After third-place finishes the past two years, Wasatch High School’s girls swim team won the 6A state championship in February.
The Wasps were the favorite heading into the meet and delivered impressive scores. The girls won nine of 11 races during the championship: all three relays and six of eight individual events, finishing with a 57-point lead over runner-up Skyridge High School.
Team co-captain Grace Cannon said it was exciting to win in her senior year.
“We kind of knew going in that we were kind of on top, but like hearing that it was like, actually real this time, because it hasn't been the other three times, it was really amazing,” she said.
Reece Andrews, also a senior and team co-captain, agreed. She said the team was holding hands when the win was announced. They then started cheering and jumped into the competition pool, as is tradition.
“We sang the fight song, and then when we got back to the high school, we went on the school bus and the fire truck escorted us down Main Street,” she said. “So that was a really fun way to celebrate.”
Coach Shawn Marsing — who was also named 6A swim coach of the year — said the girls have been top contenders for the state title the last few years. But they missed out on the top two spots of the podium due to relay disqualifications. During the relay, the next swimmer took off too early.
That was something the team worked on this year.
“We knew that this year our girls on the relays were fast enough to win, even if we had slow starts,” Marsin said. “If we could just get safely in the water, we were good enough to win.”
That training paid off; the team won first in all three relay races at the championship. Cannon said she and Andrews both compete in the 200 medley relay. They broke the 6A state record for the race during the regional tournament this year.
Cannon also competed in the 200 freestyle relay and Andrews competed in the 400 freestyle relay.
The team also broke two individual 6A records: Andrews in the 100 butterfly and Ana Diedrichs broke her own record in the 100 breast stroke.
Andrews said she was nervous before the individual race, but was able to calm her mind before jumping into the pool.
“I was, like, this is my last 100 fly, maybe ever, and I'm gonna swim it for me. I love this event, I'm not gonna worry about this girl next to me who almost beat me at regions and had beat me at regions,” she said. “I'm just gonna swim this for myself, and I did really good.”
On top of the work on relay races, Cannon and Andrews said the whole team was more committed to practices this year. They often trained eight times a week.
Those training sessions were tough, but the pair said they were also the best part of swimming, as that’s where they made lifelong friendships.
