Girls win State again; boys take 4th

On February 5 and 6, the Judge swimmers took a trip down to BYU to compete in the 2010 State Championships. "The atmosphere was very intense and nail-biting," said senior Malori McGill, a swim fan who made the trip to Provo.

Girls swimming won their seventh state title in eight years taking first place with 380 points while fending off top-rival Park City. Park City and Wasatch followed with scores of 372 and 275, respectively.

The "Scarlet Heroes of Yore" coach Matt Finnigan, was overjoyed with the win. "This one was maybe sweeter because it had to be a team effort," Finnigan said. "We just forgot about scoring, swam hard, had fun and let the chips fall where they may." Junior Lydia Jones took the Bulldogs home with individual wins in the 200 (2:00.68) and 500 (5:27.29) freestyles. This year's girls talented squad was led by team captains Erika Eisenman '10 and Carolyn Carter '10, and got power and speed boosts with newcomers Lydia Jones '11, Meghan Brockmeyer '10, and Emily Murnin '13.

On the boys' side, Park City won the state title (339) while Wasatch took second (320) and Juan Diego Catholic placed third (251) while Judge took fourth. In his final high school meet, Judge senior Oliver Diamond, the defending 3A swimmer of the meet, left no doubt about who is the best male swimmer in 3A this year taking first in the 50 (21.44) and 100 (46.98) freestyles and grabbing another "swimmer of the meet" award . Diamond followed up first place in the 50 free on Friday by producing a super-fast win in the 100 free on Saturday.

Diamond scored 268 points — the second-highest total of anyone at this weekend's state meets. "It was my last race and I was excited for it," said Diamond. "My goals were to just come out and swim hard and support this team." And Diamond did just that, flying by the competition and showing that Judge is still and always will be a competitor.