Region 9 swimmers start New Year with a splash

Swimmers compete at the Red Rock Invitational, Washington City, Utah, Jan. 3-4, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

WASHINGTON CITY — In the first meet of the New Year, swimmers from all eight Region 9 teams, plus several other high schools, competed Friday and Saturday at the Washington City Community Center pool.

L-R: Caitlin Romprey of Desert Hills and Kylie Barber of Snow Canyon prepare for the start of the 200-yard individual medley at the Red Rock Invitational, Washington City, Utah, Jan. 3, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Wasatch High, a larger 5A school, finished with the most points in both the girls and boys team totals, with the Wasps amassing 383 points in the girls portion and 327 in the boys. Skyline, also a 5A school, was second among girls with 265 points and third among boys with 293.

The top Region 9 teams at the meet were the Snow Canyon girls, who placed third with 262 points, and the Desert Hills boys, who placed second with 299 points. See below for a listing of all team results.

Two Region 9 athletes won both of their individual races: Payton Plumb of the Desert Hills boys and Kylie Barber of the Snow Canyon girls. Plumb, a senior for the defending state champion Thunder, placed first among 110 swimmers in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.84 seconds. He also won the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 52.89. 

Meanwhile, Barber, a sophomore for the Lady Warriors, won the 200-yard individual medley in a time of 2:11.89, more than five seconds faster than runner-up Caitlin Romprey of Desert Hills, who finished in 2:17.31. Barber was also the winner of the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.41 Friday evening. The following day, Romprey won the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 59.26.

Other notable performances by Region 9 athletes included Snow Canyon’s Grant Gibbs winning the boys 200 free in a time of 1:49.61. He later placed third in the 500 free with a time of 5:16.25.

Kela Hansen of Desert Hills placed second in both the girls 200 free (2:05.77) and the 500 free (5:34.10). Her teammate Hallie King took fourth in both the 100 fly and the 100 back.

Max Cannon of Canyon View won the boys 200 IM with a time of 2:03.59. He also placed fourth in the 100 fly with a time of 57.63.

Swimmers compete at the Red Rock Invitational, Washington City, Utah, Jan. 3-4, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Ethan Kochel of Hurricane placed second in the boys 100 fly, with his time of 56.32 coming in behind only that of Grant Rigby of Wasatch, who finished in 55.44.

Jesi Anderson of Canyon View beat out more than 100 other swimmers to win the girls 100 free. She posted a time of 57.01. In the girls 50 free, Gretchen Snelders of Snow Canyon was the top finisher from Region 9, placing third out of more than 150 swimmers with a time of 26.20.

Ashton Anderson of Desert Hills won the boys 100 free with a time of 49.55. His teammate Hyatt Iverson won the 100 breast with a time of 1:00.62. Reuben Dotson of Cedar High came in about one second behind Iverson in that race, finishing in second with a time of 1:01.72.

Freshman Kensley Messinger of first-year Region 9 school Crimson Cliffs placed second to Romprey in the girls 100 back with a time of 1:03.77.

Snow Canyon placed second in all three of the girls relays and second in two of the boys relays. Meanwhile, Desert Hills won two of the boys relays and placed third in two of the girls relays.

To view complete meet results as a downloadable pdf file, click here.

Next up for most of the Region 9 swim teams will be a meet hosted by Cedar High at the Cedar City Aquatic Center Friday and Saturday. That same venue will be the site of the Region 9 championships two weeks later, on Jan. 24-25. Top qualifiers will advance to the state 4A meet, which is scheduled for Feb. 7-8 at Brigham Young University in Provo.

Red Rock Invitational girls team results:

  1. Wasatch 383
  2. Skyline 265
  3. Snow Canyon 262
  4. Desert Hills 245
  5. Payson 183
  6. Crimson Cliffs 169
  7. Cedar City 158
  8. Canyon View 128
  9. Richfield 119
  10. Dixie 52
  11. Millard 50
  12. Maeser Prep 49
  13. Pine View 48
  14. Parowan 5

Red Rock Invitational boys team results:

  1. Wasatch 327
  2. Desert Hills 299
  3. Skyline 293
  4. Snow Canyon 248
  5. Payson 199
  6. Cedar City 159.5
  7. Canyon View 117
  8. Richfield 109
  9. Dixie 102
  10. Crimson Cliffs 97.5
  11. Millard 66
  12. Pine View 40
  13. Hurricane 32
  14. Maeser Prep 21

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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