By Josh McFadden | [email protected]

The Titans were well-represented at the Class 5A state swim meet at Brigham Young University, Feb. 14 and 15. The boys topped all challengers with a state title. The girls came in second in the field of 28 schools.

Olympus’ boys team piled up 297 points, 60 more than the runners-up from Brighton. The next-closest team from Region 6, Skyline, was a distant sixth with 143 points. On the girls side, the Titans posted 234 points, while Timpview was first with 290.

Winning state was a team effort for the boys, but there were plenty of individual accolades. Ryan Garstang started off by winning the first individual event of the final day, the 200-yard individual medley. The senior finished the race with a time of 1:53.09. Teammate Ian Johnson was ninth in the event with a time of 2:00.37. Garstang wasn’t done, though. He came back later to win the 100 backstroke, swimming the event with an All-American time of 48.71. In the process, he set a new Utah state record.

In the 100 butterfly, the Titans’ Evan VanBrocklin beat out everyone for first place. He swam the challenging stroke in 50.79 seconds, 0.17 in front of the second-place swimmer. His teammate Bridger Sink was ninth at 54.55 seconds. VanBrocklin was also fourth in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:45.88. Freshman Ian Conner showed signs of big things to come when he placed seventh in the 500 free at 4:49.86. 

Ethan Astle came in fifth in the 100 free with a time of 48.80 seconds. In the 100 breaststroke, junior Alexander Turney was third, finishing with a time of 59.02 seconds. In that same event, Sink was fifth at 1:00.24. 

The Titan boys ruled the pool in the relays too.

The 400 free relay team came in first place. Astle, VanBrocklin, Conner and Garstang combined to swim it in 3:10.83, just 0.67 seconds behind a state record. Olympus also won the 200 medley relay with a state record time of 1:34.63. Garstang, Turney, VanBrocklin and Sink took part in that race. 

For the girls, freshman Colleen MacWilliams was just shy of winning 200 IM. She was second with a time of 2:08.79. MacWilliams was also runner-up in the 500 free. She swam the event in 5:07.70. Sophomore Kaiya Lawson was fifth in the 500 free with a time of 5:21.24. Junior Alyssa Cotter was right behind in sixth place, 3.19 seconds in back of Lawson.

Junior Daria Wozniak was eighth in the 50 free with a time of 25.13 seconds. Cotter placed fourth in the 100 fly, completing the event in 1:00.19. 

The girls were third in the 200 free relay, finishing in 1:40.73. Wozniak, Lawson, Cotter and MacWilliams teamed up for the effort. The girls were also third in the 400 free relay. Lawson, MacWilliams, Courtney Nieve and Cotter swam together in 3:40.87. Nieve, Maili Simmons, Madeleine Moran and Wozniak made up the third-place finishers in the 200 medley relay. 

The Olympus teams made a nice improvement from last year when the boys placed fifth, and the girls were fourth.