As senior Zach Dana enters his final season on the Sedona Red Rock swim team, he has lofty goals for himself.
Dana also has aspirations on breaking the high school record for the 100 breaststroke. In order to do that, he must knock nearly one second off of his current best short course time.
To do that, Dana feels that he’ll need to improve his starts, his walls and how he does under water. In other words, everything that doesn’t concern the stroke itself. His coach, Daniel Morse, agrees.
“Endurance isn’t his problem; he can swim for a long time,” Morse said. “The race is going to take a minute and four seconds — if he does it correctly. What we need to worry about are his walls, his turns and jumping off of the wall. His speed. That’s what I want him to worry about over the next 10 weeks.”
Dana, who is one of the Scorpion captains, also has high aspirations for his team. He wants to see at least eight to 10 SRRHS swimmers qualified for the state meet at season’s end. Once there, Dana wants to see the boys 200 medley relay — of which he is a part — finish in the top three. Dana also specifically spotlighted wanting to see fellow senior Honoka Yabuuchi make her first trip to state.
“All of the guys can go to state and a lot of the girls can go to state, too,” Dana said. “Honoka, specifically, has been swimming year-round. We all think that she can go to state this year, which would be really exciting for us.”
While Dana identifies the 100 breaststroke as his best event, he’s far from a one-dimensional swimmer. Dana is one of Sedona Red Rock’s top overall point getters. He swims the relays and also does freestyle swimming at both short and long distances.
Dana, who just turned 18, has been swimming since he was nine. He got into the sport when his father, Jeff — who was a Division 3 swimmer — talked him into going out. Dana, who has always enjoyed water activities, was a natural.
“I’ve always liked things that involved water, like water skiing,” Dana said. “My dad convinced me to do it. I just picked up on it really fast and just stayed in it since then.”
When he’s not swimming or in school, Dana enjoys taking his dog, Dash, for bike rides around the Big Park Loop when it’s not too hot.
He also has an interest in photography and stated that it’s something he might want to pursue as a career going forward.
“I’ve thought about it. I’ve thought about it a lot, actually,” he said.
Immediately following high school , Dana believes that he might attend Yavapai College. Something that could change that path would be if he decides to swim in college. To do that, he’d have to go out of state.
Noting Dana’s love of swimming, consistent drive and, perhaps most importantly, strong work ethic, Morse believes that Dana could follow in his father’s footsteps and swim at a Division 3 school.
“They don’t give scholarships so it’s more people doing it for the love of the sport,” Morse said. “It’s kids who are volunteering their time because they love the sport, they love to train hard, they love to race, to be competitive. That’s a really good attribute for Zach and he has the physical ability to be able to do it.”
Michael Dixon can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 131, or email to mdixon@larsonnewspapers.com
