The Sedona Red Rock High School swim team wants to let the state know it is still the best small school swim team in Arizona this year.

The SRRHS swim team placed eighth in the 2011 Arizona Swimming and Diving Finals. Swimmers could have done much better with more athletes on the team.

“Swimming did so well last year, but competing against the bigger schools hurt us on our way to state,” said John Parks, SRRHS athletic director. “We just don’t have the numbers in the pool to rack up the points like the other schools.”

One of the major reasons small schools are competing against bigger schools is due to the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s redistricting. Before the changes, there were five state swimming meets where SRRHS competed against 20 teams around the size of a 3A school. Under the new system, there are two divisions with two state meets where SRRHS competes against 63 other teams and much bigger schools.

“Because swimming is considered an individual sport, we have felt the changes for the past two years, whereas other sports like football or volleyball felt the effects only last year,” SRRHS swim team Head Coach A. Jay Bronson said. “It’s hard for us to compete against bigger schools even though we have an incredible number of swimmers for a 500-person school.”

For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Aug. 15, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.