Catholic schools swim teams dominate state tourney

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The Judge Memorial CHS boys swim team displays their 2023 state swim championship trophy; the Bulldogs girls team also claimed a state title.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Catholic high schools’ swim teams blew the competition out of the water during the 2023 season, with both Judge Memorial Catholic High School teams repeating as state champions, the Juan Diego girls coming in a close second and the boys in third, and a St. Joseph Catholic High School senior claiming two individual state titles.

At the Feb. 10-11 state swim tournament, held at Wasatch Athletic Center, the Judge Memorial boys team claimed their third consecutive overall first-place title, while the girls took home their second consecutive title, and head coach Chad Starks was named the boys Coach of the Year.

“We lost a lot of senior boys and girls last year, so I think what happened was our younger kids actually came together as a team,” said Starks, who has a 20-year coaching record, but this was his first as head coach. “They didn’t think they could do it, and I was telling them all year long ‘Keep putting your shoulder to the stone and I promise you good things will happen,’ and that’s essentially what happened.”

At practices this year, the coach put an emphasis on academics before athletics, which led to strong GPAs for the whole team, Starks said. “Putting academics before athletics brought everybody together  and made it so everybody understood that we’re all in this together and gave them something else to bond over rather than just being in the pool all the time.”

Two seniors finished out their high school swim career with great performances at state, Starks said. Nico Morton, who came first in the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke at state, is going to swim collegiately at University of Denver. Lanee Farr, another senior, “did very well in her 50 free and 100 free,” he said. Farr came in 10th and eighth respectively; she has signed with Wesleyan University to play soccer.

Several freshmen team members made it to state but were eliminated in the consolation bracket, but “that is very, very good for their first year swimming for high school,” Starks said.

Throughout the season the Bulldogs were spurred on by friendly competition with their fellow Catholic team, the Soaring Eagle. At the end of the state meet, with a final score of 234, the Judge girls finished just eight points ahead of the Juan Diego girls (226). The Judge boys came in at 392.5 — well ahead of second-place Canyon View High School ( 242 points); Juan Diego took third at the meet with 215 points.

Many of the events at the meet were dominated by swimmers from Catholic schools, with the Judge and Juan Diego swimmers neck and neck in many races. St. Joseph’s Will Jones broke two state records (see story, below), while his younger brother Gabriel, a sophomore, claimed first place in two events, helping the Jayhawks boys team to an eighth overall finish with 112 points. In addition, the Bulldogs set a new 3A boys medley relay state record.

At the end of the two-day event, the Bulldogs team finished with the boys claiming three first-place finishes (100 yard freestyle, 100 yard breaststroke and 400 yard freestyle relay) and eight second-place finishes, along with several other strong showings.

Juan Diego was not far behind with its achievements. Soaring Eagle coach John Moran was named 3A Coach of the Year. Juan Diego girls came in first in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle and seventh in 200 freestyle. Juan Diego boys came in third in the 200 freestyle and 5th in the 200 medley and 400 free.

“Making state was such an incredible thing,” junior Saxton McKnight said. “My team and I worked all year to get to this point, and seeing people drop time was such an amazing experience. I’m happy that I got to share the victories and losses all along, and that’s the beauty in swim. I’m sad to see the seniors go and losing a big chunk of my team, but it made me really appreciate the time I had with each and every one of them.”