Skyline favored at state meet

PROVO — After the Kearns' girls swim team finished just eight points behind Skyline in a dual meet last month, upsetting the Eagles at state this year appeared possible.

Not so fast.

While Skyline is certainly not unbeatable, it looks more than capable of defending its 5A title against Kearns and Brighton for a fourth straight championship. Behind outstanding team depth and good individual talent, the Eagles return to the 5A state swimming championships as the favorite in the girls draw. They are also heavy favorites on the boys side.

The 5A championship meet will begin today at 5 p.m. in the Richards Building at BYU.

"We'd have to swim pretty badly to lose, and we don't normally do that," said Skyline coach Rod Horton. "We usually swim better."

Distance swimmer KC Albiston (200-yard freestyle and 500 freestyle) leads Skyline's girls team.

The Eagles' girls team also has Anna Crandall (100 freestyle and 200 freestyle), Sara Nicponski (200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke) and Kristina Evans (50 freestyle and 100 freestyle).

After finishing just eight points ahead of Kearns in the two teams' dual meet, Skyline's girls team beat the Cougars by a comfortable advantage at the Region 3 meet, which better reflects the state meet.

The Skyline boys team is anchored by sprinter George Evans (50 freestyle and 100 freestyle). The boys side also features Nathan Swallow and Drew Bowles.

Perhaps the biggest key for both of Horton's teams will be depth. The Eagles are four-deep in almost every individual event.

"It's not just that we have four swimmers (in each event)," said Horton. "Our four tend to be in the top 10 or top 12."

One of the best individual battles will take place Saturday morning in the 100 butterfly. Kearns' Jennifer Fredsall and Brighton's Ana Agy have produced two outstanding races in previous 5A championships.

Fredsall won both of those encounters, but Agy was this year's fastest qualifier at :56.89, 10 hundreths of a second ahead of the Kearns senior.