By Kyle Goon

| The Salt Lake Tribune

Provo • There wasn’t a star this year for the Brighton girls’ swimming team. The Bengals came into the Class 5A swim meet knowing everyone would have to pull her own weight.

That mantra carried over to the second day of competition, when Brighton found itself down to Bingham and at risk of failing to defend its state title.

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At a glance

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5A girls’ swimming results

Team results (points)

1. Brighton (347)

2. Bingham (266)

3. Alta (234)

Individual results

100 butterfly » Kaitlyn Overstreet, Brighton (58.96)

100 freestyle » Samm Scoresby, Lone Peak (53.37)

500 freestyle » Camille Okelberry, American Fork (5:13.70)

200 freestyle relay » Riverton (1:40.37)

100 backstroke » Abbey Sorensen, Riverton (1:00.04)

100 breaststroke » Brianna Francis, Alta (1:04.72)

400 freestyle relay » Alta (3:36.40)

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"We were kind of hoping the second day would be our stronger one," senior captain Whitney Kennedy said. "I told the underclassmen that this is it. They have to give it all."

With their depth churning at full strength, the Bengals were able to slip past Bingham in the point standings early on and slowly build an insurmountable lead. Despite winning only one race on Saturday at BYU, Brighton accumulated 347 points and managed to secure its third consecutive state title.

The first race of the day — the 100 butterfly — gave the Bengals the lead. Junior Kaitlyn Overstreet defended her individual title, and Niki Brinkerhoff and Anna Graf finished in the top seven. Brighton didn’t win another competition, but 10 more racers and relay teams would crack the top eight in the remaining races.

It was somewhat of a quiet victory for a program that has dominated girls’ swimming the past few years. Few stood at the top of the podium, but slowly the Bengals pulled away in the standings — a true team victory.

"A whole lot of girls worked really hard for this, and it’s paying off," Overstreet said. "Even our freshmen were giving everything out there."

Bingham finished well behind Brighton, collecting 266 points on its way to a second-place finish. The Miners also flashed solid depth, finishing in the top three in three competitions, but didn’t win any Day 2 races.

Perhaps Bingham’s most impressive feat was holding off a late push by Alta. Led by junior Brianna Francis, the Hawks came close to beating out their crosstown rival. Francis won the 100 breaststroke, unseating defending champ Brittani Finlayson of Lone Peak. She also anchored Alta’s winning 400 freestyle relay.

After the meet, Francis said she was flattered to be elected swimmer of the year by 5A coaches.

"It’s amazing to have made that kind of impression," she said. "I was sick earlier this year, and I wasn’t sure if I could even compete. But I sort of made the decision not to roll over and die, and now this shows me it was definitely worth it."

The meet had no shortage of thrills. Perhaps the most surprising was when American Fork senior Camille Okelberry won the 500 freestyle by 15/100ths of second in a race that is usually not close. Riverton freshman Abbey Sorensen also provided a surprise by beating out Overstreet in the 100 backstroke. The race took so much out of her that her legs buckled as she stepped to the podium to accept her gold medal. Lone Peak’s Samm Scoresby edged out a tough field in the 100 freestyle to bring home a title.

kgoon@sltrib.com Twitter: @kylegoon