The Sedona Swim Team was outstanding this past weekend at the annual Verde Valley Invitational, recording 14 first-place finishes during the two-day event.
“Our kids had a great ending to the season. We had several swimmers get first-place awards and set several personal bests,” first-year Sedona Head Coach A. Jay Bronson said.
Sedona took third overall in both the boys’ and girls’ side of the pool Friday and Saturday, July 29 and 30, at the Cottonwood Community Pool.
For the boys, the Swordfish took third with 505 points overall. The Bullhead City Swim Team was second with 544 points while the Cottonwood Swim Team dominated, doubling up the competition with 1,019.50 points.
As for the girls, Sedona took third with 643 while Bullhead City was second with 672 and Cottonwood was first once again with 1,247 points.
“I can tell you, the Clippers [Cottonwood] just dominated this meet. Our kids did so well,” Cottonwood Head Coach Erin Estes said after the meet Saturday.
For several years, Estes was the head coach for Sedona, but decided to take the Mingus Union High School swim coach job in the fall of 2010. She also took over the Clippers organization that season as well.
Although Sedona had half the swimmers in the pool Cottonwood had, it still managed to score 14 first-place finishes.
Tristan Decker, 14, was outstanding with three first-place finishes including a 29.41 time in the 50-yard backstroke, good enough for first overall.
Decker was first in the 100-yard freestyle event with a 54.70 time and was first in the 50-yard breaststroke event with a 31.36 time.
As for his older brother Evan Decker, the 18-year-old took first in the 100-yard freestyle event with a 51.99 time while grabbing first in the 50-yard backstroke with a 27.48 time. He was also first in the 200-yard individual medley with a 2:14.12 time.
The Decker brothers didn’t stop there as 16-year-old Jacob Decker took first overall in the 50-yard butterfly event with a 25.16 time.
Overall, the Decker brothers took seven of the 14 first-place finishes for the Swordfish.
Other top standouts for the Swordfish included 9-year-old Kendall Peterson who was first overall in the 50-yard freestyle event with a 37.21 time while 17-year-old Olivia Luyckx was first in the 200-yard freestyle event with a 2:22.95 time.
In the 100-yard individual medley, 8-year-old Jack Rodarte was first overall with a 1:59.66 time while 15-year-old Laura Clark was first in the 200-yard individual medley with a 2:37.92 time.
Rodarte also took first in the 25-yard breaststroke with a 27.07 time.
In the 50-yard freestyle event, 14-year-old Christopher Gibson was first with a 25.87, and 10-year-old Delaney Crawford was first in the 25-yard breaststroke with a 21.87 time.
