Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Pedro Young Jr. qualified provisionally in three events, competed in two, and did not place in the top 16 during either one.
Wiltbank leaves a lasting legacy in individual events
By Raymundo Frasquillo
MORENCI – Four Morenci student-athletes entered the final state qualifying meet at Oro Valley with hopes of being one of the entrants to the state meet. Neither relay team met the required provisional time, 200 Free Relay (1:47.17) and 200 Medley Relay (2:02.02), posting times of 1:54.16 and 2:20.11, respectively. The medley relay team had a previous season-best 2:15.31 mark.
Individually, Pedro Young Jr. turned in provisional times for the 50 Free (25.56) and 100 Fly (1:06.97) with clockings of 24.38 and 1:01.88, respectively. The Morenci junior’s state meet preliminary times were not fast enough, 24.64 for 31st in the 50 Free and 1:02.14 for 28th in the 100 Fly, to qualify for the finals.
Class of 2024 teammate Gabriel Clancy attended the state meet as an alternate, but no one dropped out, so he did not get to compete.
It was the first time in six seasons that the Wildcats did not place at the state meet top 16 to score points. The Wildcats totaled 24 points for 22nd in 2022, 17 to tie for 28th in 2021, 20 to tie for 24th in 2020, 19 for 27th in 2019, and six for 30th in 2018.
2023 Division III State Champions
Chandler Arizona College Prep emerged as the team state champion with 309 points or 104 more than runner-up Phoenix Country Day School (205).
The winning relays were Phoenix Country Day School’s 200 Medley Relay (1:39.34) and 400 Free Relay (3:14.61) along with Arizona College Prep’s 200 Free Relay (1:29.00).
Members of the 200 Medley Relay were Bennett Russo, Cabot Teskey, Oliver Lehmann, and Oliver Wilmink; the 200 Free Relay had freshman Langston Lindsey, senior Tiago Wakefield, junior Jeremiah Boyer, and freshman Elijah Peng; and the 400 Free Relay had Wilmink, Lehmann, Russo, and Tesky.
The individual event winners were Tucson Salpointe Catholic senior Keegan Kelly in the 50 Free with 21:01 and 200 Free with 1:38.61; Pusch Ridge Christian junior Ryan Stamer in the 100 Free with 46.22; Pusch Ridge senior Alexander Equid in the 100 Fly with 50.33 and in the 100 Breast with 57.21; Tucson Tanque Verde senior Nicholas Cusson in the 100 Back with 52.68; and Goodyear Estrella Foothills junior Tanner Sheffert in the 200 IM with 1:55.44 and in the 500 Free with 4:40.30.
2023 Division III State Team Placements
Paradise Valley’s Phoenix Country Day School finished second with 205 points, Tucson Salpointe Catholic third (183), Gilbert Classical fourth (156), Tucson Tanque Verde fifth (115), Tucson Pusch Ridge Christian sixth (112), Scottsdale Notre Dame Prep seventh (107), Surprise Paradise Honors eighth (101), Chandler Valley Christian ninth (93), and Scottsdale Prep 10th (92).
Buckeye Odyssey Institute was 11th (87), Goodyear Estrella Foothills 12th (86), Glendale Trivium Prep 13th (73), Sedona Red Rock and Fountain Hills tied for 14th (68), Sahuarita Walden Grove 16th (66), Cottonwood Mingus 17th (52), Gilbert North American Leadership 18th (45), Mesa Eastmark 19th (40), and Sahuarita tied with Phoenix Horizon Honors for 20th (31).
Gilbert Christian was 22nd (27), Phoenix Saint Mary’s 23rd (26), Tucson Mica Mountain 24th (25), Chandler Prep 25th (20), Scottsdale Cicero Prep 26th (13), Queen Creek Crimson 27th (12), Scottsdale Christian and Tucson Sabino tied for 28th (10), and Queen Creek Benjamin Franklin 30th (9).
Glendale Cactus and Phoenix Basis tied for 31st (7), Phoenix Shadow Mountain 33rd (6), and Bullhead City Mohave 34th (2).
Morenci School Records
Class of 2023 grad Quinton Wiltbank set the bar for the 100 Fly (55.80) and 100 Breast (1:04.34) in 2021, the 200 Free (1:53.49) in 2020, as well as the 200 Individual Medley (2:14.47) and 500 Free (5:12.17) in 2019.
Wiltbank finished his 4-year career by placing in the top 16 nine times during four different individual events at the state meets, four times in the 100 Fly with a personal 55.80 clocking for 9th during the 2021 meet, thrice in the 100 Breast with 1:04.66 for 13th during 2022, once in the 200 Free (1:53.49) for 11th during 2020, and once in the 500 Free (5:12.17) for 11th during 2019.
Class of 2023 grad Tyler Lewis left a team-best time in the 100 Back (1:02.57) to place 15th during the 2021 state meet. He qualified twice more in that same event, placing 14th (1:04.83) in 2020 and finishing 18th (1:02.64) to become the second alternate in 2022.
Another Class of 2023 grad, Elijah Leyba finished 12th of 24 in the 100 Free with a clocking of 53.86 (26.05, 27.81). He was ranked 16th before the 2022 meet.
The initial 2-time state meet qualifier, Class of 2021 grad Thaddeus Gray Jr. set marks in the 100 Free (50.21) for 10th and in the 50 Free (23.11) for 15th during 2019. He clocked in at 51.38 to place 11th in the 100 Free during 2018.
Morenci’s 200 medley relay, Class of 2023 members Tyler Lewis, Elijah Leyba, and Quinton Wiltbank along with Class of 2025 member Pedro Young Jr. posted a school record time of 1:51.26 in 2022 for 10th, surpassing its sectional meet time of 1:53.83 and the 2019 clocking of 1:52.74 by Gray, Leyba, Lewis, and Wiltbank.
Although Leyba, Lewis, Young, and Wiltbank finished 18th and the second alternate in the 400 Free Relay (3:44.58) in 2022, their final state qualifying meet time of 3:42.24 remains a school record.
The 200 Free Relay preliminary time of 1:40.73 by Leyba, Class of 2022 grad Rebel Gentry II, Gray, and Wiltbank during 2019 is also a school record.
Relay team records set in 2018 were 1:56.29 (200 FR) and 2:14.95 (200 MR) with both including then-sophomores Gray, Israel Bernal-Diaz, Jazper Brooks, and freshman David Marquez Jr.
The six-year program has had three head coaches, Eric Waanamen (2018), Dana Bayardo (2019-22), and Renee Stills (2023).
Four Wildcats, two freshmen, and two sophomores comprised the 2018 team; nine the second in 2019 with four freshmen, two sophomores, and three juniors; seven the third in 2020 with two freshmen, four sophomores, and a junior; eight the fourth in 2021 with a freshman, two sophomores, three juniors, and two seniors; eight the fifth in 2022 with two freshmen, one sophomore, one junior, and four seniors; and five the sixth in 2023 with two sophomores, a junior, two seniors. Not all participants finished the season.
Five four-year participants have been David Marquez Jr. (2021), Tyler Lewis (2023), Quinton Wiltbank (2023), Elijah Leyba (2023), and Gabriel Clancy (2024).
