Swim Region Day 2 newspaper article

I put this in here mostly for Kyson's personal records or personal history.

ST. GEORGE - The 500-yard freestyle at a high school swim meet is roughly equivalent to the seventh inning stretch in baseball - only longer.

It's a time to chat with friends or go to the vending machine, but not when Amerlia Draney or Mitchell Hutchings and Michael Pantelakis are swimming the 500.

Draney, who broke the Region 9 200 free record Friday at Sand Hollow Aquatic Center, was still in a record-breaking mood Saturday during the Region Championships. She smashed her own week-old mark by almost two seconds zipping the 500 yard in 5:12.83 and lapping her opposition. That time ranks her at the top of the 3A state standings. Hailey Pabst of 4A Mountain Crest is the only Utah high school girl swimmer to have gone faster. The 5A girls aren't even close.

Amelia was drying off after warming down when Mitchell Hutchings and Michael Pantelakis, representing Pine View and Dixie respectively, hit the water. Pantelakis led by a hair after the first 50, but Hutchings inched ahead, with a first 100 in 54.95. Michael posted a 55.39. After Hutchings began to widen and finished in an eyebrow-raising 4:56.62, over seven seconds faster than he had ever swum the distance before. Pantelakis also turned in a lifetime best effort of 5:02.77 and the pair is perched atop the state's 3A top 50 rankings going into next month's State Championships.

"I feel great, but tired," Mitchell said after the race. "I was getting him on the turns," he added, "Coach Dani has been working a lot with us on turns and it paid off."

Following Hutchings and Pantelakis home were Josh McPhie of Desert Hills and Hurricane's Payton Carter, who dropped an awesome 17.62 seconds off his previous best.

Draney, who rocketed her first 100 in 58.85 reflected, "Maybe I went out a little too fast, but I wanted to set a quick tempo early and try to hold it."

Chasing her home in the 500 was Hurricane's Kaylee LeBaron, who dropped an eye-popping 14.5 seconds off her previous best. Snow Canyon's Haley Barnett was third with another big time drop and Josie Hendrix of Cedar was fourth.


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Other spectacular performances belonged to Leah Heger of Snow Canyon and Tim Senholtz of Desert Hills in the 100 butterfly; Desert Hills' Courtney Freed and Senholtz in the 100 breast stroke; Snow Canyon's girls 4x50 freestyle relay team and Desert Hills' boys 4x100 relay.

Heger was thrilled when she looked up at the scoreboard and saw her time in the 100 fly. It read 1:00.92, almost two seconds faster than she'd ever swum that event before. It broke Lacey Ence's 10-year-old school record, prompting Leah to say "I've been trying to break that record for three years."

Defending state champion Tessa Trimble of Desert Hills was second and Cedar's Alisa Wallace, who dropped about two seconds, was third.

Senholtz also set a Desert Hills school record with his 54.25 victory in the fly, shaving over a second off his seed time and beating the Canyon View trio of Richard Edwards, Aidan O'Connell and Skyler King. Both Tim's and Leah's times rank number one in the state for 3A swimmers.

Freed, who Friday demolished Cedar City's Anzie Porter's 20-year-old Region 9 record, came back Saturday with her game face on to upset McKenzie Barber in the 100 breast in the school record time of 1:08.83, nearly three seconds faster than her previous best. Barber, who was throwing up early in the day was nevertheless right at her seed time and finished ahead of Pine View's Alex Meyer, who shaved almost six seconds off her previous best.

Senholtz trumped Freed's effort with a 1:02.96 school record breaststroke victory of his own to vault into the top slot in the 3A top 50. He beat teammate Ben Powell with Snow Canyon's Parker Richey third ahead of the Dixie pair of Pantelakis and Ashby Johnson, all of whom dropped time.

Snow Canyon's girls 4x50 free relay set another school record, besting their Thunder rivals by 1.6 seconds. The foursome was composed of Barber, Heger, Sydney Zwick and McKensy Madsen. They now rank second in the state 3A standings behind Juan Diego.

The Thunder boys 4x100 free relay team of John McPhie, Makai Smith, Clark Corry and Senholtz grabbed the gold medal and propelled itself to a top state ranking with its 3:25.92 victory over Canyon View.

Other Region 9 champions crowned Saturday were Barber in the girls 100 fee; Canyon View's Riley Brown, who edged Cedar's Mitchell Brown in the boys 100 free; Cedar's Jamie Slack in the 100 back, Snow Canyon's Connor Newman in the 100 back; Canyon View's boys 4x50 relay team of Eric Armijo, Skyler King, Richard Edwards and Riley Brown; and the Desert Hills girls 4x100 free relay team of Zoe Smith, Emily Jesgarz, Tessa Trimble and Freed.

Desert Hills won both the boys and girls team trophies, with Snow Canyon second in the girls division and the Canyon View boys garnering second.