Park City High School’s boys and girls swimming teams made the trip to Brigham Young University over the weekend to compete in the Class 5A state meet, and the Miners put together a strong effort.
Both Park City teams came away with a fourth-place finish and plenty of strong swims. Park City senior Ralph Fiscus had the team’s sole individual state title, and the Miners held their own against the best swimmers and teams in Utah.
“I was very impressed with the results,” Park City coach Gadi Shamah said. “I think the kids all stepped up, they did great. We were fourth for both boys and girls, which, against all those really big teams, was absolutely amazing. I couldn’t have scripted a better meet. I think the kids just really did well and dropped a lot of time to get us the places we need.”
Skyline ended up taking home both state championships. Park City’s girls team finished with 174 points, and the boys had 157. It’s an improvement for the boys, who finished sixth last year, while the girls stayed put.
Fiscus’ individual title came in the 500-yard freestyle, which turned out to be a strong event for the Miners. Fiscus recorded a time of 4:36.52 in the finals to lead the field and set a new school record, and two of his teammates also qualified. Sophomore Keegan Elgie came in fourth, and sophomore Jaime Taylor was seventh.
“Two of them are sophomores coming into that,” Shamah said. “Keegan’s fourth as a sophomore, and Ralph took the lead and got the first and then Jaime brought it up with (a seventh-place) finish in the finals. It shows the depth of our team with those kids coming up.”
Fiscus had another strong swim in addition to his win in the 500 free. The senior was the runner-up in the 200 free event as well.
“Ralph did amazing,” Shamah said. “I think everyone did, and everyone was there cheering and ready to go. Really happy with Ralph’s 4:36 in (the 500 free) finals, and I think he showed he was strong and leading the way.”
Senior Reef Yoked had another top-five individual finish for the boys when he placed fifth in the 100 breaststroke. Yoked clocked in at 59.39.
“For him, it was all about personal achievement,” Shamah said. “As a senior, you always want to do well, so that was very motivating for him. But to go under a minute on his breaststroke was huge, and he dropped another little bit into the finals was huge. He had been struggling with breaststroke for a little bit, and it was really nice to have a great meet where he dropped a lot of time and hit some goals.”
Senior Sara Wall and sophomore Gretchen Lane both recorded multiple top-five results for the girls. Wall was third in the 50 free and fourth in the 100 free. Lane was third in the 200 free and fifth in the 500 free. Junior Lauren Biglow also scored a fifth-place finish in the 100 back.
“Sara had some great swims,” Shamah said. “We also had Gretchen coming in as a sophomore doing really well. It was just a lot. It was a team effort. There’s a lot of them that stepped up and swam well, whether it be in the individual or the relay.”
Park City also had three freestyle relay teams place in the top five. Shamah said that it showed that the Miners had a team effort at state.
“Everyone was swimming fast and pumping each other up,” Shamah said. “They all stepped up in big ways to make sure they got the job done.”
In addition to having several key performances, Park City showed that its future is bright as well. The Miners had plenty of non-seniors perform well at the state meet, and that has Shamah excited about what next year and beyond hold for Park City’s swimming program.
“Unfortunately, we have a lot of seniors, especially on the girls’ side and some key seniors on the boys’ side, too, that are going to cost us next year, but that’s how it goes – the ebbs and flows,” Shamah said. “But I was really happy. I think our program’s getting stronger every year. We have a really strong group of sophomores coming up, and that speaks kind of miles for our program and what we’re building and where we’re going.”