Even with the shortened season for swim and not as much time to practice as normal, the Lady Reds had a great season and ended with many victories. On Tuesday, Mar. 16, Eaton High School’s girls swim team went to the Girls 3A State Championships 2021 after only seven weeks of practice compared to the usual 12 weeks. Along with the short season, there weren’t as many teams due to Covid-19. The girls pushed past the loss of practice and crushed their competition at state. Coach Carlson said, “Those girls all did great at state and all had standout performances.” 

In the women’s 100 yard breast, Caitlin Morgan (23), got 11th place with a final time of 1:12.93 and the girl behind her from Gunnison at a 1:13.54. “State definitely looked a lot different this year. For one, it was most definitely harder to get in. Usually if you qualify, you’re in, but this year they were only accepting the 20 fastest swimmers. It was still fun but only the parents of the kids swimming could be there so it was a lot quieter and much less hype. I still had fun though but it gets back to normal next season. In the 100 breast I got 11th, in the 200 IM I got 15th, and in the relay we got 18th. I dropped time in both my events and set the school record in the 200 IM,” the new record holder, Caitlin Morgan, said. 

In the women 200 yard free, Alexis Bruntz (22) got 15th place with a final time of 2:04.34 and the girl not far behind her at 2:05.85. She also got 8th place in the women’s 100 yard free with a final time of 56.34. “State looked pretty different this year in terms of the actual meet, but we still had a lot of fun. State ran smoothly and there was great competition. I’ve gone to state all three years now and this year was probably my favorite which is kind of weird considering how different it was. I got 15th in the 200 and 8th in the 100,” Lexi Bruntz said. 

As for diving, Kaiya Sinkler (23) did great again with a 10th place and a final score of 279.45 for the women’s one meter diving. Her score from the meet against Holyoke was 159.00, so she has improved by a lot. Coach Carlson said, “I couldn’t have asked for better performances. I am proud of all of them. I was especially excited to get three girls (Caitlin, Lexi, and Kaiya) into the top 20 to be able to go to state.” 

The end results made the coach and girls very proud. With a new record holder and several great scores and times, next year’s season will be a lot to look forward to.