High school swimming: Bingham boys, Kearns girls win Region 3 swimming crowns

If nothing else, Bingham High's boys swim team can see the battle that looms on the horizon.

The Miners sure swam fast at the Region 3 championships on Wednesday inside the Fairmont Aquatic Center, and they celebrated pretty exuberantly after successfully defending their region title.

Afterward, though, they seemed to grasp this important fact: While winning a region title is nice, winning a state title would be a million times more fulfilling.

And the Miners say they're ready to tackle that task. That much was evident after the Miners beat second-place Hunter, 314-289, to the Region 3 title Wednesday afternoon.

"We're really ready to take on Brighton," said Bingham star David King, whose Miners will battle with top-ranked Brighton and American Fork for the 5A title next weekend. "We weren't tapered at all today, and so we're just ready to go."

Whether Bingham would or wouldn't taper for the Region 3 meet, as it had clearly done in previous seasons, had been the subject of much discussion throughout the swim season, with many suggesting the Miners should save the fast swims of their top-level swimmers for state and not worry about region.

So did Bingham taper Wednesday?

On one hand, the Miners recorded season-best swims in 22 of the 23 individual boys races that they scored points in at region. However, the Miners insisted afterward that they weren't tapered and that they have a whole lot more left in the tank for next week.

"Definitely," King said when asked if his team would be able to go significantly faster at state. "I know that we can beat Brighton next week. I know there's no doubt after the taper that we're going to be able to beat Brighton if we bring our A game."

King (200 IM and 100 breast) and fellow star Geremy Koyle (200 free and 500 free) each recorded a pair of individual wins to help pace Bingham at the region meet, and the Miners won the day's final event, the 400 free relay, to close on a positive note.

King, Koyle and Cody Stewart, along with coach Andee Bouwhuis, watched from the balcony at the Fairmont Aquatic Center when Brighton won the Region 2 meet last Saturday, and it clearly had an effect on how the Miners attempted to swim at their own region meet four days later.

"We weren't scared, but we were surprised at what Brighton was able to do last week," said King. "We're really going to step it up and take 'em out."

Meanwhile, Kearns won its fourth Region 3 girls title in a row as it beat Bingham, 327-256.

Sisters Adelin Marsh (50 free and 100 breast) and Ciera Marsh 200 IM and 100 free) won twice individually to lead Kearns' girls team, which also got individual wins from Annika Bergesen (100 fly) and Morgan Giles (100 back) and swept all three relay events.

"Our goal at the region meet was to swim at or near best times, and we had most people at that spot," said Kearns coach Chris Horne.

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