Draney wins by more than nine seconds.

By Bubba Brown

| Special to The Tribune

Provo • With each lunge of her sinewy arms into the water, Desert Hills junior swimmer Amelia Draney widened her lead in the girls’ 200-yard freestyle Class 3A state title race.

By the final turn, the race had been all but won. At that point, she was no longer competing against the other swimmers. Her opponents now were the clock and a record time she had set a year ago.

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At a glance

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3A state swimming

Girls’ 200-yard medley relay

1. Judge Memorial, 1:54.34; 2. Wasatch, 1:54.45; 3. Park City, 2:00.39; 4. Desert Hills, 2:02.28; 5. Emery, 2:03.36; 6. Tooele, 2:03.36.

Boys’ 200 medley relay

1. Wasatch, 1:39.19; 2. Park City, 1:41.23; 3. Juan Diego, 1:43.96; 4. Desert Hills, 1:45.08; 5. Tooele, 1:45.86; 6. Spanish Fork, 1:45.95.

Girls’ 200 freestyle

1. Amelia Draney, Desert Hills, 1:52.37; 2. Bailey Burke, Park City, 2:03.09; 3. Kaylee LeBaron, Hurricane, 2:03.50; 4. Megan Draney, Desert Hills, 2:05.83; 5. Natalie Buelte, Uintah, 2:06.35; 6. Dani Kfoury, Intermountain Christian, 2:07.13.

Boys’ 200 freestyle

1. Mitchell Hutchings, Pine View, 1:45.84; 2. Colton Christensen, Spanish Fork, 1:47.35; 3. Jensen Howard, Park City, 1:49.22; 4. Connor Newman, Snow Canyon, 1:49.26; 5. David Finley, Wasatch, 1:51.57; 6. Jonathan Buckendorf, Stansbury, 1:53.17.

Girls’ 200 individual medley

1. McKenzie Barber, Snow Canyon, 2:16.00; 2. Allison Witte, Judge Memorial, 2:17.66; 3. Kaley Banyai, Judge Memorial, 2:20.97; 4. Megan Flake, Park City, 2:21.32; 5. Jodi Pham, Ogden, 2:23.05; 6. Rachel Finley, Wasatch, 2:24.68.

Boys’ 200 individual medley

1. Zach Carfi, Park City, 2:01.30; 2. Brandon Johnson, Tooele, 2:03.05; 3. Michael Pantelakis, Dixie, 2:05.80; 4. Zack Paddock, Pine View, 2:06.56; 5. Hunter Hallows, Wasatch, 2:07.16; 6. Hunter Sullivan, Wasatch, 2:07.79.

Girls’ 50 freestyle

1. Phebe James, Wasatch, 25.49; 2. Zoe Smith, Desert Hills, 25.69; 3. Kayla Greer, Dixie, 25.70; 4. Megan Mounteer, Wasatch, 25.76; 5. Jess Espinoza, Juan Diego, 25.86; 6. Rachel Low, Wasatch, 26.03.

Boys’ 50 freestyle

1. Mitchell Brown, Cedar City, 22.50; 2. Bryce Mounteer, Wasatch, 22.54; 3. Phillip Hojnacki, Juan Diego, 22.66; 4. Brady Winward, Wasatch, 22.77; 5. Makai Smith, Desert Hills, 22.82; 6. Ryan Brown, Stansbury, 22.84.

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She touched the wall more than nine seconds ahead of the next swimmer. But her 1:52.37 finish at Friday’s Day 1 of the Class 3A state meet was eight-tenths of a second off the Class 3A record she had posted last year.

"I guess there are some what-ifs there, but I didn’t do bad. I mean 0.08 isn’t really that much," Draney said. "I’ll get it next time."

Even without a new record, Draney’s smile rarely evaporated from her face following the event. This was partly because she had just added a fourth state title to her mantel, but also because it had come with her sister just a few lanes away. Megan Draney, a freshman, finished fourth with a time of 2:05.83.

"I love that she got to swim this race with me," Draney said. "She did amazing for a freshman. I was so surprised and happy for her."

Added Megan Draney: "It’s a lot of fun, and it’s kind of inspiring to look up to someone like that. I’ve come to state to watch my sister before, and it pushes you to want to do swimming and want to succeed in it."

It was also a special day for Park City’s Zach Carfi. After finishing third in the Class 3A boys’ 200 individual medley state title race the last two years, the senior finally won the event with a time of 2:01.30.

After falling behind early to Tooele’s Brandon Johnson, Carfi made up the time in the breaststroke leg of the race, and when it was over, years of hard work had finally paid off.

"I have chills just talking about it," Carfi said. "I looked up and saw my parents and all the families up there, and it was really humbling."

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