After weeks of hard work and dedication, the Trojan swim team had their best performance of the season at the state meet, which took place at PDCS on November 8th-9th. Even though it was a cold day this year, the team pulled through and crushed the competition.

Because the team this year was particularly small with a lot of new swimmers, we only had four athletes compete individually at state on November 8th, which was when all the individual events took place. Then, on Saturday, the swimmers finished off their season by competing in finals and participating in their relays.

On the boys side, Malachi Liknes (12), the only boy who swam individually at state, competed in the 100 yard breaststroke, ending his season with a time of 1:14.10 and a 32^nd place finish overall in that event.

Then the boys medley relay, which was made up of Liam Haake (10), Brayden Stuber (11), Malachi Liknes, and Cole Keyonnie Yazzie (12), placed 26th overall with a final time of 2:12.96.

The girls team did exceedingly well at state. Individual swimmers included Tegan Kordell (10), Layla Heller, (12), and Colby McCormick (12). Both Layla and Tegan competed in the 100 yard butterfly. Although neither swimmer earned a personal record, both finished their seasons well, with Layla placing 31st with a time of 1:17.82, and Tegan placing 36th with a time of 1:23.83. Colby swam the 50 and 100 yard freestyle events, achieving personal records in both and then moving on to finals. She was the only one of the Trojan swimmers to move on to finals on Saturday, where she placed 15th in the 50 free with a time of 26.95 and 16th in the 100 free with a time of 59.36. She said, "I was super happy to PR at state, especially because I've never been able to do that in the past. It was fun ending my season on such a high note."

The girls also had two relays compete at state at finals on Saturday: the 200 medley relay and the 200 yard freestyle relay. Their medley relay placed 26th with a time of 2:16.47, and their freestyle relay ended up winning their heat, which was exciting for the girls, placing 16th with their season best time of 1:55.06.

Overall, the Trojan swim squad had a fantastic end to their season. Not only did the swimmers pull through, but their coaches also put in a huge amount of effort in order to make state possible for the athletes. Taylor Guelich, Shane Guelich, and Collin Guelich stepped up at the last minute in the beginning of the season to make it possible for there to be a swim team this year and they facilitated every practice. In addition, they were there early at invitationals and drove the swimmers to many practices. Their dedication truly made it possible for the swim team to have the season that they did. The Trojans couldn't be more thankful and blessed to have them.

The Trojans couldn't have asked for a better season. Congratulations to all the swim athletes! We can't wait for the next season.