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.

Girls Swimming

Coach Finnigan has been the swim team coach for five years. He was a swimmer in high school and college and has much experience in the sport. Swimming hasn't started yet, but those who are looking to be on the swim team but are not doing any other sports right now are doing dry-land three times a week. After school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays they meet upstairs in the gym. The swim team is not aloud to get into the water until September 22, but once they do, they practice everyday from Monday through Saturday. Some of those days practice is in the morning.

Captains for the swim team have not been announced yet, but Coach Finnigan had a few headliners in mind. "Kate McMinimee is looking to be a real asset to the team, and Diamond and Will Bowers for the boys," he said. For those looking to sign up for the swim team still, Coach Finnigan is located in the Development office on the main floor.