High school swimming: Taylor breaks record as Mustangs swim strong

HYRUM — As he lay in bed the night before his team's region swim meet, Mountain Crest star junior Jake Taylor started thinking about what he wanted to accomplish the following afternoon.

For the very best swimmers like Taylor, region meets are usually nothing more than an exhibition for them to slog through before tapering for the all-important state meet the following week.

However, because of the uncertainty over what he'll swim at state, Taylor started to think about going all out in the 200 free at region. A season ago at state, Taylor battled with Snow Canyon's Joe Beutler in that event in what was an epic race, a race which Beutler ultimately won and set a state record in.

"I really wanted to get Joe's record (at region), so I was like, "Why not try for it?'" said Taylor.

That's precisely what he did Thursday afternoon at the Region 5 championships, and the end product was a fantastic individual performance.

Taylor went 1:39.98 in the 200 free, which was almost two seconds faster than Beutler's state record of 1:41.95. Taylor's swim Thursday won't officially count as a state record because it didn't come at a state meet, but clearly Taylor showed everybody how fast he plans to swim at next week's 4A meet — whether he's in the 200 free or not.

"I wrote on my hand last night that I wanted to get a 1:39, and I was thinkin' that I'd have to get a high one, so I wrote '97' (hundredths)," said Taylor. "Ninenty-eight (hundredths) isn't bad."

Not bad at all.

Afterward, the focus shifted to whether Taylor — or Beutler, for that matter — would swim the 200 free at state again and rematch in what would be one of the most highly-anticipated head-to-head matchups in state history.

Neither Taylor nor Beutler has revealed where they'll swim at state, but their decisions will be revealed this afternoon once the 3 p.m. deadline for state entries has passed.

"We're not sure if he's going to swim the 200 free at state, but he wanted to break the record (at region), just in case," said Mountain Crest coach Yolanda Bates. "If that's not what he swims at state, he wanted to know that he's that fast."

Taylor's phenomenal swim overshadowed a very solid overall performance by Mountain Crest's boys and girls teams.