High school girls swimming: Gammill wins 3rd consecutive title

PROVO — It shocked Janessa Gammill when she first won a state title, in the 200 freestyle, during her freshman year at Logan. Those feelings of surprise turned to confidence when she successfully defended that title as a sophomore.

This time around, as a junior, Gammill wanted to make a statement that she cannot be counted out as an elite swimmer when she joins the 4A ranks in 2010.

Gammill made her desired statement by claiming a third straight 200 freestyle title on Friday afternoon in the 3A state meet at BYU. She finished in 1:59.34, edging out Judge Memorial swimmer Garam Kim for the top spot by seven tenths of a second.

One thing Gammill did not expect was a tight race. But she experienced just that when Kim made a serious push to overtake her and posted one of her best 200 free times of the season.

"That was fun," Gammill said. "It was kind of scary though because that Judge girl came out of nowhere. But I showed her who was boss."

Her victory, combined with Chelsea Powell's thrilling win over Judge's Kate McMinimee in the 200 IM, helped the Grizzlies rack up 120 points giving them the clear No. 2 spot behind the Bulldogs.

Judge took a comfortable lead in the team competition as expected. The Bulldogs used depth across the board to rack up 175 points.

Only one event, the 200-medley relay, saw Judge grab a first-place finish. But the Bulldogs didn't need many wins with the way their swimmers dominated in filling up podium spots.

In just the 200 freestyle alone, Judge swimmers placed second through fifth.

"We were certainly not expecting that," said Bulldogs coach Matt Finnigan. "We just wanted to get kids on the podium."

Wasatch's Veronica Hunsaker scored a mild upset when she beat out Park City's Mia Greenwald for the 50 freestyle title. Hunsaker finished in 25.18 seconds, just barely ahead of the top seeded Greenwald who clocked in at 25.32.

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