High school swimming: Judge, Park City claim Region 10 crowns

PARK CITY — A season ago, Park City's girls swim team surprised some by taking an aggressive approach at the Region 10 meet.

The move, orchestrated by coach Mike Werner, worked out brilliantly, however, as the Miners edged reigning champ Judge at region and rode that momentum to an eventual state championship two weeks later.

That same aggressive strategy was employed at this year's Region 10 championships, held Saturday afternoon in Park City, but this time, the roles were completely reversed.

While defending 3A champ Park City contented itself to use the region meet to try and figure out where people will swim at state, Judge unveiled a strong lineup that was clearly designed to allow the Bulldogs to fare better than last year.

And fare better they did, as Judge swam quite well from start to finish to beat Park City, 560-502.5. Meanwhile, Park City's boys team scored 495 points to beat out Wasatch (418) and Judge (407).

"We definitely were a little more aggressive with our approach," Judge coach Matt Finnigan said of his girls team. "Last year, I don't think we put a lot of our kids in their best stuff, but this year we did. But 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?"

A season ago, Park City swam phenomenally well at state to capitalize on the momentum it gleaned from region, and Finnigan and Co. understand that they'll have to do the same thing to be able to beat the Miners when it counts.

Having said that, Saturday's region win, in which Judge swept all three relays, will undoubtedly give the Bulldogs confidence heading into the 3A state meet in 12 days.

"It definitely shows that we have potential this year to come back strong," said Judge senior Garam Kim, who won individually in the 100 free.

Kate McMinimee and Victoria Luman also won individually for Judge, but perhaps the best aspect of the Bulldogs' performance Saturday was the job they did in the relays.

Park City swept Judge earlier in the season in all three relays, but the Bulldogs returned the favor on Saturday.

"All season long our relays just haven't been there, so we emphasized them last week down in St. George and it carried to this," said Finnigan.

On the boys side, star Griffin Pool won twice individually and Briggs Lyman added another win to help pace Park City, which looked quite solid on Saturday.

Park City, Judge and Wasatch will all play major roles at state on the boys side, but at region, it was the Miners who shined the brightest.

E-mail: drasmussen@desnews.com