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.

Judge Swimming

The Judge swim team is seeing its season come to a close and state is moving ever closer; the girls looking to redeem themselves after last year's close loss to Park City in the state championships. The boys looking to improve from a 4th place finish. The girls being led by captains Kate McMinimee, Melissa Nichols, and Megan Bush, and the boys being led by Oliver Diamond and Will Bowers. The girls rank 1st going into the races and the boys 5th. The event takes place February 6th and 7th at the BYU swimming pool.

Men's Swimming: The REAL Men

Judge Swimming has always had its rightful place in the State competition. The men's swim team had won the state title 3 of the past 6 years but then lost many strong seniors and had to start from nearly scratch. Coach Matt Finnigan has taking on the challenge and this year the Men Bulldogs look like they have a very good chance to take the state title. They took 3rd in Region trailing Wasatch by 11 points and Park City by 88 points. They plan to gain those 88 points by using the other competition in the state to heighten their performance and surpass Park City in all races. It will be no easy feat for the Bulldogs because they lack depth in their team but have great talent. "We have no outstanding swimmer in breast stroke [and other strokes/relays] and Wasatch has three. It will be tough to keep up."

The team is lead by captain, Judge Memorial junior Oliver Diamond, who is ranked in the top 3 of every event in 3A schools. Senior Will Bowers also has stepped up as captain and driven the team in positive directions. Both encourage the entire team to show respect to all swimmers and coaches and give support for their team mates. Both juniors, Willis Shafer and Will Voytovich look to be strong leaders next year. Willis will be key in two relays and the 100 back. Will will be necessary in 2 relays and the 500 free.

State will come down to what team has the most dedicated team. It won't matter on depth or even how much talent a swimmer has but how well the mens team can work as a team and rack up points.

A Year of Bulldog Swimming

Since Bulldogs Swim to State was published the Bulldog swim team otherwise known as the Tribe has come a long way. At the beginning of the season everybody agreed that the Tribe needed freshman swimmers to win the State Championships and it didn't look like very many freshman were going to show up. But then something extraordinary happened. "About twenty boys showed up," Gulia Longo recollected. "We didn't know what to think of it because we never had 20 boys before, not even when I was swimming here," the '04 graduate said. "We use to have to go out and beg boys to come to the pool. Now we don't even know where to put them all." In addition to the new freshman three juniors Oliver Diamond, Willis Shafer, and Will Voytovich returned for their second to last and senior Will Bowers returned for his last season.

As for the girls, several new freshman appeared among them Cassandra Col who has been a very strong swimmer for the Tribe. Erika Eisenman returned as a junior and Melissa Nichols, Megan Bush, Maria Schwartz, and Kate McMinime returned to swim for their last year.

The season progressed well. The freshman after learning the ropes became a real asset to the team. The sophomores and juniors all got better and the seniors swam as fast as they could. As Captain Oliver Diamond put it, "We think of it as a 'development' year. We'll develop and then we'll go to State and then we'll surprise a lot of people."

The Bulldogs drove down to St. George where they had two meets and everyone dropped time after winning their last regular season meet in Tooele. The Tribe then went to the Region 10 Championships where the Girls Triumphed and the boys took third. The Bulldogs have swam well all season but as coach Matt Finnigan said, "I still don't we've gotten their best shot by any means. When we do, that's the question: Can (we) take the momentum and take it all the way?" The Tribe has two weeks of training left before State. Everyone is going to have to train hard and swim incredibly well if they want their fifth State title in eight years.

Girl's Swimming

The Judge girl's swim team is having an incredible season. Despite losing some of It's key seniors, the team has grown to the largest in a decade. 12 freshmen have joined making 31 girls on the team total. Seniors Kate Mcminimee and Garam Kim and juniors Carolyn and McKenzie Carter are favored in many events. Cassandra Cokl is one of the many up and coming freshmen on the team. "This year is looking great for the girls," said coach Matt Finnegan. When asked which event the girls were strongest in, Finnegan answered, "Well, distance is our real strength but we are pretty versatile. We have been competitive everywhere, and performed well in our meets." Now the team is focused on the 3A state title. Judge seems to be the favorite for the state title but Logan and Park City will certainly be challengers. This is shaping up to be an incredible year for the girls and the entire Judge swimming community.

Judge Swim 08-09

The Judge girl's swim team is having an incredible season. Despite losing key seniors such as Alex Carter and Chris Gibbs, the team has grown to the largest in a decade. 12 freshmen have joined making 31 girls on the team total. Seniors Kate Mcminimee and Garam Kim and juniors Carolyn and McKenzie Carter are also favored in many events. Cassandra Cokl is one of the many up and coming freshmen on the team. "This year is looking great for the girls," said coach Matt Finnegan. When asked which event the girls were strongest in, Finnegan answered, "Well, distance is our real strength but we are pretty versatile. We have been competitive everywhere, and performed well in our meets." Now the team is focused on the 3A state title. Judge seems to be the favorite for the state title but Logan and Park City will certainly be challengers. This is shaping up to be an incredible year for the girls and the entire Judge swimming community.

