The Bountiful High swimming team, missing its top girl swimmer due to COVID, finished second overall at the Region 5 championships Feb. 6. Woods Cross came in third with Farmington finishing fourth and Viewmont fifth.

Bountiful

Sadie Duke’s best swims of the season in the 100 breaststroke and the 100 butterfly resulted in a second and third place finish, respectively, to lead the girls team. She also swam legs – with Madelynn Fenwick, Loni Tippetts and Hannah Drummer – on the 200 medley relay team which took second and the 200 freestyle relay squad of Fenwick, Drummer and Tippetts which placed third.

Other top six placers for the Braves were Tippetts (fourth, 100 free), Fenwick (fifth, 200 free), the 200 free relay team of Madelyn Bushman, Jessica Barnes, Eva Stoddard and Anneli Billings (fifth), the 400 free relay squad of Emma Anjewierden, Rebecca Reeve, Isabelle DeLeeuw and Ellie Staheli (fifth), Staheli (sixth, 200 free) and the 400 free relay lineup of Bushman, Barnes, Billings and Mia Fowler (sixth).

Head coach Alexa Lou Olson also noted the “amazing swims” of Fowler in the 200 and 500 free where she took eighth place in both events and Grace Hanni who had an 11th-place showing in the 200 free and a ninth-place finish in the 500 free. The girls’ top swimmer, Elliott Howe, was not able to compete for the Braves because of COVID. “We look forward to seeing what she can do at state,” Olson said. 

For the boys, the 4x100 relay team of Tyler Gunn, Tyler Orme, Ryan Wood and Spencer Monson broke the school record in winning the event to help the boys come in third. Wood won the 200 Individual Medley while also placing second in the 100 free. 

Other placers who medaled were Orme (second, 100 breast; second, 100 fly), the medley relay lineup of Orme, Gunn, Wood and Monson (second), Monson (third, 200 free; fifth, 500 free), the 200 free relay team of David Bennion, Curtis Orchard, Tate Nakaya and Kobi Vanderlinden (fourth), Gunn (fourth, 100 breast; sixth, 100 free) and Erik Landheim (sixth, 100 breast).

“This was great for our team,” Olson said. “For how many kids we had with Box Elder having about 20 more kids than we did, I feel like we did really great coming in second place with a smaller team. We also had 92 percent of our whole team getting personal bests which was also pretty amazing.”

Viewmont

Viewmont’s girls were led by Elle Decker – who placed first in the 500 free and 100 breast – and freshman Gabrielle Henry who won the 200 free. Both also swam legs on the first-place 400 free relay team. The 200 medley relay team actually touched first but were disqualified.

Other top-six placers were Sarah Spangenberg (second, 100 back; sixth, 50 free), Reese Allen (third, 500 free; third, 200 free) and Henry (third, 50 free).

Freshman Eric Chamberlain’s two region titles in the 100 fly and 500 free led the boys squad. He also led off the 400 free relay team, which also included Jared Chamberlain, Braeden Kunzler and Zach Smith, to a third place finish with the same lineup taking fourth in the 200 medley relay. Also medaling for the Vikings were Zach Smith (third, 200 IM; third, 100 fly) and Jared Chamberlain (fourth, 500 free; fifth, 100 fly).

“We had a good meet,” head coach Nick Keller said. “Most of our times were personal bests and we had good relays, so I was happy with it.”

Woods Cross

For the boys team, who came in second, Abel Chomjak won the 100 back while also leading off the first-place 200 medley relay teams – which also included Justin Chamberlain, Zach White and Reese Hunsaker – and the 200 free relay team with the same swimmers.

Caden Neuenschwander “smashed his personal best,” according to head coach Andrew Bird in taking second in the 200 free while also coming in third in the 100 free.

Also taking top six placements were Hunsaker (second, 50 free; fourth, 100 free), White (third, 50 free; fourth, 100 fly), Chamberlain (fifth, 100 breast; sixth, 200 IM) and the 400 free relay of Neuenschwander, Mark Glissmeyer, Chamberlain and Jacob Ormsby (sixth).

Ally Boynton won the 50 free and 100 back while Nohea Kamauu took the 200 IM to lead the girls to a fourth-place finish. Both were also part of the first-place 200 medley relay team – along with Elle Hall and Alanna Holzer. Other medalists were the 200 free relay lineup of Boynton, Rivers Ekstrom, Hall and Holzer (second), Hall (third, 100 back; third, 100 free), Holzer (fourth, 100 fly) and Ekstrom (sixth, 100 free).

“We had a fantastic region meet,” Bird said.

Farmington

With “the best swim in the history of this program,” head coach Jason Clark said Kaitlyn Holladay’s second-place finish in the 100 free led to Farmington’s girls placing third in region, two spots better than last year’s showing.

“Earlier in the week, I went through what I thought was every point scenario possible, and not once did I have us getting third place,” Clark said. “On paper, we had almost no shot at a top-three finish, but because of the collective selflessness of our women’s team and a few ‘you can’t make this stuff up’ level moments at the meet, we pulled off a miracle.”

The 400 free relay team of Holladay, Bibbles Startup, Brooke Belnap and Lina Dunn took third with the same lineup placing fourth in the 200 medley relay.

Other top-six placers for the Phoenix were Holladay (fourth, 50 free), Startup (100 fly) and Dunn (100 back).

“They all need to take a bow for their remarkable and jaw dropping finish that shocked us all,” Clark said. “There is strength in selflessness and every point matters.”

Mason Draxler led the fourth-place boys team with a third-place swim in the 100 breast and a fifth-place showing in the 100 free. He also swam legs on the fifth-place 200 medley relay team that also included Dixon Call, PJ Norseth and Phillip Wall and the fifth-place 400 free lineup of Wall, John Lyman and Call. The 200 free relay squad of Joseph Schraedel, Davis Nielson, Lyman and James Taggart came in sixth.