Juan Diego swim team achieves state awards

Intermountain Catholic

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John Moran discusses the leader board and events with a few of the Juan Diego swim team members. Juan Diego junior Kelsey Leeson after her finish.

PROVO — Juan Diego Catholic High School’s swim coach John Moran was awarded the 3A girls Coach of the Year following the state championship at Brigham Young University Feb. 4-5. Juan Diego junior Kelsey Leeson won the state championship in the 200-yard and 50-yard freestyle, and anchored the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays, with first- and second- place finishes, respectively.

Juan Diego led after the first day of competition, but the championship came down to the outcome of the 400-yard relay - the final event. Moran thought the team to beat was Desert Hill High School. Matt Finnigan, Judge Memorial swim coach, said it looked like the championship was going to go to either Park City or Juan Diego. But in the end, it belonged to Judge Memorial.

"When push comes to shove, Juan Diego and Judge Memorial want to beat each other, but there really is a good chemistry between the two schools," said Moran. "We are happy to see them do well in their events and they are happy for us."

"I congratulate John on his Coach of the Year award," said Finnigan. "Every year he seems to bring a better team to the state event. At the end of the day, our kids have a lot of respect for many of the schools and it is even better when it is our sister school."

The Coach of the Year award is selected by a vote of peers. "I look at this award, not just as recognition of me, but as recognition of the smaller teams throughout the state," said Moran, who serves as president of the Utah Swimming Coaches Association. "The coaches work really hard, and many don’t necessarily have the amount of talent as do the larger schools."

Moran has been the coach at Juan Diego for the past 10 years. He graduated from Springfield College in Massachusetts. He is also Juan Diego’s director of Special Events and chairs the Skaggs Catholic Center Youth Activities Association.

Both the Juan Diego boys’ and girls’ teams did very well this year at the state meet, said Moran. "On the girls team, Kelsey Leeson is a stand out swimmer," he said.

Leeson started swimming competitively the summer before her freshman year on a club team. This year, she broke the school record in the 50- and the 200-yard freestyle and the team broke the record in 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay. Leeson said she is the fastest swimmer on the team and serves as an example for other members. "I give them a challenge they can work toward," she said. "I’ve played many sports and I was just OK at them, but I love swimming."

Soaring Eagle Phillip Hojnacki took second place in the 200-yard individual medley for the boys and set a new school record, and Matt Bird set a new school record in the 100-yard breast stroke. At the meet, the girls set eight new school records and the boys set five new schools records.

The Soaring Eagle team averages swimming 35,000 yards a week and Moran said what makes the team special is that they swim off campus. "We swim about six days a week and do dry land exercises three days a week," Moran said. "We run bleachers, stretch, jump and weight train. The kids spend a lot of time together and help each other with homework. The kids are pretty tight and the same is true for the parents, who know what the kids are going through as a team. The nature of swimming is there is full accountability because the performances are timed, but they adjust to that with experience."