Quality depth fueling Bengals’ surge

The top-three finishes are great, but in a sport like swimming, it’s how many placings teams can earn in each event that determines who wins the state championship.

With athletes only allowed to compete in two individual events, along with relays, at the state championships, swimmers must be selective in the events they choose. Brighton High’s swimmers are making it hard for themselves and their coach to make that decision.

With a couple of weeks left before state, Brighton’s boys held top-six rankings in every individual and relay event. Long Gutierrez led the state in the 200 freestyle (1:43.97), 100 free (47.01) and 100 backstroke (52.49) and was third in four others – 200 individual medley (2:02.14), 50 free (21.98), 100 butterfly (54.03) and 100 breaststroke (1:02.15). Kyle Spicer was sixth in the 500 free (4:59.45).

Three of those top marks came in January, as Spicer and Gutierrez (200 free) earned theirs in a dual meet against Copper Hills and Gutierrez recorded his 100 back time against West Jordan. Gutierrez overtook Cottonwood’s Alex Bowcut and Jordan Dahle for first place in the 200 free, and surpassed Bingham’s Shane Callihan for the top spot in the 100 back.

Brighton’s boys 200 medley relay team was ranked first in state (1:39.78), while the 200 free relay (1:32.90) and 400 free relay (3:22.17) teams were third, respectively.

Elsewhere, Tanner Wiest was sixth in the 100 fly (54.73), 10^th in the 50 free (22.73) and 11^th in the 100 free, Trent Evans was seventh in both the 500 free (5:00.16) and 200 IM (2:03.73), 12^th in the 100 breast and 18^th in the 200 free and Ryan Brinkerhoff was fifth in the 100 breast (1:03.15).

Spicer was 13^th in the 200 free, Trick Graf was 14^th in the 500 free, Carson Malen was 16^th in the 500 free, Hunter O’Neal was 17^th in the 100 fly, Connor Yost was 20^th in the 100 free and Aryan Farahani was 20^th in the 100 breast for the Bengals.

Meanwhile, Brighton’s girls did not have a swimmer leading the state in any event, but Katy Daggett and Kaitlyn Overstreet each had a pair of top-four rankings. Daggett, a freshman, was second in the 500 free (5:21.09) and third in the 200 free (1:59.58), while Overstreet, a junior, was third in the 100 fly (1:01.22) and fourth in the 100 back (1:03.48) for the Bengals.

Abby Alger was ranked 10^th in the state in the 100 breast (1:14.16), Hailee Wiest was 11^th in the 100 free (57.35), Daggett was 12^th in the 200 IM (2:22.86) and Sydney Nguyen 15^th in the 50 free (26.25). Daggett set a new time in the 200 IM during a meet against Jordan in December, while Wiest recorded her fast time in the 100 free against Alta the same month.

Brighton’s girls 200 free relay team was ranked fourth in state (1:46.88), while the 200 medley relay was fifth (1:58.25) and the 400 free relay was sixth (3:55.94).

Elsewhere, Niki Brinkerhoff was 10^th in the 100 fly (1:03.67), 14^th in the 100 breast and 20^th in the 200 IM and Anna Graf was ninth in the 500 free (5:37.64), 11^th in the 100 fly, 16^th in the 200 free and 17^th in the 200 IM. Zoey Freebairn was 10^th in the 100 fly (1:03.67) and 19^th in the 200 IM, Aubrey Passey was 11^th in the 100 back and Danica Smith was 13^th in the 100 breast.

Nguyen was 15^th in the 100 back, Alger was 19^th in the 100 fly, Wiest was 19^th in the 50 free and Whitney Kennedy was 17^th in the 100 free and 20^th in the 50 free.

The 5A state championships will be Feb. 10-11 at Brigham Young University.