High school swimmers dive into new year at Red Rock Invitational in St. George

Written by Jeff Richards
January 11, 2023

ST. GEORGE — High school swimmers kicked off the new year at the Red Rock Invitational meet held at Utah Tech University last weekend. The two-day event attracted more than a dozen schools, most of them from southern and central Utah.

High school swimmers compete at Red Rock Invitational, St. George, Utah, Jan. 6-7, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Crimson Cliffs was the highest-placing Southern Utah school, with the Mustangs finishing second in the boys’ meet and third in the girls’. Cedar High also finished strongly, taking third in the boys’ meet and fourth in the girls’. Wasatch won both the boys’ and girls’ meets.  See top 10 team scores at bottom of story.

Following are selected top performances from the meet, highlighting Southern Utah athletes.

Girls

Sorina Rom of Pine View won the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1 minute, 9.05 seconds. Rom also placed second in the 100 free with a time of 53.67 seconds, a new personal best.

Cedar’s Addison Taylor placed second in the 200 free in 2:03.88. She also took fourth in the 500 free.

Kate Walker of Crimson Cliffs won the 100 fly in a time of 1:01.85. Walker also placed third in the 50 free in 26.02 seconds. 

Taking second in the 50 free was Chesney Bonner of Desert Hills, who finished in 25.62. Bonner also placed second in the 100 back.

Cedar’s girls also placed third in the first two relay events, while Crimson Cliffs took third in the final one, the 400 free relay.

Boys

Josh Walker of Crimson Cliffs won the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 53.22. He also placed second in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:57.66. Walker also led off with the backstroke leg of the 200-yard medley relay, with Crimson going on to win the event in a time of 1:43.16.

Andrew Carlile of Dixie took second in the 200 free with a time of 1:49.67. Canyon View’s Kurt Morgan placed third in that same event, dropping nearly 3 seconds off his seed time.

Troy Eggers of Desert Hills placed third in the 200 IM, while Cedar’s Andrew Sagers took fourth. The next day, Sagers won the 100 free in a time of 50.63, cutting nearly three full seconds off his previous personal best.

High school swimmers compete at Red Rock Invitational, St. George, Utah, Jan. 6-7, 2023 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Bronson Plumb of Crimson Cliffs won the 50 free in 22.76, which was 1.24 seconds faster than his seed time. James Smith of Cedar placed third in 22.96, while Dixie’s Carlile placed fourth in 23.04. 

Later, Plumb placed third in the 100 free with a time of 51.26.

Kade Bethers of Desert Hills took second in the 100 fly with a time of 56.54 seconds. Dixie’s Damon Ericksen took third in the same event with a time of 57.01.

Finishing behind winner Josh Walker of Crimson Cliffs in the 100 back were Solmun Pak of Desert Hills, who placed second in 56.24, and Tanner Dodds of Cedar, who took third in 57.99.

Hunter Iverson of Desert Hills took second in the 100 breast with a time of 1:04.87.

Cedar and Crimson Cliffs finished 1-2 in the first two relay events, with Crimson winning the 200 medley relay and Cedar winning the 200 free relay. In the final event on Saturday, the 400 free relay, Cedar placed second and Crimson took fourth.

This coming Friday-Saturday, Jan. 13-14, Cedar High will host a home meet at the Cedar City Aquatics Center. 

Red Rock Invitational, St. George

Jan. 6-7

Top 10 girls’ team scores

  1. Wasatch, 600.
  2. Timpview, 411.
  3. Crimson Cliffs, 294.5.
  4. Cedar, 289.
  5. Desert Hills, 232.
  6. Payson, 200.
  7. Snow Canyon, 192.
  8. Emery, 184.
  9. Carbon, 159.
  10. Pine View, 130.

Top 10 boys’ team scores

  1. Wasatch, 447.
  2. Crimson Cliffs, 427.5.
  3. Cedar, 387.
  4. Timpview, 289.
  5. Desert Hills, 276.
  6. Payson, 253.
  7. Canyon View, 193.5
  8. Snow Canyon, 187.
  9. Richfield, 150.
  10. Dixie, 133.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff Richards, a native of Salt Lake City with family roots in Panguitch, lived in Moab for 20 years before joining St. George News in 2017. Jeff is a longtime journalist and secondary school teacher. He and his wife Penny are the parents of five daughters. They also have three young grandsons and one granddaughter. Jeff and his family enjoy swimming, camping, sightseeing, reading, and taking pictures.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews@moabjeff@stgnewssports

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