With school letting out in Sedona, many students found a way to beat the heat last week.

Local club Sedona Race Pace participated in the Beat the Heat Classic in Flagstaff on Friday, May 17, and did not disappoint.

“I would say we fared extremely well,” Race Pace coach Sean Emery said. “The girls ended up placing sixth while the boys placed ninth which was pretty good.”

Beat the Heat took place at the Northern Arizona University Wall Aquatic Center and was held under the sanction of USA Swimming.
Emery believes Race Pace is trending upward based on their last performance.

“The team actually started out a little sluggish, but they turned it around pretty well at Flagstaff,” Emery said. “Lucy Spielman exceeded my expectations along with a lot of our younger players.”

Spielman helped lead Race Pace to a victory in the girls 15 and over 400 LC Meter Freestyle Relay [4:37.06].

“It was our first time partaking in a relay, so Spielman was somewhat nervous but mostly excited,” Emery said. “The girls fared extremely well as they beat every other team by at least 18 seconds.”

The Flagstaff Snow Sharks placed second at 4:55.90.

Race Pace dominated the girls 15 and over 400 LC Meter Medley Relay with the quartet of Ranae Porteous, Kegn Moorcroft, Sarina McCullough and Jaxon Olds finishing first.

“The team was very excited for the Beat the Heat meet in Flagstaff,” Moorcroft said. “It was our first meet of the long course meter season and [the] facility at NAU is ideal.”

“The team was prepared to race again and again with very little rest. Our team is absolutely incredible, led by an extraordinary coach.”
Race Pace finished the event in 5:01.17, a full minute faster than second place Lumberjack Aquatics [6:06.00] .

“I was nervous for the relay event [women’s 400-meter medley relay] as it was our first time competing in a relay event,” Moorcroft said. “It was exciting and nerve racking as the four of us girls didn’t want to let down the others but I would say we all did amazing on Saturday.”

“I only swam one relay event, but the rest of [the] team swam many events over the course of three days,” Moorcroft said. “ The meet was small so events were stacked back to back.”

While Flagstaff is over a mile high in elevation, Race Pace was unaffected by the conditions.

“The team practices up there once a week and we feel very comfortable there,” Moorcroft said. “Long course season is more difficult
than short course season and we train accordingly.”

Despite the intense competition, Race Pace still enjoyed themselves in the water.

“The entire team performed very well and everyone had fun, which is so important,” Moorcroft said. “It was a great bonding experience too.”
Due to the teams intensive training, the extra 2,200 feet in elevation had no effect on Race Pace’s performance.

“I believe our training in Flagstaff helped us to prepare for the elevation gain,” Moorcroft said. “It didn’t hinder our performances.”

With summer kicking off soon, now is when all of the hard work at practice will take effect. Next year, Moorcroft will participate in the 2020 European Aquatics Championships, which will take place in Budapest, Hungary.

“I hope to continue gaining strength, confidence and knowledge from Coach Sean Emery,” Moorcroft said.

Moorcroft also looks to qualify for the spring United States Swimming Senior State.

“I qualified in the 100-yard backstroke and the 100-yard fly at Master Nationals meaning we can do some fun relays during senior state,” Moorcroft said.

Up next for Race Pace is the Phoenix Summer invite on Thursday, June 7, held at Phoenix Swim Club.