3A swim championships

Last weekend the swimming Judge Bulldogs competed in the 3A State Championships. They knew it would be a hard fight going in and they all did their best to rule the pool. In the last five years the girls squad has achieved first every year. This year the girls team placed second to Park City. They made it very exciting, making it come down to the last event – the 400 yard Freestyle Relay. They made Park City give it all and they were great competition. Every competitor did their best and many had personal records. The boys squad, with only twelve on the team, achieved fourth place. Almost all had personal records or got to be on the podium and get a medal. The 2-day meet never lacked in excitement and they reached a great accomplishment. Congratulations swim team of 07-08!

-by Jackson Elizondo

Girls Swimmers Almost Take State

Last Friday and Saturday the Judge swimmers took a trip down to BYU to compete in the State championships. The mood was set and everyone was pumped to swim in their events. Although I was not present I definitely knew what it was like, being a swimmer myself. This is an important moment for a swimmer and it determines their rank on the charts. If they can do well they can be ranked as a top swimmer. Luckily the swimmers were close enough friends that it wasn't all serious and they were able to get in some quality time. Even though it did turn out to be a disappointment when at the end of the meet the Judge swimmers took second losing by only 6 lousy points. We lost to park city which was the worst part about it, but being the good sports that they are they walked out with their heads held high. The boys took 4th place, but they are still our heroes. In fact all of our swimmers are our heroes.

Judge Swims to Victory

Congratulations to our Boys and Girls State Swimming Teams!
The girls swim team placed second in state for 3-A, and the boys placed fourth.
We'd also like to congratulate all the Judge students who placed in individual events, as well as Coach Reed and Coach Finnigan.

- by Lieren S. Allen

Judge Swim Team Battles Park City

The Judge Swim Team just finished up two meets in which they swam valiantly against rival Park City. The Park City Invite, last Friday and Saturday, was a long and tough meet for the girl's team. They lost to the deep, developed Park City team by 34 points. The Judge girls stepped it up after Saturdays devastating loss to come back Wednesday to the Region X meet and beat PC by 48 points. Although the girls team may not be a shoe-in for the state title this season, they definitely have been working hard and are determined to make it six.

The boys team has really stepped it up this year. They took a respectable 4th at the PC Invite, boasting an incredible win in the 400 Free relay. They came back with determination and drive to the Region X meet and took 2nd, just behind Wasatch. The boys are pumped and are planning to continue working hard to achieve their best. The next meet for the swim team is Tuesday against Bingham.

Boys swim team starts up

With the swim season starting all of the boys on Judge's swimming team were pumped to start this year where we will try to regain control of the 3-A High School State Championship. With Chris Gibbs as the boy's team captain everyone felt excited to start this year. With the splashes of all of the boys jumping in the pool that started their first 2007-2008 practice while the excitement overwhelming the pool the boy's are just hungry for that trophy.

- by Christopher Bujnowski

Girls swim team

The Girls swim team is now almost over with preseason training.

The training/practice/conditioning pool at Granite High school has been tested positive for over dosage of chlorine, rumoured to be at over 25%. So this week no swimming Monday, but an extended dry land practice will be organized to compensate for the accident. Team looking good. Maybe a 6th 1st place for our Judge girls swim team.

- by Joe

Swim Team Works on Chemistry

Have you smelled chlorine in your classes lately? It is probably emanating from the swimmer sitting in front of you. The swim season officially started with the team hopping in the pool on September 17. That chlorine smell will be the official perfume of the swimmers for the next six months (the longest of the sports seasons). But is the concentration of chlorine in the athletes' skin actually harmful to them?

With the recent breakout of cryptosporidium bacteria in local swimming pools, the amount of chlorine in pools has been increased and children under the age of five have been banned from most public pools. Granite High School pool, however, hosts only the Judge swim team-none of whom are under five or carrying the harmful crypto; therefore the concentration of chlorine should be less than that of public pools in the area. Following the direction of the State Board of Health, the chlorine level has been raised from the usual 1.5% to 5% in order to kill the crypto. This level, though somewhat uncomfortable, is safe.

Recently, the members of the swim team have noticed some unusual symptoms due to the chlorine. While the swimmers are used to and even pride themselves on ailments such as dry skin, bleached hair and that chlorine smell that seems to follow them everywhere, they were not expecting to experience the loss of arm hair, reduction of eyebrows and minor chemical burns and rashes. The health department was called in to test the level of chlorine. To no surprise, the level was too high: about 7-10% which is approaching the danger zone. Sodium was added to dilute the chlorine and it is now down to a comfortable level. Despite this discomfort, the swimmers are still working hard towards getting in shape for the season. The first meet is on October 25 in Kearns.

- by Maria Schwarz

Judge Swimming Summer Training

The Judge swim teams got off to an early start this year. The newly formed
Basileus Race Team began practicing in May after only three months of rest
after the girl's decisive win at State. The team practiced hard this summer
in order to stay in shape for the upcoming season. This dedicated group of
swimmers is now "fixed on six" state championships and are showing their
focus and drive by practicing tirelessly nine months out of the year. The
team has received a new Vasa Trainer, an exercise machine that provides
resistance and strength training, as well as polishing swimming technique.

Coach Matt Finnigan says of the upcoming season, "Both our teams look very
promising!"

Dryland training is M-W-F 3-4 in the Cardio Room above the gym. The high
school swimming season begins September 17.