Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Christian Montano practices the breast stroke. The Morenci senior is one of two first-year Class of 2025 members on the team. Morenci opened the season in Maricopa on Thursday, Sept. 5.
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 2023 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, 24.64 for 31st in the 50 Free and 1:02.14 for 28th in the 100 Fly, were not fast enough 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.
Returning to the water for the Wildcats this season are senior Pedro Young Jr. along with juniors Maxwell Clancy and Bryce McGahee.
First-year participants include seniors James Anderson, Christian Montano, and Omar Torres, along with freshmen Matthew Goodman, Caleb Hancock, and Christian Kudadiri.
Morenci has a regular season of 10 meets, six in September and four in October with four being state qualifiers, before the two-day final state qualifier on Oct. 25-26.
The Wildcats opened the season in Maricopa on Thursday, Sept. 5. They next head to Florence on Sept. 12, Tucson Canyon del Oro on Sept. 14, and Tucson Palo Verde Magnet on Sept. 19 before hosting a meet on Sept. 26.
Morenci will take part in the two-day Higley Williams Field meet to close out the month on Sept. 26-27, before hosting a second meet on Oct. 3.
The Wildcats visit Globe on Oct. 8, Chandler on Oct. 12, and Paradise Valley Phoenix Country Day School on Oct. 15. The state meet is at Mesa’s Skyline Aquatic Center, 845 South Crimson Road on Nov. 8-9.
Morenci Girls
During the 2022 state meet preliminaries, Class of 2026 member Isabella Leyba clocked in with 2:32.07 for the 200 individual medley, finishing as the second alternate at No. 18, and 1:00.11 for the 100 freestyle to finish as No. 19. She did not qualify for the finals in either event or score team points.
In 2023, the Morenci sophomore posted a 2:28.76 time in the 200 individual medley to finish 16th and scored a point. It was the first point scored by the Wildcats in five seasons. The previous placer and scorer was Class of 2019 grad Taylee Bayardo who placed second in the 100 free (53:48) and fourth in the 100 back (1:00.09) for 32 points.
Class of 2026 teammate Emily Lewis turned in a 28.09 (50 Free) clocking during the final state meet qualifier.
Morenci tied with Sahuarita Walden Grove and Gilbert Classical for 31st with 1 point apiece.
This season, Leyba and Lewis return along with sophomore Giselle Nevarez. Newcomers include senior Ciara Crandall, junior Cynthia Martinez, and sophomore Avery Wiltbank.
Renee Stills returns for a second season as the head coach for both teams.
