Unlike the last meet on June 28 where the Sedona Swim Team dominated the competition because of sheer numbers, only 18 swimmers made the trip to Kingman.

Unlike the last meet on June 28 where the Sedona Swim Team dominated the competition because of sheer numbers, only 18 swimmers made the trip to Kingman.
They finished in fourth place at the Dick Tomlin Memorial Invitational on Saturday,
July 12.
“With gas prices these days, it’s hard to travel but the kids that did come had a marvelous meet,” Sedona Swim head coach Erin Estes said.
Sedona scored 388 points to finish fourth overall at the invitational, slightly better then last year’s effort, which saw the Swordfish finish in fifth place, scoring 305 points.
Anthem dominated the meet this past weekend, finishing with an impressive 1,221 points — more than 160 points higher than the next closest team, Kingman, which scored 1,059 points.
The two flip-flopped this time around from what happened last year at this invitational, when Kingman won it and Anthem finishing in second.
Sticking out like a sore thumb as they always do were the Decker boys, who together finished in first place 10 times out of the 24 events they participated in.
Including every swimmer and every team in the field, 13-year-old Jacob Decker would have to receive the Most Valuable Swimmer award at the invite as he recorded seven first-place finishes.
“Jacob [Decker] started strong and finished strong at the invitational meet this weekend,” Estes said.
To begin the day, Jacob Decker finished first in the 200-meter freestyle with a 2:19.39 time. From then on, domination ensued as he finished first in the 100-meter butterfly, first in the 200-meter breaststroke, first in the 100-meter freestyle and on and on and on.
His older brother, 15-year-old Evan Decker, recorded his only top finish of the day as he took first place in the 400-meter individual medley with a 5:28.10 time.
The youngest of all three brothers, 11-year-old Tristan Decker, didn’t have a bad day himself, finishing first in the 50-meter backstroke with a 38.55 time and first overall in the 100-meter backstroke with a 1:27.61 time.
Of course there are many others who had success at the invitational, including 12-year-old Laura Clark who finished in the top five of every event she participated in. She scored a personal best 200-meter freestyle time, which saw her finish third overall with a 2:47.72. That’s almost 10 seconds better then her previously recorded time in the event.
Other standouts included 10-year-old Benny Guadarrama who finished first in the 100-meter butterfly; 14-year-old Zachary Morgan who finished second in the 200-meter breaststroke; and 10-year-old Sierra Robinson who finished third in the 200-meter freestyle.
Next up for the Swordfish will be the Sedona Mile on Saturday, July 19, before wrapping up the season with the Verde Valley Championships on Saturday, Aug. 2.

Brian Bergner Jr. can be reached at 282-7795, Ext. 131, or e-mail bbergner@larsonnewspapers.com