Morgan Swim Team continues to make waves

It’s midseason for the Morgan High Swim team! They just returned from a trip to Moab where they competed on Friday, Jan. 5, and Saturday, Jan. 6. The next Wednesday, January 10, they competed against North Summit and held their Senior Night. Each meet they are looking to continue shaving seconds off their times as they prepare for Region on Feb. 1, 2024, in Heber City and the 3A State Swimming Championships at BYU Feb. 16-17.  

For the past eight years, Morgan High’s swimmers, coaches, and parents have traveled miles daily to make the swim team viable at a school in a town that doesn’t have a pool. The sacrifices required to participate on the swim team include leaving the high school at 4:15 pm daily to travel to Coalville to practice at the North Summit pool. Morgan never has home meets. Every meet is an away meet, even the past week when they swam in their practice pool, they were the visiting team, with North Summit hosting the event.

But the Trojans’ intrepid swimmers continue to deal with the logistical challenges to participate and excel in the sport they love. Twenty-six students comprise the swim team this year. Led by third-year coach Kerrie Gordon, the team is competing well in the region and state meets and improving their personal records (PR) at almost every meet. Jared Noorda, team meet coordinator and statistician, shared that most of the swimmers have already individually had five PRs this year! One swimmer has shaved over a 1:39 off her initial time. Hours of swimming are paying off big dividends for the swimmers.

Although this year’s team is smaller than some teams in the past that have had over 50 swimmers, there are several swimmers who can compete against the best in the state  Lizzy Bess is a junior swimmer who is ranked in the top 100 swimmers in the state in seven of the eight events. Bess and senior Brielle Sill have been trading school records in the 100 Breaststroke, for the past year. Sill is currently holding the record, having broken Bess’ record last year. Sill is ranked in the top 100 in the state in all eight events. Another female swimmer with top times on the team is sophomore Tessa Smith. She is the fastest backstroker and excels in freestyle

On the boys’ team, sophomore Connelly Breinholt, a sprinter, is one of only four swimmers in MHS history to swim the 50 Freestyle race in under 25 seconds. He has a bright future for the Trojans and looks to compete well at Region and State. Junior Gerrit Noorda is a distance specialist. He is the school 500 freestyle record holder with a time of 5:38.28 and is two seconds away from breaking the school record for the 200 freestyle. He is also ranked in the Top 100 in the state in all eight events. Senior Connor Smith is working to break the school 200 IM (Individual Medley-butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle) record and is the fastest 100 backstroker on the team.

“We consistently take 20 kids to state,” Noorda shared. “We have 12 or so kids who will qualify and compete in individual events, and other swimmers who are on our relays. It’s hard to compete against Ogden and Union in our region for depth; we just don’t have the numbers.”

The Morgan Swim Team traveled to Moab last weekend for two meets, one Friday and one Saturday. The opponents were Grand County, Gunnison Valley, and Hurricane High Schools. 

Noorda shared that 18 PRs were reached by swimmers in the Friday meet. He reported on the success of several swimmers.

Lizzy Bess won the 200 yd freestyle event and dropped 8 seconds off her time. 

Connelly Breinholt dropped 14 seconds off his 200 yd freestyle time, and he won the 100 yd freestyle event with a 56.04 second time.  

Bess, Brooke Williford, Brielle Sill, and Tessa Smith won the 200-yard freestyle relay event. 

Daxin Witte dropped 8 seconds off his 200-yard IM time. 

Olivia Wilde dropped 8 seconds off her 100-yard back time.       

Elijah Pfeifer dropped 5 seconds off his 100-yard back time.

Gerrit Noorda dropped 5 seconds off his 100-yard breast time.

On Saturday at the second meet, Smith, Sill, Bess, and Wilde won the 200-yard medley relay event. Connor Smith won the 100-yard back event, and Sill won the 100-yard breast event.

To watch the Trojans swimmers, fans can go to Sporfie to catch the live stream Jared Noorda sets up for each meet. Search Morgan Swim Team λ