedar’s Tanner Dodds, who finished in 5:02.78, while Troy Eggers of Desert Hills placed third in 5:06.63.

Eggers was also the winner of the 200-yard individual medley, posting a time of 2:04.14. He was followed closely by his runner-up teammate, Max Morley, who finished in 2:05.18. Cedar’s Dodds and Ashten Krans placed a respective third and fourth in the 200 IM.

Desert Hills sophomore Hunter Iverson won the 100 breast in a time of 1:03.71, while Cedar’s Krans took second in 1:04.17 and Snow Canyon’s Tanner Losee placed third in 1:04.49.

The Crimson Cliffs boys won the 200 medley relay at the start of the meet in a time of 1;42.74, with Desert Hills taking second and Cedar third.

Cedar won both the 200 free and 400 free relays on Saturday, with Crimson Cliffs taking second and Dixie third in both of those races.

Next up for the qualifying swimmers will be the 4A state championship meet on Feb. 10-11 at Brigham Young University in Provo. For the UHSAA’s full schedule and other information about the state meet, click here.

Region 10 swim championships

Washington City, Jan. 27-28, 2023

Girls team standings

  1. Cedar, 391.5.
  2. Crimson Cliffs, 390.
  3. Desert Hills, 280.
  4. Snow Canyon, 257.
  5. Hurricane, 181.5.
  6. Dixie, 174.
  7. Pine View, 155.

Boys team standings

  1. Crimson Cliffs, 416.
  2. Cedar, 411.
  3. Desert Hills, 310.
  4. Snow Canyon, 229.
  5. Hurricane, 223.
  6. Dixie, 186.
  7. Pine View, 83.

Photo Gallery

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Richards, a native of Salt Lake City with family roots in Panguitch, lived in Moab for 20 years before joining St. George News in 2017. Jeff is a longtime journalist and secondary school teacher. He and his wife Penny are the parents of five daughters. They also have three young grandsons. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews@moabjeff@stgnewssports

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