Shorthanded squad wins meet

Sedona Red Rock High School’s swim team hosted another quad meet, this time against Tempe Preparatory Academy, Scottsdale Christian Academy and BASIS Flagstaff at the Sedona Community Pool on Thursday, Oct. 12.

While the Scorpions had struggled in past competitions against two or more opponents, this time around they got the combined score victory with 275.5 points, 26 more than runner up Temp Prep.

The boys took first overall with 156 points to Tempe Prep’s 144. The girls took second to BASIS, 127 to 119.5.

“We swam really well, even losing to BASIS on the girls side and being down our top two girls. It was a good feeling to have our third, fourth, fifth, sixth swimmers really stepping up and contributing more,” Scorpions head coach A. Jay Bronson said.

Red Rock was missing seven swimmers for a variety of reasons.

All three of the boys relay teams finished in at least second place, with the 400-yard freestyle team tying for first with Tempe Prep in 4:07.10.

All four members of that team are new to competitive swimming: Seniors Winston Cox and Charlie Parrella, sophomore Michael Lagorio and freshman R.J. Edwards.

Freshman Andrew Tate again won his two individual events, this time participating in his two strongest events: the 200- and 500-yard freestyle.

Tate, touching in at 2:05.22, was nearly 16 seconds faster than the runner up in the 200 freestyle. He has swum that event much faster this year, his best coming at the Saturday Night Fever meet in Chandler on Sept. 30, where he finished in 1:55.26.
Scorpions senior Winston Cox awaits the starting horn to jump in for the 50-yard freestyle on Thursday, Oct. 12. Cox took third overall in the event, and the Scorpions got a combined score victory on the day.
In the 500 freestyle he won by 10 seconds, in 5:34.25, again not being pushed to swim his fastest to claim victory.
Cox took third in the 50-yard freestyle in 25.97 while Lagorio was second in the 100-yard freestyle in 1:04.10.

Senior Parker Reed was second in the 100-yard butterfly, touching in 1:10.09, a season best.

For the girls, freshman Jaxon Oles took first in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:37.09 while sophomore Honoka Yabuuchi tied for second. Oles finished just milliseconds faster than her season best, in 2:37.09, which currently situates her 31st in Division III in the event.

Senior Brittany Medel swam the shortest and the longest races of the day. Medel took fifth in the 50 freestyle [31.78] and fourth in the 500 freestyle [7:16.12].

Oles did not swim the 50 freestyle on Oct. 12, but is 11th in the state.

Some of the top competitors from Scottsdale Christian and BASIS on the girls side also hold top times in the entire division. It appeared that all of the teams had swimmers participating in off events, those that they do not normally swim.

Scottsdale Christian sophomore Caylah Jago is fifth in the state in the 100 butterfly, which she won in Sedona. Jago is also 14th in the 50 freestyle, but did not swim the event.

For the boys, Scottsdale Christian’s Elijah Nevins and Tempe Prep’s Joshua Cisneros-Kinney finished first and second, respectively, and both are ranked in the top 24 in Division III. Red Rock sophomore Zach Dana is 23rd, but was one of the missing Scorpions at the meet.

Red Rock hosted its cross-valley rival Mingus Union High School in a battle for the Heisley/Estes Cup. The Scorpions have not won the annual competition since 2014. It was held on Tuesday, Oct. 17, but results were unavailable at press time.