Oro Valley hosted the Arizona Age Group Long Course State Championships from July 18 to 21. It featured four local swimmers — Renae Porteous, Sarina McCullough, Bryce Kirk and Lucy Spielman — who all swim for the Sedona Race Pace Swim Club.
Each of the four qualified for at least one final. The quartet earned placement with a total of nine top-eight finishes. Of those, six were top-five finishes.
“It went really well,” Sedona Race Pace coach Sean Emery said, “Some of them were able to drop a lot of time in their best events over the season. Some of them were able to become the best in their age in the state, which was impressive.”
Porteous, the 14-year-old, posted a string of strong finishes in the girls age 13 to 14 races. She finished eighth in the 200- meter backstroke [2:38.27], seventh in the 200-meter individual medley [2:35.67] and fourth in the 100-meter backstroke [1:10.07], 200 freestyle [2:12.85] and 50 free [28.50].
Her strongest event was the 100 free. In the semifinals, Porteous posted a time under one minute. That was not only her fastest time, but also the fastest in the event. The final didn’t go quite as well, as Porteous went 1:00.37 to finish in second place.
“I wasn’t as in it as I was in the morning,” Porteous acknowledged. “I had too high expectations for myself. In the morning, I was just feeling loose and trying to make it back. It’s a positive learning experience for me. Next time I know that I have to be a lot more relaxed and embrace what happens.” The runner-up finish was the strongest posted by any Sedona swimmer at the meet.
At 13, McCullough finished in the top 15 in five different girls age 13 to 14 events. She finished 14th in the 400 free [4:54.67], 13th in the 200 IM [2:40.91] and 11th in the 200 back [2:35.04].
She notched top-seven finishes in the 100 meter butterfly and 100 meter back, going 1:07.96 to finish seventh in the former and 1:09.87 to come in third in the latter.
Additionally, McCul-lough qualified for the Arizona Long Course Senior Championships in four events. Her strongest showing there was the 200 fly, where she went 2:31.53 to finish in 17th.
“I feel like I performed really well and it was a really good way to end off the season,” McCullough said. “I was really happy with the 100 back. I was really surprised. I dropped a lot of time in the 100 fly too. The whole season I trained really hard and it really paid off.”
In the age 13 to 14 boys races, Kirk finished 18th in the 200 IM [2:30.07], 15th in the 100 fly [1:05.02], 12th in both the 400 free [4:38.47] and the 100 back [1:11.00].
In the 200 fly, Kirk was hoping to finish in the top eight. He bettered those expectations, going 2:20.34 to finish fifth.
“I dropped a ton of time,” he said. “I did way better than expected. I feel like I did pretty well overall. I’m way ahead of most 13 year olds. Next year I’m hoping for a couple of golds.”
Spielman, 11, participated in a time trial, plus four events in the age 11 to 12 girls races.
She placed 20th in the 100 fly [1:19.78], 17th in the 800 meter free [11:14.16] and 14th in the 400 IM. In the 200 meter fly, Spielman touched eighth at 2:52.19 in her first final.
“The way we trained helped my season,” Spielman said. “We swim at race pace, which is short distances at goal speed. It’s very fun and less boring than going lap after lap.”
Michael Dixon can be reached at 282-7795, Ext. 131, or e-mail to mdixon@larsonnewspapers.com
