What a season. While it feels like forever ago, it was only nine months ago that the first day of a new University of Utah Club Swimming season began. Tanner Guderian led the team as newly elected President after having served as the previous men's captain. At his side was Jeila Bacon as Vice President, Darcy Conder as Secretary, Cameron Wright as Treasurer, Jonathan Wang as Marketing Director, Sean Farrenkopf as Men's Captain, and Bailey Donaldson as Women's Captain.
Like seasons before, the first two weeks were spent as 'tryouts' where students could get a feel for the team both in and out of the water. Red and Black Week followed where the team was split in two and competed against one another in competitions. As Red and Black Week always does, the first activity was a hike up Salt Lakes Ensign Peak, where back in 2014, the team was first founded. The week concluded with Intrasquad, where teammates competed against each other in a swim meet to determine the final victor of the week-long competition.
And then it was off to the races. only three weeks after Intrasquad, the team left for its first travel meet hosted by CU Boulder, in Boulder, Colorado. This was the team's first look of the year at a competitive meet setting before taking on one of the biggest meets of the year: Wester Regionals, hosted at home in the HPER Natatorium. This was the biggest meet in the West this year, and the team handled it with grace and care for the second year in a row. After Regionals, it was the Utah Winter Classic, where the Utes hoasted Utah Rival School USU in a friendly dual meet to round out the first semester.
In the second semester, after tryouts much like the first semester, the Utes jumped back in their cars and headed to Colorado once again, but this time, to Fort Collins and the CSU Fort Collins Rams for the Ram Invitational. And with almost no time to breathe, the next weekend, they were back on an airplane and were headed to ASU for the Sun Devil Invitational in the warm Arizona sun. This fun in the sun was followed by the last opportunity for swimmers to claim national qualification times back in Colorado at VMAC, where swimmers pursued times with vigor.
A mere three weeks later, it was time. The Utes very best made their way to Indianapolis, Indiana to IUPUI for the 2024 College Club Swimming National Championships.
All these meets delivered fast swims across the board, and even resulted in multiple team records being broken:
Men’s 200 Butterfly - Chandler Eyre - 1:54.86
Men’s 200 Breaststroke - Edison Yang - 2:12.10
Men’s 50 Butterfly - Sean Farrenkopf - 22.95
Women’s 50 Backstroke - Bailey Donaldson - 27.82
Women’s 200 Medley Relay - B. Donaldson, J. Bacon, E. Harvey, M. Kelly - 1:52.02
Women’s 100 Individual Medley - Caroline Luman - 1:02.43
And finally, to conclude the season as always was the team banquet, where everyone got together to celebrate the year that had passed and to look forward to the years ahead. A new board was selected to replace the old board. That new board is,
Jeila Bacon - President
Darcy Conder - Vice President
Secretary - Ethan Atzet
Treasurer - Arron Kozlowski
Marketing Director - John Eckstrom
Men's Captain - Reef Yoked
Women's Captain - Courtney Phelps
There were also the athletic and academic achievement awards that the team voted on:
Most Improved - Mason Towns
Spirit Award - Thomas Zaragoza
Academic Swimmer of the Year - Tanner Guiderian
Male Swimmer of the Year - Sean Farrenkopf
Female Swimmer of the Year - Bailey Donaldson
Rookie of the Year - Chandler Eyre
And with all the awards given to their respective winners, and the end-of-year slideshow playing in the background, the season came to a close. The new board has started the transition of power, and is ready to dive headfirst into next year's amazing season. as always, GO UTES!
