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Corner Canyon girls swimmers place fourth at state; boys 11th

Mar 07, 2018 11:05AM ● By Catherine Garrett

Corner Canyon senior Tanner Manwaring had an eighth-place finish in the 100 freestyle and a 17th-place showing in the 200 free, along with swimming a leg on the sixth-place 200 medley relay squad and 11th-place 400 free relay team. The Chargers took 11th place as a team. (Photo courtesy of Patrick Thurman)

Corner Canyon High’s Kali Barlow placed third in the 50 freestyle and Rivers Johnson finished third in the 100 backstroke to pace the Chargers’ girls squad to a fourth-place showing at the 5A state swimming championships at the South Davis Recreation Center Feb. 8-9. The boys finished in 11th place.

“The team did an amazing job battling through some adversity,” Corner Canyon head coach Patrick Thurman said. “We had kids dealing with the effects of the flu going around. So, in between races, some were throwing up or nearly blacking out. We also had many younger swimmers who had to adjust to raised expectations and nerves got to them a bit. But, the swimmers still swam with a great deal of heart and dedication for each other.”

Corner Canyon set 12 new school records the past few weeks during the region and state meets.

Other top finishers for the Chargers were Ashley Pickford (seventh, 200 free; seventh, 500 free), Barlow (seventh, 100 free), Eliza Balfe (eighth, 50 free; 15th, 100 free), Tanner Manwaring (eighth, 100 free; 17th, 200 free), McKay Larsen (ninth, 200 IM; 10th, 100 breast), Johnson (ninth, 100 fly), Noah Afualo (10th, 100 fly; 10th, 100 back), Aliza Smith (10th, 100 back; 20th, 200 free), Alex Smith (13th, 100 breast), Madison Crayk (21st, 100 fly) and Kristin Miller (23rd, 200 free).

The relay teams also placed well for Corner Canyon. The girls 200 free relay with Barlow, Balfe, Aliza Smith and Pickford finished fifth; the boys 200 medley relay of Larsen, Alex Smith, Afualo and Manwaring finished sixth; the girls 400 free relay of Barlow, Johnson, Balfe and Pickford finished seventh; the girls 200 medley relay of Johnson, Britta Catmull, Crayk and Grace Poulson finished 11th; the boys 400 free relay of Afualo, John Paulsen, Larsen and Manwaring finished 11th; and the boys 200 free relay of Jake Sperry, Alex Miller, Sam Aamodt and Gabe Maires came in 15th.

“This was as close of a group as I have worked with and nearly all of them still spent hours together after the meet was finished,” Thurman said.