The Miners girls swimming team won the 12th state title in program history on Feb. 14.
Park City dominated the 4A field, winning the championship by 151 team points over second place Desert Hills.
The Miners won the 200 yard medley and 200 yard freestyle relays, breaking 4A records in the process. Sophomore Lily Weinberg, sophomore Marlo Erickson, freshman Megan Dillon and senior Anna Klug were the winning 200 yard medley relay team, and Weinger, Dillon, Klug and sophomore Ella Limback the 200 yard freestyle relay team.
Park City was highly competitive in nearly every race they entered.
The Miners boy’s swim team finished in second place to Mountain Crest by four points. The boy’s championship came down to the 400 yard freestyle relay, which Park City lost to Mountain Crest by three hundredths of a second.
Both Miners teams were the defending state champions entering the two-day state meet at BYU.
“The girls were absolutely the favorites kind of all year,” said assistant coach Heather Flynn. “But, they never relented or let up. They kept training hard.”
Flynn believes the state records were emblematic of the girl’s team’s hard work throughout the season. Their goal heading into state was to break the school record in those races.
“It was a great season for the boys,” Flynn said. “I will say our boys team is very young, and we have got five freshmen boys coming in next year who are going to contribute a lot of points to our team.”
Flynn made note that the winning 400 yard freestyle relay team for Mountain Crest comprised all seniors. The Miners team in that race had three sophomores in Jack Hurley, Axel Solander and Logan Siegrist, and junior Harrison Bae.
The only graduating senior on the girl’s side is Klug.
Flynn believes success at the high school level will only fuel increasing participation in Park City’s youth programs, in which she and head coach Gadi Shamah are involved.
“I think that it’s because they’re starting at a young age,” Flynn said about the high school team’s success. “Those that stick with swimming, join the club and swim year-round see the success.”
Flynn lauded Shamah, who won his second-straight UHSAA coach of the year award following the girl’s title. The two have worked alongside each other since meeting when living in California years ago. Shamah taught Flynn’s son Cadan Flynn, who’s now on the Park City team at 16 years old, how to swim when he was three years old.
Flynn said Shamah is a disciplined leader of the teams. He organized a staff of five including Flynn, who bring different strengths to the table to cater to different Miners swimmers.
Cadan Flynn missed out on swimming at state this season. He’s eager to return next season and chase his dreams alongside his teammates.
“I’m very excited,” Cadan Flynn said. “I love the team aspect so much. I feel like every single person on the team wants others to achieve their times and goals more than themselves. It’s really this loop of excitement and drive for achieving goals. I’m pretty sure we’re gonna come back next year and crush it at state.”